The concept of online car purchases may have gained great traction in lockdown, but 90% of customers want some kind of personal interaction when buying a new car according to a new UK survey.

A study of 2,150 car owners by JudgeService found that only 10% were prepared to embrace a totally digital car buying experience, with 73% saying they would prefer to visit a dealership in person.

As expected it was mainly young buyers leaning toward the online purchase, but even here the percentage was only around 13%.

MD of JudgeService, Neil Addley, said, “Our findings challenge the popular view that younger buyers are more likely to buy a car online, either by delivery or click and collect. It is clear majority of buyers, across all age groups, want to visit a showroom in person to buy their next car.”

The survey also found the 81% of car owners want to change their vehicle as soon they can and went on to say that dealers who are proactive and invite customers in will benefit most from pent up demand.