The car-buying journey in 2026 breaks down not at awareness, but at the moment a ready buyer tries to take action, and that gap is costing automotive brands measurable revenue.
We surveyed 310 car buyers in Germany to understand what's really happening between digital research and physical test drives. The results are uncomfortable for most OEMs and dealer groups. Ninety-five per cent of buyers already know they can test drive a vehicle. Eighty-nine per cent research online before purchasing. The infrastructure of awareness? Working just fine.
The problem comes one step later. When a high-intent buyer tries to schedule that drive, they hit a wall: no clear availability, a phone call required, or a booking form that's nowhere to be found on mobile. Intent gets wasted. The sale goes somewhere else.
So let's be real: this isn't a demand problem. It's a process problem. And the Car-Buyer Experience Report 2026 lays out exactly where the friction lives, and what buyers actually want instead.
Here's a number that should reframe how you think about every digital investment: the test drive experience ranks as the #2 most influential factor in car purchase decisions, behind only price.
Test drive influence score: 4.55 / 5.0 — second only to price at 4.97
Dealership experience, by contrast, came in last. Process beats place, every time.
And here's what makes this so high-stakes: 45% of buyers take only one test drive before making a purchase decision. One shot. If friction blocks them at your booking step, they don't try again — they just book with whoever made it easier.
That's not a soft risk. With the average new car transaction in Germany sitting above €35,000, a single lost booking is a five-figure missed opportunity. Multiply that across a dealer group or a national OEM network, and the math gets hard to ignore.
So here's the thing. Sixty-nine per cent of car buyers research on mobile devices. They're already on their phones, already engaged, already forming intent. Then they try to book a test drive — and the process snaps them back to 2010.
Our data shows that 59% of test drive bookings still happen via walk-in or phone call. Not because buyers want it that way — because they're not being given a better option.
30% of buyers want to book via WhatsApp or AI chat tools. Virtually none currently can.
That gap is the opportunity. Buyers aren't asking for anything revolutionary. They want to book the same way they research: on their device, in the channel they're already in, without being transferred to a callback queue.
Eighteen per cent specifically prefer WhatsApp. Another 11% want to use an AI assistant or live chat tool. That's nearly three in ten buyers signalling clear channel preference — and almost zero dealers currently meeting them there.
We asked buyers who hesitated or faced friction to rank the barriers by severity. Three friction points dominated:
#1 — No clear availability (score: 3.16)
Buyers couldn't see when a car or a slot was free. So they didn't book. Simple as that.
#2 — Booking wasn't easy to find online (score: 3.03)
The option to book existed, technically. But finding it on mobile, mid-research, was enough friction to kill the intent.
#3 — It takes too long (score: 3.01)
Buyers who tried the process and found it slow or cumbersome dropped off. The booking experience itself was the barrier.
Even among the 10% who skipped the test drive entirely, 15.7% cited 'couldn't find availability' and 13% said the process seemed too complicated or the dealership was too far. Friction isn't just inconvenient — it's actively leaking leads.
We asked buyers what features would make them more likely to book a test drive. The results were unambiguous.
40% prioritize real-time availability + instant confirmation above all else
Twenty-nine per cent want real-time availability. Eleven per cent want instant confirmation. Combined, that's four in ten buyers whose decision to book hinges entirely on knowing right now whether they can drive then. That's it.
Weekend and evening slots mattered too — 24% flagged weekend availability — which points to another structural gap: most dealership booking systems are built around business hours, not buyer schedules.
And perhaps the most telling data point: 58% of buyers say a smooth booking process directly increases their trust in a brand. The booking flow isn't just a logistics tool. It's a brand statement. A clunky process signals a clunky brand.
This wasn't a study of casual browsers. The 310 respondents represent a mature, high-intent buyer cohort: 66% have purchased three or more cars in their lifetime, with 23% having bought five or more. Only 11% are first-time buyers.
These are buyers who arrive with established benchmarks. They know what a good experience looks like — and they have limited patience for systems that fall short of those expectations.
Twenty-two per cent currently drive fully electric vehicles, which makes this data particularly relevant for OEMs navigating the EV transition. Tech-forward buyers are in the sample, and their expectations around digital process are even higher than the average.
Awareness isn't the problem — friction is.
Buyers arrive informed and ready. The breakdown happens at the transition from digital research to physical booking. Fix that transition, and you capture intent that's currently leaking to competitors.
Channel mismatch is a structural issue, not a preference issue.
Offering a phone number isn't a channel strategy in 2026. Thirty per cent of buyers want conversational booking via WhatsApp or chat. Meeting them there is no longer optional — it's the table stakes.
Process improvement has a higher ROI than showroom investment.
The data is direct on this. Dealership experience ranked last in purchase influence. Test drive experience ranked second. Brands that invest in removing booking friction will outperform brands still renovating lobbies.
The Car-Buyer Experience Report 2026 covers the complete picture: digital research behavior, full friction point data, channel preference breakdowns, and what high-intent buyers say would change their decision. Download the full report here →