Customer loyalty to UK dealers has dropped from 46% in 2005 to 32% this year.

The claim comes from CAPgemini's ninth automotive study exploring consumer buying behaviour, environmental issues, web usage, lead management and customer loyalty. In total, nearly 2,600 consumers were surveyed in five countries: China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The key UK results show UK consumer expectations of web inquiries to automakers and dealers are rising with 19% expecting a response in 1-4 hours and 50% expecting it within 24 hours, this trend was seen across all the countries surveyed.

Only 15% of those surveyed in the UK were ‘very likely’ to purchase a vehicle online compared to the European average of 18%, while 30% were highly unlikely to do it compared to the European average of 22%.

However, the internet was the top source of information for consumers when researching car purchases; 80% of those surveyed now use the web before they buy.

Of web users questioned, 29% referred to consumer-to-consumer (C2C) sites when researching information, up from 21% a year ago; while 78% of respondents rely on search engines.