Auto Trader’s new research shows its users have a budget of up to £5,386 more than the UK average when looking to buy a car

Auto Trader, the UK’s no 1 motoring website and magazine, has today released new research from over 13,000 motorists*, which shows that its magazine readers have a budget of £7,168 on average to spend on their next car, with AutoTrader.co.uk users having a budget of £9,939on average – over £5,300 more than the UK average of £4,553**. (*Source: Auto Trader, April 2008, 13,237 respondents). (**Source: BCA Used Car Report 2007).

According to research, the largest of its kind and conducted amongst Auto Trader magazine users and AutoTrader.co.uk visitors, magazine users spend on average 46 minutes each reading Auto Trader, with web visitors spending 29 minutes browsing the site. Over a third of magazine readers and a third of website users are looking to purchase a car within the next four weeks.

When looking to find ‘the one’ vehicle for them, the customer research showed that the AutoTrader.co.uk website was popular during the research stage and the magazine was popular when further along the decision making process.

Marcus Jones, Director of National Sales at Trader Media Group, comments: “Auto Trader attracts over eleven and a half million UK consumers that buy online and through the magazine. This research highlights that we have built the largest captive audience of motorists in the UK and shows the level at which consumers are engaging with our website and magazine. For example, new car messages in the magazine worked very well in attracting motorists, and therefore ‘offer led’ and tactical advertising messages are successful in the magazine as they are very close to making a purchase.

“Furthermore, the magazine’s strength in classified advertising across all motoring related products such as ‘Parts & Accessories’ and ‘Finance & Insurance’ was well received by readers in this research, and we are continuing to invest heavily in these areas on and offline during 2008 to enhance and improve them further.

“Over the years, we have built an unrivalled reputation for providing our advertisers with the most cost-effective and integrated channels to market. This research shows that the Auto Trader magazine and website are both highly valuable sales tools for trade and consumer advertisers alike.”