Online car shopping gets better reviews than visiting a dealer

Progressive chopped up the results of a survey of 501 people who have bought cars in person at dealerships and online, and rendered the results into a some coherent findings and graphs. Based on the 251 people who completed a transaction entirely online or through a dealer web site, and the 250 who did solely face-to-face business, there are two big takeaways. The first is that online shopping, still a small percentage of overall car sales, is growing rapidly in acceptance and actual transactions. And remember a few years ago when there was worrying sentiment that millennials preferred their phones to cars, and didn't see the need to own a vehicle when there were so many other options? No more. The second takeaway is that millennials are a major part of the online sales growth.

The last two years forced a ton of brick and mortar businesses online, including dealerships. Some did a canonball into the deep end of the Internet with everything from at-home test drives to digital paperwork. Some had a salesman's son make an ugly web page listing outdated inventory that didn't always have photos. Overall, though, online shoppers expressed more joy with the process than showroom floor shoppers. Compared to 78% of buyers highly satisfied with buying a car online, only 58% of in-person shoppers registered the same pleasure. That carried through to trade-ins and financing as well. Eight percent of online shoppers were highly satisfied with the trade-in process, versus 57% of dealership visitors; 70% of online shoppers gave the highest marks to the financing process as opposed to 53% of guests asked to "Step into the office" and wait while the salesperson conferred with the finance manager.

As far who got the majority of online business from survey respondents, Carvana earned the money of 21% of respondents.