Car-Buying Conundrum: Consumers Say One Thing, But Respond to Another When Buying a Car

Three Out of Four Say They Prefer Low Everyday Pricing, Yet Sales Data Shows Consumers Respond to Incentives

TOLEDO, Ohio, Aug. 16 -- According to a Maritz(R) Poll conducted earlier this year by the Maritz Automotive Research Group, one of the world's leading automotive consumer research firms, 75 percent of consumers say they prefer a low retail price without incentives to a higher price with incentives. However, recent consumer buying behavior doesn't necessarily concur. Automakers who offered employee pricing incentives last summer are seeing lower sales this summer as they attempt to stick to a strategy of offering vehicles at a low retail price without customer incentives.

"It's clear from the poll that consumers say they don't want to play the incentives game, but their buying patterns are inconsistent with what they say," said David Ensing, director of research and development, the Maritz Automotive Research Group. "They say they want everyday low prices; however, their behavior indicates that they have been conditioned to wait for the 'big sale.' There's little urgency to buy a vehicle unless there's a large discount."

  Top reasons respondents say they prefer everyday low pricing:

    Reason                                Percentage
    Better deal                           68 percent
    Easier process                        58 percent
    Smaller down payment                  48 percent
    No worry of better incentives         35 percent
    Easier to get outside financing       27 percent

  Those who prefer customer incentives cite the following reasons:

    Reason                                Percentage
    Helps the negotiation process         58 percent
    Less out-of-pocket expense            50 percent
    Gets the lowest overall price         47 percent

"This data might hold the key to helping automakers avoid sales slumps that have resulted from consumers waiting for the deep discounts," said Ensing. "If the automotive industry can showcase the appealing benefits of everyday low prices -- including getting a better deal, creating an easier process and making a smaller down payment -- with the same level of marketing support they give incentives and sales, consumers' actions might become more consistent with what respondents said they wanted when buying a car."

About Maritz(R) Poll

Maritz(R) Poll is a copyrighted poll conducted since 1988 by Maritz Research Inc. Maritz Poll comprises regular surveys on topics related to the automotive, financial services, hospitality, retail, technology, and telecommunications sectors as well as workplace issues. For this poll, 1,028 adult owners and drivers of vehicles were surveyed. Margin of error for the overall poll is +/-3 percent. Results of the poll may be used in print or broadcast media, provided credit is given to the Maritz Poll and/or Maritz Research. For more information, visit http://www.maritzpoll.com/ or call 1-877-4MARITZ.

About Maritz Research and the Automotive Research Group

As one of the world's largest marketing research firms, Maritz Research, a unit of Maritz Inc., helps many of today's most successful companies improve performance through a deep understanding of their customers, employees and channel partners. Founded in 1973, it offers a range of strategic and tactical solutions concentrating primarily in the automotive, financial services, hospitality, telecommunications, retail, workplace and technology industries. The company has achieved ISO 9001 registration, the international symbol of quality. It is a member of CASRO and official sponsor of the American Marketing Association.

The Maritz Automotive Research Group (ARG) is one of the world's leading providers of automotive consumer research. Based in Toledo, Ohio, the group also has offices in Detroit, Los Angeles, Toronto, Hamburg, and London. Maritz currently conducts customer satisfaction programs that cover 70 percent of the new cars and light trucks sold in the United States. In support of these programs, Maritz conducts more than 1 million telephone interviews and mails more than 40 million questionnaires each year. Over 17,000 North American and European automotive dealers have access to their customer satisfaction analysis and other research results on Web sites created and managed by Maritz.

Based in St. Louis, Maritz Inc. provides market and customer research, communications, learning solutions, incentive initiatives, meetings and event management, rewards and recognition, travel management services, and customer loyalty programs. Maritz has a presence in 42 countries, with key offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain. For more information, visit http://www.maritz.com/ .