Consumers want to shift to private vehicles post Covid-19 lockdown: CARS24 Report

Lockdown is altering several habits of people across nations including the way they used to travel before Covid and other essentials.

According to a report by CARS24, an auto-tech start-up, a considerable share of the commuters will now look forward to using private cars in the post Covid world to essentially maintain social distancing, however, affordability and convenience of public transport will keep attracting daily commuters.

Contemplating the economic state of the nation and growing concern for the safety of the family members, several people are rationing their budgets for high ticket assets. According to the survey, 46 per cent of respondents said that they have decreased their budget due to the global pandemic, out of which, 50 per cent said that they will be purchasing pre-owned cars once the lockdown is over.

22.5 per cent of the consumers, who were planning to buy a new car last year would now prefer to buy a pre-owned car because of their limited budgets.

Sharing the insights about the consumer’s response, Gajendra Jangid, Co-Founder and CMO, CARS24 stated in the official release: “Global pandemic has surely transformed the way we used to live and has forced us to think of making a change in our usual practices including the way we used to commute. Understanding that social distancing will stay in our lives for a little longer period in the post COVID world, people are more inclined towards owning a private vehicle to commute in the future.”

The CMO further added: “The commuters are not only limiting their budgets for high priced assets but are also planning to invest their hard-earned money much more wisely and are keener to buy a pre-owned car instead of a new one. Expecting the change and the way people will buy cars in the future, we expect that ¼ of our consumers would like to shift to online car selling/ buying platforms in the post COVID world.”

Other observations

The survey further revealed that in addition to the reduction in the budget of the buyers due to the global pandemic, family requirements and the risk of Infection have emerged as the major reasons for buying a car amongst the consumers. The report disclosed that while 42 per cent of respondents feel that they now need to buy a car for the family, 53 per cent of the consumers think of buying one within the next 6 months.

However, unlike metros where consumers intend to buy cars increased by 41 per cent, respondents from non-metro cities feel that they would like to switch to two-wheelers instead.

The analysis showed that 55 per cent of the consumers who were using cabs as their primary mode to commute before COVID would now like to shift to private cars, while 15 per cent said that they will switch to two-wheelers.

Conducted using various digital platforms, the survey interviewed over 3600 consumers in 11 metros and 37 non-metro cities to understand their sentiments towards car ownership in the post COVID world.

Comprising over 59 per cent of the respondents from the metro cities and 41 per cent respondents from the non-metro cities, 30 per cent of the respondents, interestingly, do not own a car. The report comprised 83 per cent male responders and 27 per cent female responders.

COMMENT NOW