Car prices have hit record highs in 2025, prompting buyers to compare multiple brands to ensure they’re making the best choice. Shoppers are hitting the pavement much more than recent previous years, with an average of 1.9 dealership visits per buyer, up 10% from Q1 2024. If costs continue to rise, this number of dealership visits could also rise significantly.
With high intent and less brand loyalty, today’s car buyers are more selective, more curious, and more open to influence. For automotive marketers, this shift presents both a challenge and a major opportunity.
This blog explores key trends in automotive buyer behavior, how to meet today’s car shoppers in motion, and how Locala helps transform insight into results.
The New Buyer Journey: Insights From the Lot
It’s official: showroom-hopping is back.
Nearly 60% of buyers visit at least one other brand before making a decision. Many are checking out 2-3 different dealerships before signing any papers.
This behavior isn’t consistent across the board—dealership visits vary widely by region, making localized strategies crucial. What works in one market might fall flat in another, so brands need to stay agile and tuned in to local dynamics.
As buyers move closer to making a purchase, they become especially open to influence. Brands that show up with the right message at the right moment have a real opportunity to tip the scales.
And while high research intent might suggest a decision is already made, that’s not always the case. Even well-informed shoppers are often weighing their options until the very end, keeping the door open for brands that stay visible and relevant.
What This Means for Automotive Advertisers
It’s time to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. The most effective campaigns today blend broad reach with local agility. Brands need to meet buyers where they are. Here are three proven strategies to stay ahead:
1. Adapt to regional differences
Buyer behavior can shift dramatically between cities, states, or even neighborhoods. Tailoring creative, targeting, and media spend by region helps increase relevance and campaign performance.
2. Leverage real-time data
Knowing when and where shoppers are actively researching helps you deliver your message at peak moments—when intent is high and decisions are near.
3. Plan around high-impact audience segments
Use audience-first planning to reach buyer groups with strong potential for growth. Focus on:
- EV Prospects
- First-Time Car Buyers
- Maintenance Clients
- Adventure-Seeking Parents
These groups aren’t just marketing personas. They represent real, actionable audiences that are actively engaging in the market.
How Locala Helps Automotive Brands Win
Locala removes the guesswork from automotive marketing by turning data into action. With over a decade of experience and a track record of more than 2,000 campaigns across 70 auto brands in 40 markets, we bring proven expertise to every partnership.
Our AI-powered Planning Tool combines location behavior data with audience insights to build smarter, more localized strategies that drive measurable results.
Here’s what sets us apart:
- Smarter audience testing drives performance.
We’ve seen visit rates increase by 2.5x when campaigns test multiple audience tactics, proving that relevance pays off. - Strategic budget optimization delivers impact.
Optimizing store-level budgets daily leads to a 30% uplift in performance, ensuring spend goes where it matters most. - Sustained campaigns = better results.
Campaigns that run for more than three weeks see up to a 20% drop in cost per visit, showing the value of consistency over time.
At Locala, planning isn’t just theoretical. It’s actionable, measurable, and built to win in today’s complex automotive landscape.
Car Buyers Are Moving Fast. Is Your Strategy Keeping Up?
Car buyers in 2025 are comparison-shopping, visiting multiple dealerships after looking online, and open to being influenced, especially when brands speak their language and meet them locally.
To reach and convert these shoppers, automotive brands need to be faster, smarter, and more precise. Locala makes that possible by turning local buyer behavior into real-time, scalable strategies.
Discover how Locala can accelerate your auto campaigns. Book a demo today.