THE need for leasing brokers to be tech savvy is underlined by news that smartphones for online shopping has made internet car-buying almost indistinguishable from ordering a takeaway.
According to the online car supermarket BuyaCar.co.uk, the proportion of orders placed via a smartphone screen has exploded to almost 4 out of 5 cars sold in the past 12 months.
The company says that with 78.5% of orders now at least partly completed on mobile, buying a car online is becoming as normal as ordering a takeaway through an app.
There has been a sharp increase in online car ‘shopping’ during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Key to the mobile buying revolution at BuyaCar.co.uk has been the introduction of facial recognition in its finance application process, which enables even the vital fraud prevention step to be completed with a smartphone.
The pocket-size convenience of the small screen has seen phones squeeze tablets like the iPad into single figures and relegate laptop or desktop computers to a distant second place.
Three years ago orders for cars on BuyaCar.co.uk using desktop or laptop computers and smartphones were running neck and neck while almost one in 5 were being placed by tablet users. In 2017 desktops or laptops just had the edge, used for placing 41.4% of orders, followed by mobile at 40.4% and tablets used for the rest.
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So far this year visitors to the site are more than twice as likely to arrive on their phone, rising to a 78.5% likelihood of using the phone to complete their car search, add it to their shopping basket, make a finance application, complete fraud checks or connect with a BuyaCar adviser. This contrasts with 72.5% for desktop or laptop and just 8.2% involving tablets.
BuyaCar.co.uk believes increased use of smartphones in its transactions reflects the fact that the overwhelming majority of BuyaCar customers are in their 20s and 30s – age groups that have grown up with the smartphone.
Meanwhile, the reduction in tablet use in the car buying process may reflect the tendency for tablets to be most popular today with older users who are less likely to buy cars online.
Technological advances in fraud prevention have also helped to make smartphones a go-to tool for ensuring finance applicants are who they say they are.
BuyaCar.co.uk has implemented a facial recognition system that compares a customerâs face – via the smartphone camera – with photographs on official documents such as a driving license or passport.
It means that, for the first time, the purchase of even large and expensive items, requiring careful protection from fraud for both buyer and seller, can be completed on the go anywhere with mobile internet or wireless internet access.
AS expected, new car registrations in the UK during May, dropped dramatically, down almost 90%. But as showrooms reopen sales are expected to pick up quickly to meet pent up demand.
Latest figures from the SMMT show that 20,247 cars were registered in the month, as âclick and collectâ services, allowed from mid-month, saw some movement in the market.
However, with 163,477 fewer registrations than in the same month last year, the performance still marked the lowest May since 1952.
Private buyers accounted for the lionâs share of registrations at 63.7% of the market, equivalent to 12,900 units, while 6,638 cars went to fleets.
There were severe declines across all segments and fuel types, apart from battery electric vehicles, with 429 more units registered year on year in this exceptional month as pre-orders of the latest premium models were delivered to customers.
The overall market is now down 51.4% in the first five months of 2020, at just over half a million registrations compared with more than one million at this point last year.
While car showrooms in England were given the green light to re-open following more than two months of lost trading. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (until next week), however, car showrooms remain closed.
