Topic: research
PCG Research: “CarGurus has become the hottest auto shopping site in the US”
In a market where customer expectations are evolving rapidly and the shopping journey continues to become more disconnected, CarGurus has remained steadfast in its goal: building the world’s most trusted and transparent automotive marketplace—and it’s working. CarGurus is now the most visited and most used car shopping site in the US.*
Survey says: car buyers moving faster, doing more research online
Digital marketing provider Netsertive released a study last week that confirmed several trends in car shopper behavior:
Today’s Auto Shopper and the Affordability Question
We saw considerable strength in the auto market in 2016. Helped by record-breaking new-car sales, the OEMs generated billions of dollars in profit.
Yet these impressive figures mask the reality of auto retail at the dawn of 2017. Not only did new-vehicle incentives grow as 2016 wore on, but shoppers bought more certified pre-owned vehicles – and used vehicles – than ever before.
Surging Popularity of Crossovers Reflected in CarGurus Lead Data
Perhaps you’ve heard that crossovers – Honda CR-Vs, Ford Escapes, Chevrolet Equinoxes, et al. – are now the nation’s most popular new-vehicle segment.
Turns out, their popularity extends to the used market, too.
Platform Deep Dive: Return of the Mac Edition
While the internet is moving towards mobile – and this holds true at CarGurus, which gets 62% of its user traffic from smartphones – desktop computers aren’t going away.
After all, people still prefer desktops for making purchases. Sixty-six percent of online consumer spending happens on PCs.
Auto shoppers continue to rely on desktops, as well. So let’s take a closer look at desktop use on CarGurus. How does the CarGurus user base split between Windows and Mac? The answer may surprise you.
Lead-Gen Report: Where Do Shoppers Submit the Most Leads?
The CarGurus platform handles more than 20 million unique visitors every month, and hundreds of thousands of those people submit leads via email or phone. That gives us a unique level of insight into what auto shoppers are interested in – and where in the country they are most active.
For this lead-gen report, let’s take a look at regional lead data to identify which cities have the most engaged digital auto shoppers.
Major Life Events Drive Millennial Interest in Car Ownership
We recently explored auto buying habits for younger Millennials – those just out of college. Contrary to much of what has been reported in the media, these young people are interested in buying cars and trucks.
It may be the case that passing a major “life milestone” (i.e., graduating from college) is what spurs young shoppers to start searching for a car. With that in mind, it’s interesting that older Millennials, those aged 25 to 34, also appear to be jumping into the market.
iOS and Android Lead All Platforms Among Auto Shoppers
If you use a smartphone, odds are you’re either a die-hard iPhone fan or a committed Android user. Other operating systems have come and gone in the past decade, but iOS and Android now split about 98% of the US smartphone market.
What you may not expect is that the two OSs are the most popular platforms for accessing CarGurus.com – even more so than Windows or Mac OS.
But they are, and by a wide margin.
Have Millennials Abandoned the Auto Market? Our Data Says No
A lot has been made of Millennials’ ambivalence about buying cars, and it may be true that young people are getting driver’s licenses later than past generations. Just-released data shows that the number of 16-year-old licensed drivers is at an 50-year low.
But among older Millennials – people in the 25-34-year-old range – interest in car ownership appears to be growing.
What Are The Most Popular Vehicles To Buy Used?
It’s a simple question: what are the most used popular vehicles on CarGurus nationally? We now have more than 18 million monthly users in the US, so our used-vehicle stats provide a solid picture of the used-car market as a whole.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top five used vehicles on CarGurus.