US: Dealers Take Notice as More People Use Phones to Buy Cars

EBay Motors, a division of eBay Inc., did a study of millennials and found that more than a third used their mobile phone to help research pricing and other factors while on dealer lots. That’s compared to 19% for other age categories.

The firm made the survey results public at the National Auto Dealers Association convention in Orlando.

Car buyers have been using the Internet to research vehicles for a decade, but often that research is dropped the minute a car buyer walks into a dealership.

With the boom in smart phones, however, car buyers now can largely carry that information with them to a dealership and ensure that they get a fair price for a vehicle and have the ability to ask questions about advertised incentives.

In consumer electronics, the use of the mobile phone has hurt companies like Best Buy, because consumers can go to their physical stores, try out equipment and then order things online at a lower price.

For car shoppers, buying a car online is still in its infancy, though eBay Motors connects buyers and sellers and sets up transactions. The actual transaction still takes place with standard paperwork.

EBay has a mobile application that allows people to purchase cars through their phones. Sales using the application total 10,000 a week, up from 2,600 a year earlier.