Would You Buy A Used Car Online?

Online shopping has grown immensely over recent years going from the obvious; dubious plain brown packages and flower deliveries through to the weekly shopping.  But are we yet ready to make really big ticket purchases like new or used cars via the internet?

Tesco obviously think so with the launch this weekend of their online used car sales initiative and the research quoted by Auto Trader agrees, “33% of consumers are already prepared to order their new car (used and new) using online channels”

So what are the pros and cons?

Pros:- As a potential car buyer you aren’t under any pressure from a dodgy salesman to buy and buy NOW.

~If you are tossing up between different types (SUV or MPV?) or makes, you can compare them together rather than trekking from forecourt to forecourt.

~You can browse a large number of potential cars without leaving the comfort of your living room/office

~With a larger and reputable organisation you have a degree of confidence in the transaction.

~Current impressions are that a car will be £750 cheaper from a reputable online source than from a reputable second hand dealer

Cons:- In spite of the reputation of the online source and, in Tesco’s case, the video of the car being driven by the RAC, there is still no test drive available.

~You can’t part exchange your old car so you have the problem of trying to co-ordinate sale and purchase together(This was reported as one of the main failings of Carsite, the online partner of the Tesco venture)

Statistics regarding general online shopping show that some 85% of purchase entries are aborted just before the point where the consumer commits to payment; that includes sites like Amazon and EBay where purchase prices are often in the pocket-money bracket.  It is hard to imagine that 33% of consumers are actually prepared to buy a used car online, unseen and undriven.  It is easier to imagine people finding a car online but then wanting to actually see it and drive it before committing the best part of a year’s wages to buying it, even with the added incentive of 2000 Tesco Club Card Points!

Having said that, I’ve always seen myself as a conservative and careful shopper who is risk-averse and value driven. And even I bought my last car, unseen, from EBay! So maybe the British consumer is ready to buy their new cars,along with their groceries, books and marital aids, online, perhaps Sir Trevor Chinn, the chairman of Tesco Cars, is right to be investing a couple of million in a fading, online Carsite.