Women are 71% more likely to buy a new car online than men, according to a new study from Buyacar.

Analysis of its visitor behaviour found that women are also significantly more likely to order a car online than those who visit a traditional dealership.

Austin Collins, managing director of Buyacar said: "We have long been aware that our female customers are driving sales growth faster than men but this is the first time we have put a figure on how much more likely women are than men to place an order.

"With women forming 28% of our website visitors but consistently accounting for 40% of our sales, it's clear that women are generally the most purposeful and decisive visitors.

“It's yet more evidence that offering the no-pressure transparency of an 'Amazon-like' car buying experience, complete with home delivery, is especially welcomed by the section of the population that consistently reports feeling less happy taking the traditional approach to buying cars."  

Last year, the traditional market saw a sales downturn of 6.8% while online sales continued to grow for the third year running. To date, in 2019, the traditional 'bricks and mortar' market is down again by almost 3% while sales on BuyaCar.co.uk are up by 12%.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), women account for about 34% of all car purchases in the traditional dealer environment, despite forming around half of all showroom traffic.

But at Buyacar, just over 40% of car orders come from women even though almost three times as many men visit the site.