Welcome to the third Carzone Motoring Report, a bi-annual digital publication focusing on the state of the Irish car market and the opinions of thousands of motorists.
Following a positive first few months of 2014 in terms of new car sales, its clear there’s optimism in the market and more consumer confidence than there was this time last year.
Used car transactions were significantly up last year too, and they show no sign of slowing any time soon. Carzone.ie remains at the forefront of bringing high-quality used cars and happy buyers together. Over 60 million searches for used cars were carried out on Carzone.ie during the second half of 2013.
Carzone.ie is not only Ireland’s Ultimate Motoring Marketplace with over 18 million visits generating over 740 million page impressions last year, it’s also an authority in the used car market and the search data allows an incredibly detailed look at buying trends. To complement the search data (from which we extracted county-by-county trends for the first time) we surveyed 2,187 Irish motorists of all ages and backgrounds.
We asked them to tell us about their car buying and selling preferences, how they feel about the economy, what their biggest financial worries are and, for a bit of fun, what they think about in-car technology. The results were illuminating as ever and while some of the old stereotypes are alive and well (men love tech, women don’t care, for instance), things like colour preference and daily commute were largely universal.
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 look at the situation across the country, so there’s less focus solely on Dublin. As we move into what we all hope is a period of sustainable growth for Ireland, the car market and our analysis of it remain a fascinating barometer.
We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Key Findings
Fuel and Road Tax are the two biggest financial concerns for Irish motorists
The proportion of petrol cars to diesel in the fleet is on the decrease, however, demand for second-hand diesel cars outstrips supply.
Irish motorists have quite short commutes and in the long run would be better off with a petrol car
Demand and interest in electric cars remains low
The Volkswagen Golf remains the most searched for used car on the market.
Women spend considerably less per annum on their car than men.
Warren Cray
General Manager