Women and ‘digital natives’ drove near doubling of online used car sales

MASSIVE growth in online used car sales at BuyaCar.co.uk during 2017 was most heavily influenced by the doubling of female customers, new figures show.

An overall leap in sales for the online-only motor retail specialist of 94% was led by a 103% increase in women purchasers.

But it’s also emerging that so-called ‘digital natives’ – people who have lived almost entirely within the era of the internet – are leading the way in buying cars unseen until delivery.

According to analysis of the company’s sales for 2017 nearly 40% of customers were aged between 21 and 30, reflecting the dominance of digital natives in this growing world of online commerce.

The second largest share of BuyaCar.co.uk’s customers was in the 31-40 year old bracket at 23%, with adoption of the online-only method of buying cars dropping consistently through the older customer age ranges.

Only 17% of customers were aged 41-50, with those aged 51-60 accounting for just nine per cent of sales. The figure slumps to just four per cent among people aged 61 and above.

Austin Collin, Managing Director of BuyaCar.co.uk, said: “When we first launched our site in 2002 there were still very few people of an age to actually buy their own cars who had grown up in the era of widespread internet access.

“That meant people were still wary of buying something as significant as a car without physically inspecting the exact vehicle they were interested in before even making an offer.

“But the digital native generation has come of age and embraces the convenience of the online-only shopping experience regardless of the size or cost of the purchase.

“That’s why those people – so-called digital natives – now account for such a large proportion of our sales.”

As the traditional UK new car market braces itself for a further two-year slowdown – after falling by almost six per cent last year – BuyaCar.co.uk expects to double used car sales again in 2017.

The company has benefited from developing industry-leading consumer and lender protections to help it focus on used cars, which commentators now agree is the area of the car market which will continue to see strong growth.