How loyal are you to a car brand? As January approaches and the showrooms start the hard sell for the new 19 plate vehicles, we wondered how people view their purchase of a new car. Go for the same reliable brand they’ve always loved, hunt around for something similar in size but with better tech, or upgrade to a luxury brand?
While a lot of people are ‘Ford’ people or ‘Lexus’ people (one report we read suggested that Lexus and Mercedes have the most loyal buyers who simply swap out models every time they buy without entertaining another brand) we’ve been doing a lot of reading and asking about and have also discovered that there actually is a fair bit of loyalty around. Just not necessarily to brand!
When asked, people who own an SUV of some kind said their next car would still be that type, but not always the same car. The highest amount of people said this, which we found interesting so did a little research and discovered that it’s not unusual!
The other things we discovered were:
🚗 Colour loyalty
Yep, there are people out there who will only have the same colour car, and if a different brand doesn’t quite match, they won’t buy it!
🚗 Size Loyalty
Akin to liking an SUV, we also found people who like midsize (like a focus) would stick to that within another brand (ie a Mazda 3). You won’t get these people in a smaller or larger car. They like what they like!
🚗 Tech Loyalty
This was a biggie. The tech in cars has come so far and is evolving at great speed, but there are some people who, for example, love Ford’s keyless entry because there’s no buttons and you can open any door and so would be turned off by others that you have to push a button for or can only open the driver’s side via keyless. Talking to your car wasn’t a pull, but keep safe tech was.
🚗 Interior Loyalty
Totally split between leather and upholstery, it does seem that if you like one or the other then that’s what you’ll stick with and if a brand doesn’t provide you with the right texture and colour options you’d be put off.
🚗 Service Loyalty (our favourite)
This one came up a lot. It’s very important to us, it would seem, to have great customer service. One person even said they changed car brands completely as their favourite sales person moved from one to another and was complementary about the after care. A few people have crossed the road to a competitor as they were ignored or not respected by the sales people at their first brand choice.
🚗 Performance and Environmental Impact Loyalty
This is something that was mentioned with regularity. No matter what, if a brand didn’t meet these two requirements then no amount of anything we’ve mentioned above came into the decision making process.
Quite frankly, with all of this oddball loyalty going on I would not like to be in car sales. Those guys and gals have quite a job on their hands convincing buyers that their tech/interiors/colours coupled with awesome performance and brilliant aftercare are as good as or better than the brand they currently love.
And remember – whatever you drive Oak Road has got a part for it. And whatever your interior we’ve got a cleaner for it. So bring your perfect car to any Oak Road branch and show your loyalty to us! 🚗
Driven Women Mag has an insightful message to car sales people
Read this it’s eye opening and amusing!
