LAS VEGAS — Car shoppers are doing all they can before setting foot in a dealership in order to make the car-buying process as streamlined as possible, according to new eBay Motors research released this week.

According to the survey, nearly half (45 percent) of consumers who purchased a vehicle in the last five years want a confirmed price on the car they intend to buy before heading to the dealership. Slightly more than half of survey respondents said they would prefer to confirm the specific make/model, incentives, warranty information and car history report with a dealer prior to visiting the dealership.

Shoppers are also putting in hours of research before heading to a dealership to make sure time spent on the lot is well used. And a majority of survey respondents only want to spend 30 minutes to an hour on the vehicle-shopping process, but they prefer to spend more than three hours researching vehicles online during that process.

“Dealers must participate in the online marketplace and engage with shoppers through their preferred channels, which are increasingly digital and mobile, just to be part of the purchasing consideration set, let alone win business,” said Clayton Stanfield, senior manager of dealer training at eBay. 

When it comes to the online sites survey respondents said they source for information, dealer sites hold a slight edge (70 percent) over automaker websites (63 percent) and review websites like Kelley Blue Book (61 percent).

Mobile is also an increasing source of vehicle research, with 46 percent of vehicle owners surveyed saying they would like to use mobile devices to research their next vehicle. Forty-one percent said they would like to use mobile devices to research dealerships for their next vehicle.