SAN FRANCISCO -

Which states have the highest concentration of online used-car shoppers?

According to a new consumer behavior study from Jumpstart Automotive Group designed to connect top auto shopping considerations with specific U.S. regions, the highest concentration of used-car shoppers was found in California, followed by Texas.

Jumpstart officials explained the findings to Auto Remarketing.

“The high volume in California follows the trends of where the largest concentration of auto shoppers are in total,” said Libby Murad-Patel, senior director of Jumpstart Strategic Insights. “California has almost 50 percent more shoppers than Texas, which is the second largest state concentration of Jumpstart total car shoppers, as well as used-car shoppers.

“When you look at the used-car volume relative to each states’ total volume, the top states will look much different,” Murad-Patel added. “These two states also have the most price-conscious consumers among our audience, which is determined by shopping by pricing filters as a first consideration as opposed to body style or brand.”

Rounding out the top five states in terms of highest volume of used-car shoppers in the U.S., behind California and Texas, are Minnesota, New York and Florida, Murad-Patel said.

She also noted that when studying used-car shopper volume relative to a state’s total car shopping audience, the picture looks quite a bit different.  

In Minnesota, for example, 35 percent of all shoppers in the state are researching used cars, she said, and in North Dakota the percentage is 24.

In Wisconsin, a rate of 22 percent of shoppers are researching used cars, in Missouri at 17 percent, and in Nebraska at 15 percent.

In preparing the study, Jumpstart’s Strategic Insights department analyzed consumer behaviors of approximately 19 million monthly unique users across its suite of 14 automotive websites to draw the connections between territory and most popular vehicle searches, the company said.

The study took place from January to June of this year, and was performed in conjunction with an analysis of regional indicators.

“It’s interesting to see the role socioeconomics plays in online shopping trends,” said Murad-Patel. “Factors such as employment, income and standard of living, and the social and cultural influences of a particular region, drive online consumer consideration.

“Even geographic aspects like weather and transportation systems play a part,” she continued. “Our audience of nearly 20 million monthly car shoppers has helped us paint a market-reflective picture of the vehicles people want based on the areas in which they live.”

NADAguides.com Offers Top-Researched Used Models

NADAguides.com, meanwhile, this month reported its Consumer Site Trends for used activity, showing the top researched vehicle models for the month of September.

Ranking number one on that list was the Ford F-150, followed by the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and the Nissan Altima.

Rounding out the top 5 were the Honda Accord sedan and the Toyota Camry.

In a year-over-year report on consumer activity for used makes, the site noted that Saab saw the largest jump in activity over September 2011, at 17 percent.

Coming in second was Subaru at 13 percent, followed by Audi and Hummer, each at 12 percent, and Jaguar at 11 percent.

As for the top-researched used vehicles in the report, Ford, maker of the top-researched vehicle, saw just a 1 percent increase in consumer activity year-over-year.

Chevrolet saw a 3 percent rise while Nissan saw a 2 percent drop in the year-over-year consumer activity report. Honda saw a 6 percent increase and Toyota saw an increase of 3 percent.       

New Cars

In addition to the used-car data shared by Jumpstart with Auto Remarketing, the study also offered analysis on the new-car side.

In highlights of that data, people living in the Northwest represented the highest concentration of hybrid car shoppers of any territory in the U.S. Those who shop for compact cars were predominantly located in the Southwest, while the North Central states were home to the highest concentration of sedan and SUV shoppers.

Consumers living in the South Central states shopped for trucks more prevalently than other vehicle segments, while those in Northeastern and Southeastern states represented the highest concentration of luxury car shoppers, the study showed.

As for what drives online auto shoppers, Jumpstart reported that price was the No. 1 shopping consideration among consumers in the Northwest and South Central U.S., while vehicle features such as color, styling, performance and safety ranked highest among residents in the Northeast.

Also, consumers living in the North Central and Southeast regions of the U.S. were generally influenced by both price and vehicle features evenly, with one having no greater impact than the other.

Jumpstart noted that the top three U.S. regions showing the largest share of online shoppers across the company’s audience, and the top two states within each of those regions, were the Northeast (New York/Pennsylvania), North Central U.S. (Ohio/Illinois), and the Southwest (California/Colorado).