British Motorists Would Rather Be Smart Than Sexy

Alliance & Leicester launches motoring website

Today will see Alliance & Leicester's launch of smartermotoring.com, a brand new website for motorists which promises a one-stop-shop for anyone interested in all aspects of buying or selling a car - in fact, everything from how to advertise your car to how to estimate day-to-day running costs.

To make sure that smartermotoring.com offers the best and broadest possible range of advice to the motorist, Alliance & Leicester commissioned in-depth research to find out exactly what makes the average motorist tick.

"We really wanted to know what information people wanted to help them buy or sell a car," said Andrew Robinson of Alliance & Leicester. "What we found was that the top priorities were not 0-60mph performance times or style guides but hard independent information on safety, reliability and running costs and that's why we've made these key features of the site. We are giving customers the tools to get real value out of an industry which says it makes no margin."

Amongst the findings that may surprise the nation's image-conscious drivers is that whilst 81% of those asked in a MORI survey for Alliance & Leicester said that image did not enter into the equation when buying a car, safety headed the list of concerns with 96% naming it as a top priority.

Other top priorities that emerged across the survey group included running and servicing costs (86%), the reliability of the dealer (83%) and environmental factors (73%).

Whilst both men and women were equally concerned about safety there were notable differences between the sexes and different age groups on other issues.

Women proved to be more interested in environmental issues such as emission levels - 79% of women said that the environment was an important factor compared with 69% of men. The importance of a reliable dealer produces a similar gap (88% women, 80% men). Elsewhere our survey revealed that the nation's boy racers have not totally disappeared, with twice as many 17-24 year olds (31%) as 55-64 year olds (15%) citing 0-60mph times as important to their purchase.

smartermotoring.com takes you through every aspect from deciding on a budget, securing the finance and insurance through to finding the car you want and comparing it with other models in the same class. The research also revealed that whilst there is a wealth of information available, what consumers really want is to be able to find all the facts they need at one location.

For the first time, you can even compare new with new or new with used cars - the research revealed a desire for a place, be it physical location or a website, to directly compare different makes of car. Unlike other sites, smartermotoring.com allows you to compare real cars that are actually on sale rather than example models.

Once you've chosen the car for you, you can check you are being offered a fair deal with Parker's Price Guide on the site or run a data check on used cars to ensure there is no hidden history to unearth.

Alliance & Leicester has become an established authority of independent information on the car market through its monthly Car Price Index. Since its inception in October 1999 the Index has given consumers unique and accurate information on car price trends which helps individuals make informed decisions regarding both buying and selling new and used cars.

Alliance & Leicester is building on this expertise by partnering with the best and most highly regarded sources in the motoring industry. Contributing partners to the site include:

• What Car? Magazine - motoring advice
• 4Car - motoring advice
• Parker's Price Guide
• Reg Vardy dealership network
• Fish4Cars - used car purchase
• Autobytel - new car purchase
• CAP Network - vehicle data and valuations

Alliance & Leicester's Andrew Robinson comments, "We know that consumers want independent advice, so we have brought together a range of experts so that site visitors can review which advice suits their individual situation. Our broad spectrum of contributors allows smartermotoring.com to provide the one-stop-shop approach that we found people wanted."

"For those that are daunted by the myriad of car financing deals available, we have designed a simple ready reckoner for people to be able to calculate how much they can afford each month. We anticipate that this will really help people avoid entering into a costly heat of the moment financing deal in the showroom and committing more money than they are comfortable with to get the car they want."

The site can be accessed via: www.smartermotoring.com

Notes to editors

Interviews were conducted by telephone omnibus among a representative sample of 518 principal drivers aged 17+ in Great Britain (defined as the main driver and vehicle purchase decision maker in the household) between 21st and 23rd September 2001. Data were weighted to reflect the national population profile. Qualitative focus group research was also conducted by Taylor Nelson.