SAN FRANCISCO -

When someone in your immediate circle of friends, family and coworkers has a good or bad experience with anything, you feel better about making the same decision, said Autolist analyst Chase Disher.

“Because cars are such a huge purchase in our lives, word-of-mouth means that much more here,” Disher said in a news release.

According to the latest survey from Autolist.com, nothing has more power than good old-fashioned word-of-mouth when it comes to influencing a car shopper’s decision on what to buy.

Fifty-two percent of respondents to the poll said that in the past, personal recommendations influenced their purchase.

Word of mouth was far ahead of other influences, including recommendations by Consumer Reports and J.D. Power, media awards such as North American Vehicle of the Year and Motor Trend Vehicle of the Year, YouTube reviews, community recommendations from sources such as Reddit, Facebook groups, and online forums, and social media influencers on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and other platforms.

Autolist said that perhaps the most obvious example of what strong word-of-mouth can do for an automaker’s success is Tesla and its all-electric lineup of cars and crossovers.

Although that brand is averse to marketing and advertising its vehicles, it easily outsells its “more entrenched EV rivals” by a wide margin, according to Autolist.

Respondents to Autolist’s survey of more than 1,100 current car shoppers in late January and early February were given a list of influences on their car buying in the past. Autolist asked the respondents to pick up to three that affected them.

Data-backed media recommendations from Consumer Reports and J.D. Power ranked second to personal recommendations. A third of shoppers surveyed said those sources had influenced their purchase in the past.

Autolist said that because those two organizations have long provided objective and quantitative rankings — paired with recommendations of brands and specific models — that has earned them a high degree of trust among consumers. Those organizations also review products beyond cars, meaning their reach and name recognition are strong.

“Clearly there’s a lot of goodwill and respect for the Consumer Reports and JD Power brands that extends outside of the car-shopping experience,” Disher said.

Disher continued, “That serves them well when people do enter the car-buying funnel."

As an example of how automakers themselves have come to covet a high ranking from those two entities, Honda revamped the 2013 Civic after the 2012 model was poorly received by Consumer Reports and dropped from its “Recommended” list.

Media awards from sources such as Car and Driver, Motor Trend, the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year, Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds, Autotrader, and Cars.com was the third most-influential platform for car shoppers in Autolist’s survey.

Twenty-six percent of respondents said awards from outlets such as those had influenced their purchase consideration.

Kelley Blue Book, Autotrader, and Edmunds were the top choices among respondents asked which of those outlets they trusted the most.

Also in the survey, YouTube reviews were a close fourth in the ranked list of car-buying influences, with 22 percent of shoppers across all age groups saying YouTube reviews played a role in their purchase consideration.

“Other,” at 17.43%, ranked fifth in the ranking of influences.

Just under 17% of respondents said so-called “community recommendations” influenced them, including input from message boards like Reddit, Facebook Groups, or other online forums.

Coming in seventh were social media influencers on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with 11% of respondents choosing that option.

Nine percent said “None of the above.”

Age made a difference in the survey. Shoppers aged 18 to 23 showed different influences in their purchase considerations than their fellow respondents.

Among that group, YouTube was the second-most influential source behind friends/family/coworkers, at 36%. That compares to 22% of respondents of all ages who said YouTube was influential.

Data-backed organizations were least important to the younger group, with only 15% of them saying those organizations were influential. That compares to the survey average of 33% across all age groups.

Autolist found the following unsurprising: That younger group also relied more on social media influencers than their older peers.

Seventeen percent of the younger group said social media posts impacted their car-buying decision, and that was much higher than any other age group. That compares to 11% of respondents across all age groups that said social media affected their decision.