On average, a third of all gamers gave advice about purchasing a vehicle in the past six months--with nearly two-thirds (63%) of that advice centering on which make or model to buy, according to a joint study by Ziff Davis and ConStat.

Automakers seeking to score word-of-mouth momentum for new models or campaigns may want to target the online gaming population, as the research data found that gamers on Ziff Davis Game Group's community-focused 1Up and FileFront networks traded advice with their peers about everything from where to search for new car info to which features and which dealership to choose.

Ziff Davis and market research firm ConStat commissioned Surveynetwork.com to interview over 660 respondents age 18+ in mid-July--with over half (53%) of the answers coming from the 18-34 demographic. Just over a third (34%) of the gamers said they gave advice about which dealership to buy a car from, as well as how much to pay--and some 64% said they preferred to buy models that they or someone they know had owned and liked.

Given their plugged-in lifestyle, it's no surprise that 76% of gamers surveyed had a tendency to research vehicles online before purchase--with a dealership Web site, Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com), and Cars.com coming in as the top three referenced properties. Still, an overwhelming majority (86%) of gamers preferred to purchase their next vehicle at a dealership, compared to the 12% who said they would buy online.

Ford, Chevrolet and Honda took the top spots in terms of vehicles already owned--but 43% of gamers who planned to purchase a new vehicle had a Honda on their mind, while Toyota and Ford also scored high with 38% and 27%, respectively. Some 58% of online gamers surveyed planned to purchase a new car within the next 12 months, and more than a third (36%) intended to buy a hybrid.

One area that didn't show much interest among online gamers was leasing--as 79% of respondents currently didn't lease a vehicle, and 80% of them had no plans to do so in the future.

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