Canadian Car Shopper Poll Shows That While Baby Boomers Are Highly Satisfied With Car Buying Experience, Millennials Are Harder to Please

Younger shoppers also less comfortable haggling for best price

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 11, 2016 – CarGurus (https://www.cargurus.ca), a leading car shopping and research website, today released a study that highlights the generational divide in Canadians’ attitudes towards car shopping. Among the starkest differences, younger shoppers reported a lower degree of satisfaction with their current or most recent car shopping experience (45 percent were “satisfied”) than 60+ shoppers (62 percent were “satisfied”).

Young shoppers were also less likely to place high importance on their experience at the dealership (19 percent of 18-29 year olds, compared with 39 percent of 60+ shoppers). They also reported the least comfort negotiating price than older age groups: only 28 percent said they felt comfortable haggling, while 39 percent of 60+ shoppers reported a high degree of comfort.

While price was identified as an important factor in the purchase decisions of the majority of Canadians surveyed, shoppers in age groups 18 - 29 and 30 - 39 were most likely to cite price as “extremely important” (60 percent), 5 percentage points more than 60+ shoppers. Interestingly, these younger age groups assigned significantly less importance to dealer reputation, with only 24 percent citing it as “extremely important” to their purchase decision. Comparitively, 39 percent of 60+ shoppers consider dealer reputation “extremely important.”

“Millennials grew up shopping online, so it makes sense they would be less comfortable or interested in the traditional, off-line aspects of the car buying experience, whether that’s negotiating price or visiting a dealership,” said Amy Mueller, Director of Communications for CarGurus. “For Canadian car dealers, understanding and adapting to the digital mindset of this always-on, mobile generation is critical. The best opportunity to engage them is likely occuring before they ever step foot on the lot, if they ever do.”

The Canadian Car Shopper survey also found differences in attitudes by gender: men were far more comfortable negotiating price and less likely to consider dealer reputation of high importance when car shopping. Women viewed price as more important to their car purchase decision than most men.

CarGurus helps Canadian shoppers search local car listings to find the best deals from the best-rated dealers, providing transparency on price, time on market, and dealer reputation. Every day, the company analyzes millions of car listings as well as dealership reviews submitted by other shoppers, then ranks search results according to Great, Good, Fair or Overpriced deals. CarGurus Instant Market Value (IMV) assessments take into account variables including make, model, year, trim, options, mileage, location, and vehicle history.

Study Methodology

These observations are based on an RDD dual frame (land and cell-lines) hybid telephone and online random survey of 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between January 30th and February 1st, 2016. The survey was commissioned by CarGurus and carried out by Nanos Research.

About CarGurus

Founded in 2007 by Langley Steinert, co-founder of TripAdvisor, CarGurus (https://www.cargurus.com) is a leading online automotive shopping destination focused on bringing transparency and efficiency to the car research and shopping experience. The site uses technology and market data analysis to help millions of automotive shoppers search for cars and quickly identify the best deals from top-rated dealers in their local area. Today, CarGurus services more than 19 million unique monthly users in the U.S. and more than 14,000 car dealerships. CarGurus launched its Canadian site in 2014.