Which vehicle makes on dealers’ lots are most price sensitive? The Cars.com June 2018 On-the-Lot report found the answer.

The Cars.com On-the-Lot reports use our patented Lot Insights technology to examine mobile shopping behavior when consumers are on a dealership’s lot. The report is based on aggregated data we glean from people who use Cars.com on a mobile device. For June, we looked at the ways shoppers engaged with the Estimate Monthly Payment feature on our mobile site or app, by vehicle make and price range. We found:

Activity by Vehicle

  • For used and new non-luxury makes, more people were looking up estimated monthly payments for Ford than any other make. Despite some variance in the rankings, the Top 5 for both non-luxury used and new makes were Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Jeep, and Honda.
  • For used and new luxury makes, BMW was the most engaged. Luxury makes showed some variance between used and new categories. Lexus and INFINITI made the Top 5 for used luxury but not for new luxury (Acura and Land Rover rounded out the Top 5 for new luxury makes).

That the above vehicles are receiving the most engagement indicates how price-sensitive consumers are about them. Dealerships should be prepared to compare and validate the data that consumers are getting from their mobile devices while they are on your lot and discuss the factors that influence price, such as manufacturers’ promotions or optional features available for each vehicle.

Activity by Price Range

We also examined which VDPs got the most engagement based on their price range. We found:

  • Vehicles costing $10,000-$20,000 get the most engagement. Vehicles costing $20,000-$30,000 get the second most, and vehicles costing $1,000-$10,000 get the third most engagement. Engagement remains consistent whether shoppers are on the lot or not. This consistency suggests that Cars.com shoppers are researching price aggressively off the lot to prepare themselves for their on-the-lot experience and then continuing their research on the lot. Cars.com shoppers are serious about understanding price!

Dealers: shoppers visiting your lot are probably validating the pricing information they see in person versus what they learned before they visited your dealership. Make sure that you are  familiar with the Estimate Monthly Payment tool and use it with VDPs you list on Cars.com as well as on your lot – and be sure that the information is consistent. For more insight, check out the complete June 2018 report here.