Desired Inventory Harder to Find in February

After months of elevated scores, the Ease of Purchase Scorecard saw a significant drop in February. The key question of whether it was easy to buy a car dropped from a near record of 92% in January to 87% in February. That’s also below the average score (88%) seen throughout 2024.  

While CDK tracks a number of factors in each month’s survey, the overall score is often most impacted by inventory availability, and the first decline in new car inventory this year took place mid-month. 

Overall in February, less than half (49%) of car shoppers said they found the car they eventually bought in stock. That’s a steep drop from last month’s 59% and below 2024’s average of 52%. Buyers shifted most to buying cars in transit, increasing from 19% in January to 26% last month. That’s the highest number recorded since the third quarter of 2022 when inventory levels were dramatically lower than they’re today. 

The fewer desirable cars on hand also led to a drop in satisfaction around the test drive. While nearly three-quarters (72%) said it was easy to take the test drive, that’s far lower than last month’s 81% and is one of the lowest scores we’ve ever seen for that step in the process. 

And while inventory availability is an important driver, every other step in the purchase process either saw decline from January or was flat. Applying for credit dropped the most from 64% to 57% month to month, while filling out paperwork and even taking delivery fell as well. Negotiating the price and the trade-in value, two areas generally scoring the lowest every month, both remained steady in February, however. 

Not all was doom and gloom in February. 

As we’ve seen in the 2025 CDK Friction Points Study, dealers have sped up the sales process each year. In February, nearly a quarter (22%) said they spent less time getting a deal done than they expected. That’s an improvement from 16% in January but not quite to where we were in December at 29%. And, as you might expect, the number of people who said the process took longer than they expected fell from 32% in January to 28% last month. 

It'll be interesting to see if there’s a rebound in the Ease of Purchase score as we move through spring and the tax refund season. Generally, refunds lead to more sales, but consumer confidence is down along with inflation starting to rise once again. This makes tracking car buyer attitudes on a monthly basis that much more important.