Online sales still small
Buying a new car is increasingly possible online, but in practice few people prefer it. This is apparent from a survey by the Association of Business Drivers among its members.
Various car brands are focusing more on selling a new car remotely. You can then, for example, take a test drive at home or even order a car unseen and have it delivered to your home. In practice, however, this does not yet appear attractive to many people. At least that is what a member survey of VZR shows. No less than 88 percent of members indicate that they still want to go to a dealer to view a new car and take it for a test drive.
A small percentage, only 3 percent, indicate that a test drive at home is sufficient. Surprisingly, a larger percentage of members, 9 percent, think it’s fine to order a car online without even taking it for a test drive. In the latter case, according to VZR, it often concerns new EVs that are driven for business purposes.
Although there is still plenty of demand for buying a car from a dealer, it does not stop various brands from offering direct (online) sales as an option. Last week it turned out that BMW wants to work towards such a sales model. The BMW dealers would then still remain a service point, but not so much a point of sale. KPMG conducted research into the future of online car sales last year and showed that by 2030 the majority of new cars are expected to be sold online.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl