Close to one in 10 looking to buy a car online but nearly half think physical retailers could match deal

Almost 10 per cent of drivers are thinking of purchasing their next vehicle entirely online but close to half think that a physical dealership could give them the same deal, new research suggests.

The study commissioned by WhatCar found that 48.87 per cent of the 1,181 in-market buyers questioned said that they’d be comfortable buying a car entirely online – but that just 9.31 per cent plan on doing so.

The majority of them – some 72.82 per cent – will instead adopt a hybrid of online research and direct shopping with dealers when they buy their next car.

Nearly half – 48.69 per cent – of respondents said they believed they could get the same deal on a car whether buying in person or online, while 29.21 per cent believe buying direct from a retailer would give them a better deal.

What Car? editor Steve Huntingford said: “The difference between the share of buyers who are comfortable buying a car online and those actually doing so shows the market potential for online retail.

“Interestingly, most buyers don’t see significant cost advantages from buying online, suggesting the reasons are more based on the convenience of removing some of the traditionally less enjoyable aspects of buying a car.”

When asked whether or not the continued shortage of semiconductors had made them more likely to think about buying a car online, 35.31 per cent said that they thought that shopping online would enable them to find a car more easily. It was a similar result when WhatCar asked the same question in October 2021, where it suggested that the shortage of chips hadn’t significantly changed how consumers felt about buying a car online.