In an article from Business Insider, a study conducted by LeaseTrader.com determined women to be smarter car shoppers as quoted below:
"When it comes to buying cars, women may be the more practical shopper, a new study by LeaseTrader reveals. That is to say, they're more careful and less superficial than their male counterparts. All but five percent of 500 women surveyed said they cared about their car's safety performance when taking over a lease from a previous owner. The car's incident history and functionality were the second and third most popular matters of concern. Only 45.9 percent deemed aesthetics an important quality. On the other hand, fewer than half as many men said they considered safety their main concern.What really affected their decision was driving performance, which 83.2 percent ranked as one of the most important factors. Engine performance and aesthetics placed second and third.
Photo courtesy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/4213879816/sizes/o/in/photostream/
"To make matters worse, men were ten percent less likely to order vehicle inspections before assuming a lease, according to the survey. That could be hurting them in the long run. Phil Reed, senior editor at Edmunds.com, says getting an inspection is one of the most important steps to take before buying a car, especially if you don't want to get stuck with a clunker. That's doubly true for leasing a vehicle. John Sternal, a spokesperson for LeaseTrader, said that because leased car trading often involves faraway prospects, out-of-state car inspections are a crucial part of the process. Yet nearly half of men declined to order one, compared to the 67.2 percent of women who opted for the service. The gender differences run deeper with younger buyers. Nearly 80 percent of women between the ages of 21 and 30 order an inspection, compared to 42.3 percent of men.
In another article from Market Watch, men are encouraged to learn car buying tips from women, as quoted below:
"Women, according to recent studies, are more informed and level-headed than men in the vehicle showroom - a place long-considered an arena for gladiatorial gamesmanship. "Men tend to rely on what is assumed they know and what they believe they know," said Sergio Stiberman, chief executive and founder of LeaseTrader.com. "When women approach car shopping, they believe in the importance of asking all the necessary questions, even if they think they might know the answers," he said. Stiberman, for one, respects the different angles his wife Keila takes on purchases and the depth and variety of questions. "She'll ask questions that I'm afraid to ask myself or that I have too much of an ego to ask," he said. "We have that attitude that we should know, and if we ask, we're outing ourselves and we might not be as strong as we projected ourselves to be," he added.
Many men revel in the gamesmanship of car buying that many women just aren't interested in. "Men get all excited about going out to buy a car and talk about how they're going to one-up the salesmen and get a great deal," said Anne Fleming, president of Women-drivers.com, a consumer ratings site. "I've never heard or seen any comments from women like that."
Women do more research and, as a group, are considerably more pragmatic in their vehicle choices. They tend to be more concerned about safety issues and reliability than horse power and acceleration. In the LeaseTrader analysis, 95% of women listed safety performance as their biggest concern during the shopping process, followed with 94% interested in the incident history of the car. Men, on the other hand, at 83%, rated driving performance among their top issues with engine performance at 75%.
Nearly 74% of men ranked aesthetics a major issue, at No. 3, compared with just 46% of women - dead last among the top nine concerns - who did. The style differences also are evident in purchasing history. Women tend to favor vehicles such as SUVs or small compact crossovers and four-door sedans. Men are more apt to buy a truck and certainly have more preference for sports cars than women do, according to Edmunds.com.
"Women tend to be more pragmatic and more economical in their car choices," said Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com.
Consider this: Last year Porsche saw a whopping 21% increase in
year-over-year sales of its cars to women, albeit from a low base,
Caldwell said. But of its total receipts, a commanding 71% were gleaned
from sales of the four-door models the Cayenne and Panamera, what some
might describe as more practical cars. Women also want back-up proof. Women, for example, order vehicle
inspections some 67% of the time when they're buying a car compared to
55% of men who do so, according to LeaseTrader. Like much of the world these days, the Internet has become a great
equalizer for car buying, which ranks among the biggest financial
decisions in a person's life.
Women have long complained they were ignored or intimidated by salesmen, according to Women-Drivers.com. Nine out of 10 car sales associates are men. Now, however, women walk into showrooms primed with scads of information about models, pricing, financing, options, most even know what the inventory position of a dealer is, according to Kelley Blue Book's Market Intelligence reports.
Some 76% of women consider websites a valuable asset to the car shopping process compared with 70% of males, the KBB report said. What's more, 51% of women visit a dealership's site as part of the research compared with 46% of men who do, while 70% of women look at inventory versus 64% of men. Women are more inclined to purchase a certified pre-owned car from a dealership than men, 29% to 18%, while men are more trusting, at 32%, buying a car from a third party than women, 22%.
Before the Internet and its hundreds, maybe even thousands of automobile
sites about buying, leasing, ratings, pricing, cost calculating,
safety, insurance, mileage and any other number of car issues, women
would visit from five to seven dealerships before settling on one, said
Women-Drivers.com's Fleming, who also calls herself a car-buying
advocate. "The Internet has made shopping for a car so much easier," she said. "Women are very savvy shoppers now."
Source 1: Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/women-might-be-the-more-savvy-car-shoppers-after-all-study-says-2012-1#ixzz1kfjwvTIx
Source 2: Market Watch: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/car-buying-tips-men-can-learn-from-women-2012-01-30?reflink=MW_GoogleNews
Stay tuned....Thursday's Blog Post highlights CARFAX reports, Certified Pre Owned Vehicle Inspections and ways to make sure your next vehicle is safe, reliable, and running smoothly!
Have a great day and Happy Reading!
--Jeanne
Jeanne Dennison
Communications Specialist
Stanley Subaru
www.stanleysubaru.com
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