Key Takeaways
- Evolving Buyer Behavior: Insights from the 2026 Urban Science Harris Poll reveal shifting buyer habits, including a greater emphasis on convenience and digital-first interactions during the purchasing process.
- Dealer Confidence is High: Even as the market shifts, 74% of dealers still believe that they are an essential part of the car buying experience.
- Importance of Dealer Adaptation: Dealers need to adopt new strategies and technologies to accommodate changing customer preferences, such as offering seamless online-to-offline experiences and enhancing trust through personalized communication.
The process to buy a car used to be set in stone. Figure out what brand you want, visit the dealership, look at a few options, and complete your purchase. It all happened on the showroom floor with a dealer or sales rep standing beside you guiding the transaction. However, for years now, this process has become less and less uniform.
New technologies consistently redefine how vehicles are bought and sold. Consumers have unprecedented access to information, allowing them to dictate the pace and platform of their purchase. This has, in turn, led to automotive dealerships adapting their sales strategies to meet these changing expectations, balancing the need for physical showrooms with a rapidly expanding digital footprint.
To help shed light on these changing dynamics, Urban Science and The Harris Poll have released their annual automotive research study. The 2026 Urban Science Harris Poll Report surveyed 3,012 U.S. auto buyers and 252 dealership leaders, offering a rare side-by-side look at how both groups view the modern automotive retail landscape. The findings reveal a complex market defined by shifting loyalties, new vehicle preferences, and a critical need for actionable data.
How Has the Automotive Customer Journey Changed in 2026?
Economic unrest has been the theme of 2026 so far and tightening financial situations are fundamentally changing how consumers approach the car-buying process. Affordability remains the dominant concern for 58% of buyers, while 47% point to the rising cost of vehicle insurance as a major hurdle. Rising prices are prompting shoppers to become more diligent and discerning before committing to a purchase.
Currently, 44% of auto buyers report spending more time researching online before reaching out to a dealer. This extended research phase often comes at the expense of traditional brand loyalty. Nearly a third of consumers (31%) now prioritize overall price and value over sticking with a familiar brand. Shoppers are highly motivated to find the best deal available, with 59% stating they would happily drive further away from home to secure a better vehicle price. Interestingly, proximity does still remain a strong factor depending on the visit type. The Urban Science data reveals that 50% of national retail sales occur within 12 miles of a consumer’s home, whereas 50% of service visits happen within just five miles.
This search for value is also driving a greater openness to digital transactions. A quarter of all consumers are now more likely to purchase a vehicle entirely online compared to a year ago. Furthermore, 66% of auto buyers would consider buying directly through a traditional dealership’s website. Shoppers heavily utilize dealership websites (47%) and search engines (43%) to navigate this process, signaling a clear shift toward a self-directed, digital-first purchasing model.
“The way consumers interact with websites has changed in recent years.” said Carl Matter, Director, Adtech Performance at Urban Science. “While auto buyers still visit automotive websites, their journeys are more fragmented and harder to track using traditional methods and metrics. To deliver relevant reach and accurately assess performance, it’s vital to begin with consistent, high-quality outcome data such as daily offline sales.”
Dealer Confidence and Evolving Strategies
Despite the changing habits of consumers, dealer confidence remains remarkably high. A solid 74% of dealership leaders believe they play an essential role in the new-car buying journey, and 63% strongly agree that the traditional car dealership is optimized for the future marketplace.
However, this optimism does not erase the very real economic pressure dealerships face. Over half (51%) of surveyed dealers cite economic factors as their top concern, representing a significant jump from previous years. To adapt and capture demand, dealerships are heavily investing in digital marketing, allocating an average of 59% of their marketing budgets to digital media channels.
This influx of digital investment brings its own operational challenges. Dealerships frequently struggle with a defection visibility gap. As 74% of dealers admit they are not fully satisfied with their ability to track whether a lead has defected to a competitor. Without real-time insights into lost sales, teams cannot accurately refine their conversion metrics. To overcome these limitations, 94% of dealers now view predictive intelligence as a critical component for staying ahead of industry shifts, with 91% wanting tools that provide proactive suggestions.
The EV Dilemma: A Split in Preferences
The transition toward electric vehicles continues to present a unique divide between dealership enthusiasm and consumer hesitation. The removal of federal incentives has heavily impacted consumer readiness. Currently, 36% of auto buyers report they are less likely to purchase an EV due to recent policy shifts, and 47% state they will never be ready to accept a fully electric vehicle.
While overall readiness has declined, the traditional issues with EV adoption are actually improving. Concerns around range and charging times both dropped by 4% over the last year as battery technology continues to advance. Instead of jumping straight to fully electric models, consumers are signaling a strong preference for transitional technologies. Almost a third (31%) of auto buyers believe automakers should prioritize hybrid vehicles until the remaining infrastructure and convenience challenges of EVs are completely resolved.
Conversely, dealers maintain a bullish outlook on electrification. Despite the noticeable consumer hesitancy, 60% of dealers report feeling excited about EVs, and 34% plan to rapidly expand their focus on these models.
“Automakers weighing EV investments must walk a fine line,” said Greg Schocke, Executive Vice President of Product Strategy and Development at Urban Science. “With many buyers hesitant to invest in an all-electric powertrain, hybrids are emerging as the more viable short-term option. For OEMs, positioning the network to support this shift, while preserving the ability to meet evolving EV demand, will be critical for capturing emerging opportunities.”
Bridging the Gap: Data, Insights, and the Future
Connecting the dots between digital consumer behavior and physical showroom sales requires accurate, real-time data. Currently, many dealerships struggle to sync their offline sales figures with their digital marketing spend. Only 35% of dealers actively measure the effectiveness of their media spend against actual offline vehicle sales. Relying on proxy metrics or delayed registration data makes it incredibly difficult to accurately validate return on investment or optimize future campaigns.
Beyond marketing attribution, actionable insights are vital for refining the direct sales process. Timely customer follow-up is a prime example of where operations can improve. An overwhelming 82% of buyers say follow-up is important to them, and 72% expect to hear back from a dealership within 24 hours of expressing interest. Yet, the study shows that 75% of dealers spend less than five minutes attempting to follow up on a lead.
By integrating daily industry sales data with internal CRM systems, dealerships can close these operational gaps. Real-time intelligence allows sales teams to stop pursuing leads that have already defected and focus their energy on engaged, in-market buyers. Adapting to this fragmented journey means moving away from outdated processes and embracing systems that provide clarity and direction.
Driving Retail Success in a Digital Era
The data from Urban Science and Harris Poll provides us with a few clear takeaways for the rest of 2026. Consumers are highly focused on affordability, leveraging digital tools to find the best value while demonstrating a renewed interest in hybrid vehicles. Dealerships are countering these market shifts with strong confidence and significant digital investments, though they continue to seek better solutions for tracking leads and measuring campaign success.
Thriving in this evolving landscape requires a deep understanding of both buyer expectations and dealer capabilities. By prioritizing transparency, implementing predictive analytics, and refining the follow-up process, automotive professionals can successfully navigate these industry shifts and drive sustainable growth well into the future.
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