2015's most popular used car buying preferences revealed

The top three most popular used car models of 2015 so far have been announced by CAP following extensive analysis of online consumer car buying habits.

Date also revealed the most popular colour choices, age bands and exactly how much consumers are willing to spend on cars.

The automotive industry data experts have stated that the BMW 3 Series 2005 was the most in-demand second hand car for consumers shopping online between January and June.

In second place was the Volkswagen Golf 2005, closely followed by the Ford Focus 2005.

The proposed 'safe' colour choices dominated the charts, with black the go-to colour for online used car buyers with 37% opting for it, followed hot on its heels by silver (36%) in second place and blue (27%) in third according to this year's online search habits.

More online shoppers are preferring to go with tried and tested used cars as CAP revealed that the most popular age band of a vehicle by some distance was 10+ years (59%) , with 3-4 years (22%) the second most popular. 7-8 years (19%) closely followed in third place.

One of the more unsurprising findings from CAP's research surrounded how much car buyers were wanting to spend online.

According to the report, almost a half of all online searches between January and June this year have been for cars in the £1,000-£3,000 bracket (49%).

Cars priced £3,000-£5,000 (26%) were the second most popular searched bracket. Not far behind though was £5,000-£7,500 (25%) in third place.

Paying by cash proved to be the most popular payment choice by the majority of online used car buyers with 91% preferring this option, and only 9% deciding to go with finance.