Buying a car - all that mattered was everything but the car

Up until ten to fifteen years back in India, buying a car was not a very complicated buying process. And I say this primarily because the consideration set was not too large. Few options, easier choice.

But the scenario is different now. There are umpteen options and the buyers are bombarded and spoilt for choice. How then in such a market, does a consumer decide? What are the factors that play a role in deciding which car to buy? The models/stars who come in the advertisements? Or the mileage? Engine capacity? Leg room? How many factors come in to play when we are actually in the process of deciding our next vehicle?

Our family just went through this process and this gave us a first-hand experience of what goes inside an automotive-buying-consumer's head. Keep into consideration that the final user of the vehicle was my mom and we were looking for a mid-segment car. I surprised myself with the list because I started with just a few. But it kept growing. And growing. And growing. Following are some of the factors, starting from the factors that least affected our final decision to the ones that played the most important role in our decision. But make no mistake, no matter how trivial a factor seemed, it did cross our mind and did play its part in the decision.

(least impact on final choice)

1. Online promotion
2. Provision of payment in installments
3. Trunk space
4. Door closing sound
5. TV Commericals
6. Height of the car - high / low
7. Music system
8. Air bags and general safety options
9. Driver's seat adjustments - forward/back and up/down
10. Feel of the keys
11. Delivery delay
12. Gender of the car model
13. Availability in Automatic transmission
14. Availability of Diesel or CNG variant
15. Mileage
16. Booking amount
17. Showroom design (Servicescape)
18. Sales executive interactions
19. Colours available in the car model
20. Dashboard style
21. Interiors + leg room
22. Controls on the steering
23. Perception about the Brand
24. Abundance on the road
25. Test drive booking and response
26. Availability of fully-loaded model at the showroom / test-drive
27. Proximity to the service stations
28. Brand history / heritage 
29. Self driven or chauffeur driven
30. The real need - utility fulfillment or hedonic satisfaction
31. Proximity with other manufacturer's showroom
32. Feedback from known people

(maximum impact on final choice)

Well, that's a huge list, isn't it? Some extremely small factors which we probably don't realise (like the sound of the door when it closes) to some very apparent factors (like feedback from people) - these factors would rank differently for different individuals and families. I will take you through some of the above and rational it out -


1. Online promotion - Did not make iota of a difference in our final purchase. Nor did it affect us in the consideration set.

2. Provision of payment in installments - was not an important factor because we did not want to take a loan to pay for the purchase. This will of course rank high in terms of an important factor for lot of families.

4. Door closing sound - trivial as you might think, the sound did register in our mind and represented a characteristic of the car.

5. TV Commercials - Surprise factor! Commercials did not play an important role in deciding which car to buy. Not at all.

7. Music system - not an extremely important factor for us because most of the vehicle music systems are "good enough" for day-to-day use. "Plays FM and CD player? Good enough" was the reaction by mom. Of course additions like a USB input, et cetera would have been good-to-have features, but the end user of the car (my mom) was not too demanding.

8. Safety features - we assumed all cars meet a minimum standard of safety in the country. A check with the sales executive about the number of 'air bags' was pretty much all we enquired about. Did not matter much if he said 1 or 6.

10. Feel of the keys - Interesting, isn't it? The sales executive in one of the showrooms gave the keys as soon as we entered. Instant connection with the car! Brilliant sales technique.

12. Gender of the car - every car has a gender. SUVs are definitely Male. Small cute cars may feel feminine to some. Important factor.

15. Mileage - Wondering why this is more towards the not so important factors? That's because cars of a similar segment today have nearly the same mileage. Or that's what I feel.

17 & 18. Showroom servicescape and Sales Executive interactions - Wonder what's wrong with the automobile companies in India. Both the showroom and the executive are important customer touchpoints. Bad sales executive experience surely breaks the deal. It sure does. On the spot. The servicescape (design of the showroom) portrays a lot too - the color mix, abundance of space, et cetera.

19. Colour availability - Interesting factor. The colour we found in one of the models almost sealed the deal, primarily based on that colour. Remember the Indian ad "mera waala pink" of a Wall colour product long time back? The same marketing concept could potentially be a winner in Automobile industry as well!

29. Self driven or chauffeur driven - a factor that made a lot of difference in our final decision. If the car is to be given to a new chauffeur, don't get a high maintenance/expensive car! If an experienced chauffeur or you yourself are driving the car, the dynamics change.

30. The real need - utility fulfillment or hedonic satisfaction - if one is buying purely for hedonic satisfaction, then who cares about the above 29 factors?

31. Proximity with other manufacturer's showroom - Food court phenomenon. Lots of showrooms together. Good thing.

32. Feedback from known people - this is what sealed it. A relative had just bought a car. And highly recommended the buy. Another relative who is an expert in this subject recommended the same car. Biggest factor by far.

What was clear from the above experience was that the car itself did not play such an important factor, but factors external to it made a huge difference. The salesmenship.. The pitching.. the showroom.. the colours.. and so many so-thought trivial factors made much more impact! With so many cars in the market, in each segment, such factors are so much more magnified that the manufacturers and marketers cannot turn a blind eye to them!

Which car did we finally buy? Volkswagen Vento, later awarded the 'Car of the year 2010' :) good choice I say. Never thought it takes whole lot more than just manufacture a good car to be successful in today's market - Marketing really is central to survival today. But is that not the case with most of the industries today? At least for most of the products directed at the middle segment of the society?