Today we’re releasing data collected from our National Shift Survey on consumers’ experiences with car buying and selling, as well as their opinions on everything from ridesharing to seat warmers.
Drumroll, please….
The Industry Needs a #METOO Movement
Nearly 90 percent of women have felt spoken down to, belittled, or disrespected during the car buying/repair process. Sadly, we shouldn’t be surprised. Data shows car buying is ripe with discrimination and abuse, especially for women and people of color. The status quo is unacceptable – the industry can – and must – do better.
Car Ownership is Here to Stay
We’ve been saying this one for years. The conventional wisdom is wrong about the future of car ownership. According to our data, more than 87 percent of people have no intention of getting rid of their cars for ridesharing. Which makes sense. Have you ever tried strapping a car seat in an Uber?
Autonomous Cars Scare People
Nearly 70 percent of Americans (69%) said they wouldn’t feel safe in an autonomous car. While we’re super excited about the possibility of having driverless cars on our roads, the data shows Americans still need some convincing.
Customers Aren’t Asking for Much
What can dealers do to improve the car buying experience? It’s simple. Being honest is the number one thing our respondents told us car salesmen/women could do to make them more likely to buy a car (58%). In fact, honestly matters more than be offered discounted rates (48%) or extended warranties (45%).
Manual Cars Lack Love
Over a third of the population would never consider a manual car (36%); plus an additional 13% bought one before, but wo
uldn’t again. That means, nearly 50% of the population is automatic, all-the-way.
Basics Beat Bluetooths
This one made our engineers cry! Surprising, 66 percent consumers would rather have basics like leather interiors, seat warmers (we agree!) or automatic features (e.g., locks and windows) than high-tech features like Bluetooth, Wifi, Alexa, or a smart maintenance dashboard.
Safety features (e.g., backup cameras and blind spot detections) also ranked higher than high-tech features, but lower than seat warmers, and automatic features. Overall, people find tech in cars helpful (58%), but it’s not a must have (12%).
Dealerships = Time Sucks
More than 38% of people have spent four or more hours buying a car at a dealership. Flying from SFO to Cabo takes less time. Perhaps we should let these poor souls know that in addition to our free on-demand test drive, Shift now approves car loans in less than 15 minutes. How ’bout that?
- More than 1,000 people over the age of 18 participated in this survey.