50% of buyers visit more than one dealership when buying their next car, while 67% of those do so on the hunt for a better deal, according to Auto Trader’s Buyer Behaviour Survey.

Auto Trader’s market research director Nick King said: “We know that online research is king for the vast majority of buyers. The fact that half of buyers visit only one dealer en-route to their purchase shows that many are armed with all they need before they arrive on a forecourt ready to do a deal.

“However, half choose to visit multiple sites and that shows there’s still a job to be done on the forecourt itself. We know from other research that not achieving an anticipated part-exchange value is cited as the biggest cause of deal breakdown among consumers, reinforcing the need to align expectations on pricing. Helping consumers with part exchange values and making sure that cars in stock are closely priced to the retail market value gives sellers the best chance of making a sale.”

The survey pooled the views of more than 1,300 new and used car buyers earlier this year. Consumer sales data was supplied to Auto Trader by participating dealers, which was then supplied to research agency GfK. GfK conducted telephone surveys with 1,300 customers (624 franchise, 376 independents and 300 supermarkets) over a three month period, asking about their buying journey and experience.