Google says SUVs driving demand in pre-owned car market in India

Utility vehicles (UVs) are the most searched used car type on Google in India. This finding is part of a report, compiled by Google India in association with Mahindra First Choice Wheels, which analyses the search trends of used car queries and actual market behaviour in India. Mahindra First Choice Wheels is a leading multi-brand certified used car player in the country.

Pre-owned UVs constitute a majority (47%) share of all used car queries in India and are the primary driver of online used car demand. They are followed by hatchbacks (20%), sedans and luxury cars. This growth in demand also matches with offline sales for SUVs at Mahindra First Choice outlets across India, where SUVs sales have grown from 6% to 10% in the past 3 years.

Indicating a growing demand for used cars in India, the number of used car queries on Google Search have grown 20 times in 6 years, with a 30% increase YoY in 2014. The report says used car buyers are increasingly relying on the Internet for their research before they arrive at a final purchase decision. As many as 8 in 10 potential used car buyers seem to be undecided about which used car to buy. Most commonly searched queries involve questions around budget, brands, fuel type and ownership.

“The used car consumer is highly underserved in India as the industry is characterised by a lack of formal distribution and service networks. The industry suffers from a significant trust deficit between buyers and sellers. This is also reflected in the search behaviour in India; there seems very low awareness as well as low curiosity to know about ‘certification’ or ‘warranty’ on used cars. We see a significant amount of queries for certified used cars in developed markets like the US. This probably is a clue to the direction in which the market will evolve over the years as it gets more organised,” said Gaurav Kapur, Industry Head for Auto Vertical, Google India.

According to Mahindra First Choice, the proportion of first-time buyers has declined but there is an increase in the ‘multiple car in the family’ segment. However, the first-time buyer still remains the largest category for a used car customer.

“The used car market is now not only larger in size, but also growing at a rate faster than the new car market while undergoing structural changes and getting more organized. As user understanding evolves, the organised used car market is likely to see 15-20% growth in the next 4-5 years,” said Dr Nagendra Palle, CEO of Mahindra First Choice Wheels.

Other highlights of the study is that shoppers of multi-brand cars at Mahindra First Choice outlets indicate a growing preference for diesel cars, a trend which is similar to the growing number of diesel cars queries on Google search.

The most number of used car searches come from Maharashtra, followed by South India, West Bengal, NCR, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. In the used car searches, Honda is the most searched used car brand on Google with the Honda City being the top slot for the most searched used car.