McLEAN, Va. -

To dealers, knowing what a customer is looking for in a car is a crucial aspect of the sales process.

Based on the results of a recent survey, NADAguides.com discovered five of the most important attributes customers considered when shopping for a vehicle.

The site discovered that  fuel economy, ownership cost, brand perception, safety and vehicle designs were the five considerations cited the most by survey participants.

Factors were scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating greater importance, officials said.

And with gas prices remaining high, both new-car and –truck shoppers ranked fuel economy as the most important factor when considering a new ride.

But the concern is more realavent to car buyers, according to the survey results, which showed that car buyers placed a greater emphasis on fuel economy compared to truck buyers with scores of 89 and 84, respectively.

Next up for car buyers was vehicle design, with a score of 76.

"The fact that car shoppers ranked vehicle design so highly is a reflection of the ongoing parity we've seen in the areas of quality, dependability and efficiency among the brands," said Jonathan Banks, executive automotive analyst for the NADA Used Car Guide. "As we've seen from the success of Hyundai and Kia over the past few years, inspirational design can change how consumers view a brand and act as a catalyst to increase new-vehicle sales."

Banks also explained that OEMs are becoming more and more aware of customers’ design preferences.

For example, Banks said that the restyles of the 2013 Honda Civic and 2014 Chevrolet Malibu, just one year after major revisions, showed how "manufacturers are keenly aware of the pronounced role of design in shaping the sales success of a brand."

Rounding out the top five concerns for new-car buyers, with scores ranging from 67 to 72, brand perception, safety and ownership costs summed up the list.

On the other hand, car respondents ranked versatility/utility, incentive availability and advanced technologies as the three least important factors. 

For SUV/truck survey buyers, ownership cost (83) and fuel economy (84) were almost even.

"The close proximity of these two factors resulted from the broad composition of SUV and truck respondents, which was comprised of consumers shopping for pickup trucks and SUVs of all sizes," Banks said. 

"Shoppers of small SUVs ranked Fuel Economy as their top concern and ownership costs as third, while shoppers for mid-size and large trucks ranked ownership costs as their top concern and fuel economy third. Results indicate that larger truck shoppers want to maximize fuel economy, but they also understand that the added size required to support their household and recreational needs will result in higher gasoline costs. To compensate for this, buyers will look to reduce maintenance expenses and purchase dependable trucks with solid used value retention," Banks continued.

Safety and brand perception were also important to truck shoppers, coming in as the third and fourth most important purchase considerations with rankings of 69 and 68, respectively.

Vehicle design and versatility/utility came up next, with respective scores of 65 and 63.

Interestingly, brand preference ranked as the No. 1 most important consideration for the pickup truck segments, which shows strong brand loyalty in this market.

Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.