Co-op Insurance and Thatcham research find that car buyers care more about performance than safety
A new study by Co-op Insurance suggests that a vehicle’s safety is at the bottom of buyers’ considerations when purchasing a new car.
The insurance provider and vehicle safety specialists, Thatcham Research, joined up to survey 2,000 motorists throughout the UK, to find out what buyers are most attracted to when making that all-important automotive purchase.
Quite obviously, safety is way down at the bottom of the list when it comes to buyer considerations, as 68 per cent of those asked in the survey did not even know the safety rating of their current vehicle and 54 per cent admitted never asking any safety related questions during the purchasing period.
Safety is not an important consideration for car buyers
Here is a list of buyer considerations in order of importance when buying a used vehicle, according to Co-op Insurance and Thatcham Research:
1. Price
2. Value for money
3. Brand
4. Mileage
5. Colour
6. Appearance (condition)
7. Performance
8. Fuel economy
9. Size
10. Safety
Co-op Insurance and Thatcham Research believe that over-complicated vehicle safety lingo is partly to blame for this obvious lack of interest in car safety.
Technical terms such as ‘Mid-speed Collision Mitigation System’ and ‘ISOFIX’ left 71 per cent and 60 per cent (respectively) of the people surveyed utterly confused.
However, Thatcham Research said buyers should do some reading and really consider a vehicle’sĀ safety credentials, as buying a carĀ with a Euro NCAP rating of five stars (such as the Volvo V40 2012+ or VW Golf 2012+) can increase the chance of surviving an auto collision by 60 per cent.
Matthew Avery, of Thatcham Research, said: āThe key safety questions to consider when purchasing a used car are: firstly what Euro NCAP rating does it have (five stars are what you should be looking for), does it have AEB fitted and what other safety technology options, often found in safety packs, are available.ā
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