2014 Automotive Buyer Influence Study

Oct. 29, 2014 1 min Read

Since 2011, the IHS Automotive Buyer Influence Study has provided groundbreaking information about the influence of media among New and Used Car Buyers. This 2014 study shows that the Internet continues to be the most-used and most-influential source among consumers, with Millennials leading the way in this growth. Car buyers are spending 75% of their time shopping online, and mobile device use is growing.

About Cox Automotive

Cox Automotive is the world’s largest automotive services and technology provider. Fueled by the largest breadth of first- and third-party data fed by 2.3 billion online interactions a year, Cox Automotive tailors leading solutions for car shoppers, auto manufacturers, dealers, lenders and fleets. The company has 29,000+ employees on five continents and a portfolio of industry-leading brands that include Autotrader®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, vAuto®, Dealertrack®, NextGear Capital™, CentralDispatch® and Cox Fleet®. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., a privately owned, Atlanta-based company with $23 billion in annual revenue. Cox Automotive has been included on Glassdoor’s Best Companies in Tech & AI 2026 and Best Place to Work in 2026 lists. Visit coxautoinc.com or connect via @CoxAutomotive on X, CoxAutoInc on Facebook or Cox-Automotive-Inc on LinkedIn.

Article Highlights

While approximately 2 out of 3 car buyers do not contact the dealership prior to their first visit, Millennials more often make contact prior to walking in than Gen X and Baby Boomer car buyers do. As a result, it’s crucial for dealers to have effective sourcing and CRM processes in place to help them understand initial contacts and walk-in traffic. Knowing what influenced a shopper to contact the dealership, regardless of method, can help dealers determine the true value of their advertising spend, as well as how and where they can most successfully invest their marketing dollars.
Regardless of generation, car buyers cited the Internet as the most influential source leading them to the dealership – more than 20 times that of any other media source cited in the study. These results point to the continued importance of effective online automotive advertising in order to influence car shoppers to buy YOUR car from YOUR dealership.
While car buyers use a variety of sites to shop, more of them use third-party sites than any other site. This is true across all three generations in the 2014 study, with Millennials and Gen X buyers using third-party sites slightly more than Baby Boomers. Third-party sites also have a strong impact on driving Millennial and Gen X buyers to the dealership they ultimately purchase from, with 41% of both age groups saying a third-party site led them to a dealer.

2014 Automotive Buyer Influence Study

About Cox Automotive

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