They tend to be more concerned about safety and reliability than about horsepower and acceleration
Traditionally, women have leaned on men when buying a car. As more women own cars and gather the courage to confront car dealers, researchers in big car markets like Japan, USA, and Germany and concluding that men could a few tricks from women when it comes to getting the best deals.
Women, according to recent studies, are more informed and levelheaded than men in the vehicle showroom.
According to online research, men tend to rely on what is assumed they know and what they believe they know, while women believe in the importance of asking all the necessary questions, even if they think they might know the answers.
Apparently, it’s a question of ego; women are not afraid to ask the questions men fear will make them appear weak and uninformed. Women, meanwhile, exploit the same questions to get a different angle or depth on a subject. Women will ask questions whose answers they, in fact, already know.
An online article on the subject quotes Anne Fleming, the president of Women-Drivers.com, a consumer ratings site. She says women do more research and, as a group, are considerably more pragmatic in their vehicle choices. They tend to be more concerned about safety and reliability than about horsepower and acceleration.
In one survey in America, 95% of women listed safety performance as their biggest concern during the shopping process, with 94% interested in the incident history of the car.
Men, on the other hand, at 83%, rated driving performance as their top issue, with engine performance at 75%.
Nearly 74% of men ranked aesthetics a major issue, at No. 3, compared with just 46% of women -- dead last among the top nine concerns -- who did. The style differences also are evident in purchasing history. Women favor vehicles such as SUVs, small compact crossovers and four-door sedans. Men are more apt to buy a truck and certainly have more preference for sports cars than women do.
Women also want confirmation of quality. Women, for example, order vehicle inspections some 67% of the time when they’re buying a car compared with 55% of men, according to one survey.
The Internet has become a great equalizer for car buying, offering an abundance of information about features and pricing.
Now, however, women walk into showrooms primed with scads of information about models, pricing, and financing and options.
Some 76% of women consider websites a valuable asset to the car-shopping process compared with 70% of men. What’s more, 51% of women visit a car selling point as part of the research compared with 46% of men.
Stereotype or science?
Sales experts have for long noted the tendency for women and men to behave very differently when shopping. They attribute it to something they call neurofocus, a blend of neuroscience and marketing.
In his new book on neurofocus, The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind, A.K. Pradeep, delves into the way people — especially women — think when they’re making buying decisions. Findings include:
Women have a better ability to multi-task and track more things at the same time.
They also take the time to compare, evaluate and consider while they’re shopping, before they make a purchase.
Men get in, get what’s needed, and get out.
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