Welcome to the second Carzone Motoring Report, a bi-annual digital publication focusing on the state of the Irish car market and the opinions of thousands of motorists.
The new car market may still be on the slow road to recovery, but used car sales have never been higher, giving Carzone.ie more influence over the nation’s motoring than ever before. Over 100 million searches for used cars were carried out on Carzone.ie during the first months of 2013. Carzone.ie is not only Ireland’s Ultimate Motoring Marketplace with over 20 million visits generating over 900 million page impressions last year, it’s also an authority on the used car market and the search data allows an incredibly detailed look at buying trends.
Some of the analysis in this document was made possible by accessing Cartell.ie’s database of vehicle transactions. Cartell.ie was the first company to offer car history checks in Ireland and continues to lead the industry. In this edition of the Carzone Motoring Report, Cartell.ie helped us take a closer look at the car finance situation, from what finance options are available to the rise of the car manufacturers’ own finance divisions.
Last, but certainly not least, we asked 2,356 car buyers a series of questions in a bid to understand their buying habits and opinions, including their car preferences and methods of financing. The results make for an interesting read and they combine with the search data and that from Cartell.ie to continue to illustrate what’s going on in the Irish car market.
Key Findings
More car buyers are turning to PCP-like finance options
Fuel and Road Tax are the two biggest financial concerns for Irish motorists
Extreme weather has a profound effect on Irish buying preferences
454,823 used cars were sold in the first six months of 2013
78% of survey respondents hope to use some form of car finance for their next car purchase
The best-selling new car was the Volkswagen Golf, which was also the most searched for car on Carzone.ie
Warren Cray
General Manager