Survey Finds Prime Shoppers Search by Payment Nearly as Often as Subprime
Prime and superprime shoppers use shop-by-payment tools to explore vehicles by monthly budget at nearly the same rate as subprime shoppers (78% vs. 80%), according to FlexPath DXP’s inaugural Automotive Shopper Credit & Payment Behavior Study.
The study analyzes the behavior of identity-verified shoppers on participating dealership websites from January through September. It finds prime and superprime shoppers are more likely than subprime shoppers to prequalify for a specific vehicle (44% vs. 30%), and 81% of their vehicle-specific prequalification requests originate from inventory search results or vehicle description pages, compared with 7.5% from finance pages.
“Among verified shoppers at participating dealerships, interest in personalized payment information was as high for Prime and Super Prime shoppers as for Subprime shoppers,” the report states. “What changed with credit was the question shoppers asked.”
Analysts say consumers across credit tiers want personalized payment information while shopping, not just at the end of the financing process. Among prime and superprime shoppers who begin by prequalifying for a specific vehicle, 81.5% go on to explore additional vehicles by payment, and one in four payment-shopping sessions begins between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
The findings are based on 4,773 verified shoppers with assigned credit tiers, drawn from a broader group of 17,218, each of whom completed their purchase between January and September.
