How are consumers likely to foot the bill for their next vehicle?

Car ownership is not only a pivotal life moment but also a major financial decision – one that reverberates globally. In this article, we shed light on the ways people pay for their vehicles

A third of international consumers say they are most likely to pay for a vehicle in cash entirely using their savings (34%). On the other hand, a fifth say they would rely on an auto loan (19%).

A closer look at the choices made by consumers across 7 key markets (Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, the US, UAE and India) reveals further nuances.

Paying for a vehicle using cash savings is the most popular method of payment across all 7 markets, albeit in varying proportions. Compared to more than two out five Britons who say they are likely to use this payment method (42%), less than a third of consumers in Mexico and the UAE (29% for both) and a quarter of consumers in the US (25%) say the same.

Consumers in Great Britain (23%), Sweden (23%) and the US (24%) are more than twice as likely to say they don’t know how they would pay for their next vehicle purchase compared to consumers in Mexico and the UAE (11% and 12%).

While almost a quarter of respondents in Denmark (25%), the UAE (23%) and India (23%) say they are most likely to pay for a vehicle using an auto loan, a significantly smaller share of Britons say the same – only 4%.

Consumers in Mexico stand out as most likely to pay using dealer financing (14%) as opposed to the other six markets where only about one out of twenty consumers say the same.

Manufacturer financing, employee purchase programs and car subscription services remain the least popular payment methods, not just across the seven markets above, but also internationally (2%, 1% and 1% respectively). 

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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 501 and 2,023 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.