More than half of online new and used car and van buyers start their search for a vehicle by entering a monthly budget into the dealer’s online finance calculator.

Statistics derived from iVendi’s Quoteware show that the initial step taken by 53% of visitors to dealer web sites is to choose a monthly payment band, even before they look at the cars and vans on offer.

Richard Tavernor, director at iVendi, said: “This reveals quite a lot about the mindset of vehicle buyers, we believe. Most of them have a definite monthly budget in mind and this amount is very much the keystone of their online car buying journey.

“This is one of the reasons why it is important for dealers to offer an online finance calculator. By providing customers with the means to run through figures and different finance products, it progresses them towards buying a vehicle.”

The “sweet spot” for online finance searches tends to be £200-£250 per month, according to further analysis of figures taken from Quoteware.

However, many customers also searched a higher range of payments and the use of PCP products could allow dealers to ensure more of their vehicles fell into this range

Tavernor said: “This is the most common band seen in online finance searches. Dealers who can provide a range of finance products that allow customers to acquire vehicles in this range certainly have a very strong chance of conversion.”