Even millennials bypass social media for car shopping

DETROIT (Aug. 14, 2014) — Despite years of hype by auto makers and car dealers, social media remain a non-starter for car shopping.

Just 1 percent of car buyers use social sites to shop for a vehicle, according to an AutoTrader.com survey.

Even millennials — those young people between the ages of 18 and 34 attracted to social media — barely use sites such as Facebook and Twitter for car shopping, said Isabelle Helms, vice president of research and market intelligence for AutoTrader.com.

Only 5 percent of millennials surveyed said they used social media to shop for vehicles, the study showed.

“Millennials are apathetic about whether auto websites or brands have a social presence,” Ms. Helms said. She added that 78 percent of millennials in the study said their attitude toward a car brand would not change if the brand had a social networking presence.

Ms. Helms said social media is used to network with friends, not to shop for cars.

AutoTrader.com's study was conducted by IHS Automotive between December and February. A total of 1,900 car buyers within the past year were surveyed, including about 300 millennials.

Ms. Helms and AutoTrader.com executives presented the findings at a recent meeting of the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

Although they are bypassing social media, millennials are making the Internet and mobile devices mainstays of car shopping.

Ninety-five percent of millennials car shop online, spending online 82 percent of the average 17.6 hours they take to research and buy a car. By comparison, all 1,900 respondents on average took 15.5 hours to research and buy a car, with 75 percent of the time online.

Smartphones and other mobile devices also are crucial to a millennial's car shopping. Fifty-one percent of millennials used a smartphone to shop for a vehicle vs. 34 percent a year ago.

By 2020, Ms. Helms predicts 80 percent of car shoppers will use multiple devices for shopping, including smartphones, tablets and desktops, vs. 32 percent today.

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This report appeared on autonews.com, the website of Automotive News, a Detroit-based sister publication of Tire Business.