26.08.2010

Eight of 10 motorists say air conditioning is essential

The latest survey from 'exchangeandmart.co.uk' reveals that air conditioning is the most valued built-in vehicle feature, with 81% saying it’s essential.

With so many added extras and built in features available for vehicles today, it’s important for buyers and sellers to know which ones add the most value.

When ExchangeandMart.co.uk asked customers to rate a range of features according to their importance, alarms and immobilisers came out on top with 67% saying it was extremely important and 21% saying they would prefer to have it. In contrast, 67% said a TV or DVD player for passengers isn’t important at all and 58% say the same about sub woofers. This offers sellers an important insight into what they need to highlight in their ad to draw the most interest.

Exchange and Mart has recently teamed up with CAP, the motor industry’s premier provider of used vehicle values, to provide accurate valuations to all buyers and sellers using the site.

After alarms, Sat Nav is the most important feature with 24% believing it is almost entirely necessary, and 44% preferring to have it. MP3 player kits also ranked highly, with 52% preferring to have one. Hands free mobile phone kits are important to 29%, while 50% would like to have speed camera detection.

“The used car market is picking up, making it a good time to sell, as people are looking for bargains,” says Michael Tang, Marketing Communications Manager at Exchange and Mart. “Our survey shows that motorists value practical features the most. When we asked respondents to name the essential items, air conditioning was the clear winner with 81% agreeing, followed by alarms and immobilisers with 68%. In contrast, TV/DVD players and sub woofers were only crucial to 9%.

Top Five In-car features (as voted by exchangeandmart.co.uk users)

Ranking Feature
1 Air conditioning
2 Alarms/immobilisers
3 Hands free kits
4 MP3 player kits
5 Parking sensors

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