Millennials Like Car Dealerships, Hate Sales People: Study
According to a recent study, car buyers between the ages of 16-32 actually enjoy visiting dealership lots more than older generations, though they dislike dealing with car salesmen.
This may come as a surprise considering that millennials are more inclined to be tech-savvy compared to older shoppers. Still, the study revealed that Generation Y buyers visited an average of 3.1 dealerships before purchasing their vehicle, compared to slightly older Gen X shoppers, which visited an average of 2.5 dealers.
Of course one could argue that older shoppers have gone through the experience before, and chances are they’re revisiting dealerships that they’ve dealt with in the past. Not to mention having gone through the process, they know what to expect with car salespeople.
The survey also revealed that millennials are more thorough with their research online with making trips to the dealership a key part of the shopping journey. But most notably, the study shows that after the car-buying experience, those Gen Y shoppers are more likely to avoid interacting with salespeople in the future. 56 percent of those surveyed said exactly that vs. 49 percent from Gen X shoppers and 37 percent for baby boomers.
Most millennials walk into dealerships expecting a laid-back experience, similar to what you’d find in today’s Apple Store. And as we all know, having shopped for vehicles in the past, buying a car isn’t exactly like buying an iPad in terms of customer service.
Millennials currently make up 75 million of the U.S. population and purchased 25 percent of all vehicles last year.
[Source: Automotive News]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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I agree with most of this, my wife and I just bought our first new car , I dreaded going in to talk to a sales person , so I did the internet sales thing, the sales person still tried to get us to go in to look but as we knew exactly what we wanted I told him in a e-mail what we wanted / options / color / model send me a price tax in , so he did we accepted went down the next day signed papers / picked up vehicle easy as that , I am over 50 just so you know.
Being in car sales and being college educated I hate the way most dealers treat customers which is why I work in Internet Sales which gives me a chance to build rapport with that person before we meet and know he isn't talking to some typical scumbag car salesman, but sometimes it does not matter because they have had such bad experiences in the past, it takes a lot to get them to relax and I understand why but it is still frustrating as hell!! MS Phoenix, AZ