More Than 1/4 of Used-Vehicle Buyers Use the Internet in the Shopping Process
2 August 1999
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: More Than One-Quarter of Used-Vehicle Buyers Use the Internet in the Vehicle Shopping ProcessAGOURA HILLS, Calif., Aug. 2 -- More than one-quarter of used-vehicle buyers log onto the Internet for assistance during the shopping process, according to the inaugural J.D. Power and Associates Used Autoshopper.com Study(SM), which is based on nearly 10,000 responses from consumers who recently purchased 1994 through 1999 model-year used vehicles. The study provides analysis on how used-vehicle buyers use the Internet to find vehicle information. Study results indicate that used-vehicle buyers access the Internet to find a wide variety of information, ranging from used-vehicle prices to reliability and safety data. "There are always risks associated with buying used vehicles, but the Internet provides easy access to the information people need to avoid buying a lemon," said Chris Denove, director of consulting operations at J.D. Power and Associates. According to the study, Kelley Blue Book was the most frequently visited Web site for the purpose of finding general used-vehicle and pricing information. Other top Web sites visited by used-vehicle buyers, listed in rank order, include Consumer Reports, autobytel.com, Edmund's Online, and Microsoft CarPoint. The study also reveals that 50 percent of Internet shoppers searched online classified Web sites in an effort to locate sellers of the exact vehicle they want. "Despite the fact that online vehicle-locator sites are in their infancy, we were amazed to find that some of these sites already offer a wider selection of used vehicles than the typical newspaper classifieds," Denove said. "The online locators are so versatile that they could one day make traditional newspaper classifieds obsolete." Out of all the online locator Web sites analyzed in the study, autobytel.com was visited most frequently for the purpose of locating used vehicles for sale. Auto Trader Online, Microsoft CarPoint, autoweb.com and cars.com round out the top five Web sites in this area. Headquartered in Agoura Hills, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting and customer satisfaction. The firm's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on actual customer responses from more than one million consumers annually. J.D. Power and Associates can be accessed through the World Wide Web at http://www.jdpower.com. Media e-mail contact: john.pepitone@jdpower.com. This press release is provided for editorial use only. No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release or J.D. Power and Associates survey results without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates. Companies discussed in this press release Name and URL Kelley Blue Book -- http://www.kbb.com Consumer Reports -- http://www.consumerreports.org autobytel.com -- http://www.autobytel.com Edmund's Online -- http://www.edmunds.com Microsoft CarPoint -- http://www.carpoint.com Auto Trader Online -- http://www.traderonline.com autoweb.com -- http://www.autoweb.com cars.com -- http://www.cars.com