Car buyers drive Internet use

European car owners are finding automobile-related information on the Internet increasingly useful, according to Cap Gemini's 'Cars Online Europe 1999' survey.

The survey questioned over 5,000 car users from five European countries. Seventeen per cent of respondents saw the Internet as being either important or very important when deciding which car to buy.

A spokesman for the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI), one of the UK's largest trade bodies, said the Internet has the potential to be a powerful tool for attracting customers - arming ordinary car buyers with the facts before facing a salesman.

However, the survey also showed test drives and independent paper-based reports continue to dominate as a source of information.

The RMI spokesman commented: "The Internet will never take the place of car dealers. It's like buying a house, people want to see it and try it out."