More than half of the European consumers (52%) plan to postpone buying a new vehicle and they will keep their current one longer than originally intended in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Deloitte State of Consumer Tracker.
Respondents from Poland being the most cautious regarding the purchasing behavior (68%), followed by the Irish (61%) and the Spanish (60%). At the opposite end, only 32% of the Dutch have postponed their plans to buy a new vehicle.
The survey was conducted on 18.000 respondents from 18 countries, including nine European states – Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom -, in the second half of June 2020.
The study reveals that the pandemic also affects the sectors of services and products related to transportation, with ride-hailing companies being the most impacted, as almost half of the European consumers (45%) plan to limit the use of their services.
Furthermore, the study indicates that air companies may have a slow recovery, as only 27% of Europeans feel safe flying right now. Also, more than a quarter of the Spanish, Italians, British and Irish plan to put off regular maintenance services and 8% of the Europeans intend to spend less on fuel in the next four weeks.
The COVID-19 pandemic seems to increase the importance of vehicle ownership, as almost three quarters of the European consumers (72%) feel that owning a car is valuable during these times. In this context, more than half of the Europeans (54%) plan to limit the use of public transportation in the next three months.
When it comes to preferred means of buying a vehicle, 25% of the British are willing to use online purchase channels, followed by Polish (22%) and Germans (21%).
