Team-BHP - What factors are lately influencing new car buying decisions?

In this rapidly changing car sales and marketing dynamics which factors according to you influence a new car buyer's decision making process to zero upon his or her final choice ?

We have choices:-
- word of mouth from satisfied owners of the same brand and model.
- reading new car reviews on teambhp.
- viewing reviews by the new age You Tubers.
- reading new car reviews on the available auto magazine hard copies.
- advertisements in the media and exhibitions/ Expos by the brand and its dealers.
- majority vote by family members and/or relatives.
- reviews on other websites/ portals.
- any other factor/s ? Please describe in your post.

Which of these according to you influences the new car buyer's decision to zero upon his or her final choice.

Serious car buyers also undertake self assessment and research with media reports and cloud data and metadata. The NCAP ratings too play an important role now in the decision making. So also, the ASC reputation for the brand, warranty offered and knowing the cost of spares and services are important.

Thereafter the final phase comprises, visits to showrooms to see the machine personally. We try to find pros and cons in ergonomics, check out the base to top variants, which is usually followed by test drives to know the brand and model better. Finally its haggling with the SR for discounts and offers.

In India, "word of mouth" has a very major role to play in our decision making process in new car purchases. The much talked about MSIL and HMIL's successes in India are primarily owing to such decisions being taken by the buyer through "word of mouth" publicity from other hitherto satisfied owners. Some such satisfied owners are either family members or relatives or friends or same office peers.

In my case, the major factors that influence the car buying decision are convincing the family, getting positive word of mouth from owners and even before all of that, reading reviews from Team-BHP.

A car which meets the criteria of our requirement is first sorted out after reading Team-BHP reviews on the same, then we look for word of mouth from owners, then its convincing the family and finally a test drive to lock in the decision.

If any one of them doesn't make the cut in any of these stages, the next car goes through this cycle until the best one for our requirement is chosen.

All our cars have gone through this and we have never regretted even one decision. Hopefully it stays the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007 (Post 5948127)

- word of mouth from satisfied owners of the same brand and model.
- reading new car reviews on teambhp.
- viewing reviews by the new age You Tubers.
- majority vote by family members and/or relatives.

Along with these, I think driving the car myself and getting the feel of sitting inside it is important too. You should feel good inside the car. Also, you should be happy with the car as a whole. It's a major factor for me, as I would be looking at my car or driving it every day.

I think the poll should be multi select, as it's not just one deciding factor these days, I believe.

Cars are not something one keeps in the Living room. For me, one of the most important factors in deciding to purchase is the behaviour of the manufacturer/ dealer in how they handle repairs/ warranty/ service and sales.

I did try going with certain manufacturers despite knowing well what I might be getting into, just because the car was so enticing, but I quickly sold it off after experiencing it first-hand. As recently as this week, I was very close to picking a Range Rover despite all the stuff I write about Tata & Land Rover, but the dealer (or God) ensured that I stay away. The kind of attitude certain brands/ dealers carry makes it impossible to deal with them.

I will say, the number one priority for anyone buying a car has to be how the dealer/ manufacturer treats their product and customers. No wonder, Maruti, despite having many mediocre products, is a leader, and so are Hyundai and why Kia falters despite having similar products.

Being humble in success is not easy, and this probably differentiates leaders from others.

Voted for Word of mouth from satisfied owners of the same brand and model. For a new car buyer. Not personally. Whatever mediums are there to read/watch/hear reviews and what not, in India, atleast where I live, for sustained long term success of a model word of mouth is still key. YouTube videos are used mostly to know about the variants and colours. That is one positive that I have seen only in India. Maybe cheap internet and too many people with too much time in hand. :p You want to see a specific variant in a specific colour. Indian YouTubers got your back.

For my household? Testdrive. Proper testdrive in the roads we frequent to see if it suits our needs. No reviews gonna help here.

In my case, its more of test driving and checking the car out, as well as reading reviews in Team-BHP, and videos from Autocar India, Faisal Khan, Evo India, etc...

One more thing from me, which might seem weird, is the availability of pre-owned ones 1-2 years down the line from launch. More the number of cars, less is my way for going for one of them (if they are a mainstream car, just the opposite if it is a luxury one).

Might seem trivial, but they do make an impact in the longer run.

My vote is Others

For me, showroom experience and dealer behaviour played a major part in picking (rather, eliminating) a car. While I would never buy a car solely based on this, I have certainly walked away from what were essentially decent cars because of this.

In just a few weeks of looking for a new car, I've faced anything from total non-responsiveness, lack of knowledge, aloofness and unncessary time-wasting, to deception and outright lying. On the other end of the spectrum, have also had several genuinely good experiences - eager, straightforward and knowledgeable sales reps, pleasant showroom visits, etc.

In the end, I think I went with a mix of the following: learning from past user experiences and reviews on team-bhp, video reviews on YT (both new-age and otherwise), my own actual driving experience and feel for the car, and a okayish/bearable dealer experience.

I voted other. I look at a car which has a great fan following or too much of hype at booking numbers. This gives an idea of the car that is popular for locals and not necessarily the global view. For example when we were in Nigeria, Peugeot is very popular car locally and almost out of every 3 cars sold, one is a Peugeot car. So if anyone going to that country and is in the market for buying a car can blindly buy a Peugeot without any regrets later. Similar examples can be said about some popular cars which are liked by locals for whatever reasons like Pickup trucks in USA. If an American comes to India and buys a pickup truck in India may look very odd locally. Be a Roman in Rome and going by the popular opinion is always a safe bet than self made opinions.

For me it is the features that are most important. Then comes the company and Then comes the price or affordability.
Once the cars are shortlisted as per above then the team bhp reviews and forums are checked for the shortlisted cars.
Once all this is done and I am still left with 3-4 cars. The next filteraton will be road presence followed by Owners review.
Once everything is finalized, then I will start convincing my family for a need of a new car.
The idea of a new car is then put in my family members mind time to time. Once everything is fixed, then the trips to the showrooms will be made for quotation.
Price difference, SE attitude and behaviour, showroom reviews will be considered at last.