Female car buyers smarter than men: expert

When it comes to buying a new car women are smarter and haggle harder than most men, says a veteran of the Australian motor industry. And, warns Tony Devers, who has been in the trade for more than 30 years, sales staff who insist on negotiating with the man of house won't survive in the modern showroom.

"Today's female car buyers are much more savvy customers than men," said Devers at the launch of the new Suzuki Alto model. Devers has worked for several car brands, runs his own dealership and is now the boss of Suzuki Australia.

"Women do more research than men and they know more about what they want. In some cases they can know more about a particular car than the salesperson."

Devers came to this conclusion following a study he commissioned into new-car dealerships across the country. For the past three years he has had every one of Suzuki's network of dealerships visited twice every three months by researchers posing as customers. The "mystery shopper" study was designed to see if sales staff habits had moved with the times.

"The internet age has changed the way people get their information, and so it is very hard for anyone to pull to the wool over [a customer's] eyes," he said.

"In the case of women, the simple fact that they know more about what they're buying puts them in a better position to negotiate."

Devers said the industry was yet to rid itself of some bad habits, but believes one of the worst is hopefully gone. That is, when a sales person refuses to negotiate until the husband, father or brother of the female buyer comes to the dealership.

"If that happened today, that sales person wouldn't be long in the job," said Devers.

When asked whether he meant they were new to job, or would soon be out of a job, he said: "Their performance would dictate they wouldn't keep their job because they likely wouldn't be selling many cars."

A mystery shopper program is commonly used by the car industry to check on its own dealers -- and those of its rivals. Generally, the research is presented to the company who commissioned the study -- and the dealer who was "mystery shopped".

"You still can come across some pretty surprising things," he says. "But that's why this process is in place: to weed out any remaining bad habits."

Devers said that, generally speaking, the industry had improved, based on the customer feedback studies he has seen.

"Ten or even five years ago, the industry had a real problem, but the worst is behind us," he says.

"I know people have probably heard all that before, but the feedback is really quite clear. Especially the power of women."

He said women buy 50 per cent of all new cars.

"Anyone who under-estimates the car knowledge and bargaining power of a female car-buyer does so at their peril," he says.

"Women are more business-like and they already have a high level of caution going into the process, so they're more thorough."

Devers also said women were more open minded than men about what types of cars they would buy.

"Women don't limit themselves in terms of what car they choose," he says.

"They will consider all options. Australian women will consider a car that might be skewed towards men, providing it suits their requirements, but men rarely will consider a car they perceive is more skewed towards women."

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