£1,000 deposit and payments of £200 per month is what the majority of punters want to see when looking online for finance on used cars. That is the finding of a study by technology firms GForces and Codeweavers, who’s NetDirector Auto V10 websites and finance calculators support hundreds of UK motor dealerships.
Looking at how consumers search for used car finance, the study found 56% of users adjusted the deposit amount – the highest single interaction – indicating that the default figure isn’t the most popular amount for their customers.
Most consumers also looked at extending the finance term from 36 months, with 48 months was the most popular term, closely followed by 60 months.
Talking about what they have observed, Tim Smith, Group Strategy Director at GForces says, “One of the biggest benefits of having a finance calculator is in enabling customers to adjust the figures to suit their circumstances. However, by using the data available to them, dealers can make the customer’s journey that little bit more straightforward by setting a their finance products up for a ‘typical’ customer. We also looked at the demographics of finance calculator users, finding that almost 70% of those applying were male and aged between 35 and 54 years old.”
The element that fewest people changed was monthly payment which, at an average of £200, shows used car buyers’ typical monthly budget. Instead, buyers are keener on altering their deposit amount and term of finance to generate a quote that suits them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, PCP was the most popular type of finance quoted upon.
Smith adds, “Used car PCPs continue to climb in popularity, up 9% by volume of cars in July according to the Finance and Leasing Association. With the ability to tailor a quote online, we envisage that PCPs will only continue to grow in importance for car dealers.”
Mobile devices are increasingly used for browsing cars online, but desktop browsers are still used to make 61% of finance calculations on NetDirector Auto V10 websites. Comparatively, of total visits to V10 sites desktop takes just 42% of total with mobiles and tablets now being the favoured devices with which to browse.
Roland Schaack, Managing Director at Codeweavers, adds “It’s important to provide dealers with statistics around what finance information their customers are entering into their website. It not only equips dealers with the information required to set the right default information into the finance calculators to start with, but it also allows them to build a strong picture around their customers wants and needs in regards to finance. This type of information can then be mirrored in the dealers’ showroom, and finance offers created are based on what their website users are entering,”
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