Environmental concerns influencing one in four British car buyers

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Serj Heera
Press Relations Executive, Automotive
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Environmental concerns influencing one in four British car buyers

Nottingham, UK, 21 August 2008 - More than half of car owners (55 per cent) admit to being concerned about the impact their car has on the environment and one in four (26 per cent) cite that this concern will be a factor when they next come to buy a car, according to a recent survey of British car owners^[1][1] by Experian^®, the global information services company.

Experian’s survey reveals that women are significantly more likely than men to worry about whether their car affects the environment (65 per cent of women compared to 45 per cent of men).  They are also more likely to see it as an important factor when they next buy a car (30 per cent of women compared to 23 per cent of men). 

Kirk Fletcher, Managing Director of Experian’s Automotive division, said: “Our research shows that the environment is clearly becoming a bigger concern for car owners.  In our opinion, this is more likely to continue to grow rather than diminish and needs to be factored into the sales process.

“A car is the second biggest purchase a person is likely to make after a buying a house and customers concerned about the environment will have a lot of questions to ask before they make their final decision to buy.  Dealers need to have this information to hand to enhance the possibility of a sale.” 

This underlines precisely why Experian’s Environmental Report is a major addition to dealers’ sales tools and enables them to answer those questions that environmentally-aware car buyers will definitely want answers to.”

The survey also found:

• For people who change their cars regularly (within a three year cycle), the environment is a bigger factor in their final decision to buy (30 per cent) compared to people who keep their cars for a longer period of time (in particular between four and five years – 21 per cent). 
• Car owners who change their cars within three years are also slightly more inclined to delay buying a car as a result of environmental concerns.
• The likelihood of a car owner being concerned about the environment increases with age (63 per cent of those 55-64 compared to 52 per cent of 18 to 24 years olds).

The Environmental Report is another value add to Experian’s AutoCheck, one of the most comprehensive reports of its kind on the market, giving dealers information about the VED payable on a used vehicle over a period of either six or 12 months, as well as the CO2 emission data on a used vehicle.  It enables dealers to display the same information for their used car customers as they do for their new car customers.  For further information, please contact Experian’s Automotive team on 0870 414 0310 or email automotive.enquiries@uk.experian.com

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