Women Uncomfortable with Car Buying Process

MCCLEAN, Va. – Despite the increased availability of online car-buying options that minimize consumers’ need to visit a dealer site, women purchasing a vehicle still feel uncomfortable with the car-buying experience. A survey of more than 800 female car buyers age 25-55 by Capital One Financial Corp. found 75% of the women surveyed intend to bring a man along when they purchase their next vehicle, mostly to feel they’re getting a fair deal. Nearly three-quarters of the women surveyed reported that the most difficult aspects of the car-buying process relate to the financial features of the transaction. For example, when asked, 31% of the women listed the ability to obtain a good deal on price; pressures from a sales person to buy more of a car than they can afford, 16%; the ability to understand all of the purchase fees and costs, 16%; and obtaining a good deal on a loan, 11%, as the most difficult parts of the process. The survey also showed that auto loans are often overlooked by female car buyers. When asked to rank aspects of the purchase process they spent the most time researching, car loans ranked last. Nearly 50% of the female car buyers indicated they hadn’t conducted any research on their vehicle loan.