Test drive changing landscapes

Test drive changing landscapes Image
Home arrow Resources arrow Test drives

Why are car buyers increasingly favouring alternatives to visiting a car dealership?

Surprisingly customers see the test drive as one of the more frustrating moments in the car purchasing journey – and yet it’s meant to be the point where people get excited and make decisions.

Issues are often associated with the availability of suitable models, the presentation of the vehicle, the length of the drive, whether the experience is tailored and that drives seem to be very much on the dealer’s terms and not in line with the customer’s desires.

The advent of ‘peer-to-peer’ test drives and the use of car-club/microrentals demonstrates that customers are increasingly favouring alternatives to dealers, often bypassing the showroom environment completely.

As a result, a number of brands have experimented with Car Club style offers linked to lifestyle brands, town centre locations and using smartphone keyless access. Taking this trend a step further, recent articles in the media have suggested that 2017 will be the year that tens of thousands of motorists will start to buy new cars not from a salesman, but directly from their laptops, tablets and smartphones.

The BBC recently reported that since launch in November 2015, Hyundai Rockar has found that just 53% of customers opt to test drive a car before buying. The reason may be their trust in the brand - or perhaps their reluctance to spend too much time on the whole car-buying process.

In short, the industry needs to find new ways to offer, enable and deliver test drives that better accord with customer needs, desires and behaviours, or risk losing contact with clients at this pivotal point in the decision-making process.

Click here to read some of our automotive case studies.

The future of automotive retail: the 5 most important things automotive brands should do

The automotive industry is changing, and in this first blog in our automotive series, we explore...

The future of retail is omnichannel: the 7 most important things retail brands should do

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the retail sector, with many stores forced to close...

Driving joined-up retail for the future of automotive

It's time for service innovation in the automotive industry The automotive industry is at a pivotal...

Redesigning your frontline through all this change

If your business delivers some or all of its service within physical spaces and through your...

Book time with a service design expert.

Discover the transformative power of service design and unlock the full potential of your business. Get in touch with our service design experts today and start improving or innovating your services and customer experience.

Read our privacy statement.

Learn about the benefits of connected service design