Women and the Car Market
By Dr Renate Volpe
May 2006

During the month of May, I was asked to speak at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) conference. I was asked to address the question: Who is the current female buyer, and how do we make her purchasing experience a more positive one?

Always being one to prepare more, rather than less, I really got my teeth into the topic and sent questionnaires to, and had conversations with 300 women, both in and outside of this industry.

During my foray into this industry my respect for those in it grew.

Never did I realize just what a tough industry this was, or how resilient the people in it needed to be. They are pressurized by shareholders, staff, and customers alike. Over and above this, it is said that the manufacturers whose franchises they hold, are dictatorial in their approach.

As a background to the research I came upon some local and international research which follows similar trends. 30% of women earn more than their husbands. Women dictate 80% of all household expenditure. They are staying single for longer, and are delaying having children in favour of choosing material benefits, such as cars. 40% of women buying cars are single. 50% of them own the homes they live in. 52% of women buy new cars. 53% of used cars are sold to women. Women have 95% veto power over the choice of a car. Women finance 20% of entry level vehicles. More black women (20%) than black men (17%) are buying cars.

Women are emotional, yes it’s true! We even form relationships with our cars. Referring to their cars as “my friend, my protector and my all”. Statements like; “without my car I am nothing,” “I would rather not have a phone than not have my car.” “Driving is my time for relaxation.”, are commonly heard. The most used descriptor use by women when referring to the car's image, is the word “sexy”.

As regards the purchasing experience; 60 % of those interviewed had a good experience and a 40% indicated a negative experience. The requirements of sales people were to be: good listeners, to ask appropriate questions, not to give well rehearsed speeches, and to be technically knowledgeable. The gender of the sales person was not relevant.

The women interviewed were very outspoken on a number of issues: Firstly, the fact that women were draped over cars to sell them, was considered offensive. Secondly, suggesting that those women selling cars, refrain from using their female wiles to do so. Thirdly, was the fact that when accompanied by a male irrespective, of whether the car was for them or whether they were signing the check, regular examples were given of the sales person addressing conversation to the male partner.

Interestingly enough 71% of women felt they knew something about the technical aspects of a car.

Features desired, are reliability, safety, leg room, seating space, good fuel consumption, good freeway plans, safety, image, air conditioner, and power. Manual and petrol were far more popular than automatic and diesel. Buttons able to accommodate long nails, freezer boxes for groceries, places to put handbags and unbreakable windows featured in the women’s list of requests.

As customers, women want to be involved and have their feedback taken seriously. They love un-trumpeted extras. Want to be assisted with comparison shopping, and appreciate respectful, well-informed and intelligent sales and service staff who are prepared to go the extra mile.

A loud appeal was heard for cars being fetched for services, and returned the same day. The rational of taking a car in for a service and having to fetch it a peak traffic hours was questioned. Courtesy cars were a must.

Critical for car dealers is to understand the Power of the Purse. Women represent multiple markets and are well informed before they come to buy a car. They talk to their friends, they surf the internet, they read an average of 4 car magazines. When they buy, they buy for their families, their businesses and make recommendations to their colleagues. Important to note is that fact that 51% of company purchasing agents are female.

Most of all women value trust, added value and convenience. They do not wish to be patronized. They want sales and service people to understand that they are intelligent people who are open to being educated appropriately. They don’t want people to assume that because they are female they want a hatch back for the kids. They want the sales person to understand that women do not fit into the three stereotypes of harassed house wife, frantic career women, or sexy model. It is much more complicated than that. It is not about age, it is about their stage of life. Women are no longer forging their identities in relation to the men, or the children in their lives. Their journey is one of individuality and a pursuit of self respect. The complexity of the journey of transition for women, and the implication for the multiple roles which they play in society has been largely underestimated.

The sales person is selling to a state of mind. It is most definitely not about showing the prospective female buyer how much you know about women, it is simply about finding out who the women is in front of you is. Is she a mother or not? Is she involved with her children or not? Does she have hobbies? What are her needs? Key questions to ask are: "What does a typical day look like for you? What would an ideal day entail?"