Motorists in austerity Britain put economy first

Cash-strapped motorists plan to put economy ahead of every other factor for their next car purchase, according to a new report by car running cost experts CAP Automotive.
 
Exclusive research among motorists across austerity Britain reveals that economic aspects now trump every other car purchase consideration, including practicality, handling, performance and environmental impact.
 
Consumers were asked to rank the 16 most important aspects of their car ownership experience in order of priority.
 
The most important five were purchase price, fuel economy, running costs, overall total cost of ownership and service and maintenance costs.
 
The old image of the proud car owner showing off their latest vehicle for reasons of vanity is severely dented by the finding that pride in being seen in the right car is ranked 15th among reasons to choose a car.
 
The growing importance of economy over almost every other aspect of the car ownership experience is driven home by the finding that even practicality, handling and styling are now considered less important than the annual cost of a tax disc.
 
The research was conducted independently for CAP, the people behind ‘Total Cost of Motoring’ – a unique free tool that shines a spotlight on all the critical costs of car ownership, including depreciation – the biggest cost of all – to take the guesswork out of future daily running costs.
 
CAP Total Cost of Motoring (cap.co.uk/consumer) is a simple, free-to-use, tool that uses the benchmark used car value forecasts of CAP Automotive - Britain’s leading publisher of vehicle valuation and technical information - to provide a uniquely detailed view of anticipated depreciation, fuel, service, maintenance and other costs.
 
CAP Automotive’s Nick Flood said: “Even we were surprised at these findings because factors like practicality, handling, image and styling have historically been right at the top of the list of reasons for choosing a particular car.
 
“It is clear that things are changing in austerity Britain when families are putting practicality behind the cost of taxing the next car they plan to buy.”