Vehicle buyers remain happier with the shopping experience overall than before the onset of the pandemic nearly two years ago, even as a shortage of cars and trucks and higher prices on dealership lots dimmed their satisfaction last year.
Those were among the findings of a Cox Automotive consumer survey released last week. Buyers' satisfaction with the shopping experience from the research stage through delivery dipped to 66 percent in 2021, down from 72 percent in 2020 but an improvement from 60 percent in 2019, according to the survey.
The percentage of online steps in a transaction for a consumer aligned with higher satisfaction levels, Cox Automotive researchers concluded. And buyers' satisfaction with their experience while at a dealership remained above pre-pandemic levels — 75 percent last year, just a slight dip from 77 percent in 2020 but better than 70 percent in 2019, according to the survey.