37% of TikTok Users Are In Market for a Vehicle
TikTok’s own data says 37% of its users are in market for a new or used vehicle. Not browsing casually. In market.
Escalent’s January 2026 research found that 81% of TikTok auto shoppers discovered brands they had never previously considered. And 78% said TikTok increased their interest in specific models they were not shopping for.
That is discovery behaviour. And discovery is where used car dealers win.
New car buyers often walk in knowing exactly what they want. A used car buyer is more open. They are comparing across brands, across price points, across body types. They are the exact person who responds to “here is something you hadn’t thought of.”
The Highest-Intent Segment Is Also the Core Used Car Buyer
The 25-34 demographic makes up 31% of TikTok’s automotive audience, and it is the highest-intent segment on the platform. They are not window shopping. They are actively looking at family vehicles, crossovers, and trade-ups from their first car.
This is also the core used car buying demographic. 65% of Gen Z buyers chose used vehicles for their first car purchase. As they age into the 25-34 bracket, they are buying their second and third cars, still price-conscious, still defaulting to used.
In Australia, 46% of 18-25 year olds say they would use social media to research their next car. That number will only grow as these buyers get older and TikTok becomes a more embedded part of how they make decisions.
The Feed Does the Work, Not Your Creative Team
Automotive Inventory Ads pull directly from your vehicle feed. You connect your stock, and TikTok builds ads from it, showing the right vehicle to the right person based on their browsing behaviour, location, and interests.
Each ad appears natively in the feed with:
- Vehicle images from your listing
- Live pricing
- A call to action that links to your VDP or an in-app instant form
- A swipeable carousel of up to 20 vehicles, selected by TikTok’s algorithm
For used dealers, this is the important part: you do not need to produce creative for every car. The feed does the work. When a vehicle sells, it drops out. When new stock lands, it gets added. The ads stay current without anyone on your team touching them.
That is a genuine advantage for used over new. Used dealers carry more SKUs, turn stock faster, and cannot justify $2,000 in creative production per vehicle. AIA removes that bottleneck.
41% Lower Cost per Acquisition Than Standard Shopping Formats
TikTok reports that advertisers testing Inventory Ads saw a 41% lower cost per acquisition and 51% lower last-click CPA compared to standard shopping ad formats on the platform.
Peugeot UK tested Automotive Ads and saw a 95% improvement in cost per engaged session compared to benchmarks, with TikTok outperforming other platforms in the test.
Broader automotive benchmarks on TikTok sit at:
| Metric | Automotive average | Top 10% dealers |
|---|---|---|
| CPC | $1.40 | $0.85 |
| CTR | 1.8% | 3.2% |
| Cost per lead | $48.50 | $21.20 |
| CPM | $7.20 | $5.10 |
Compare that to Meta’s automotive CPA of roughly $122 and Google’s at $206. TikTok’s average automotive CPA sits around $104, with the same 2.8x ROAS as Meta but at 15% lower acquisition cost.
The gap between top-performing dealers and the average is worth noting too. Top 10% dealers achieve cost-per-lead figures 56% lower than average, driven primarily by better creative. Authentic walkaround videos shot on the lot outperform polished studio content by 34% in engagement.
Used dealers already have this advantage. Nobody expects a used car ad to look like a BMW brand campaign. Real phones, real cars, real lot. That is what TikTok rewards.
This Is Not a Replace Meta and Google Argument
It is a “there is a channel your competitors haven’t found yet” argument.
| TikTok AIA | Meta AIA | Google VLA | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Discovery, younger buyers, broad consideration | Retargeting, mid-funnel conversion | High-intent search capture |
| Creative | Feed-driven, minimal production | Feed-driven, more mature | Feed-driven |
| Targeting | Behavioural, location, interest-based | Demographics, lookalikes, retargeting | Keywords, intent signals |
| Average CPA | ~$104 | ~$122 | ~$206 |
| Maturity | Early, low competition | Saturated | Saturated |
TikTok fills the top of the funnel that Meta and Google do not reach as efficiently. It catches people before they have typed a search query, before they have narrowed to three models, before they have decided which dealer to visit.
For used dealers carrying 100+ vehicles, that broad discovery is exactly what moves the stock that does not sell itself.
If You Are Already Running Meta AIA, This Is Not a Major Lift
The setup is straightforward:
- Vehicle feed connected to TikTok’s catalog manager, the same format as Meta with minimal rework
- TikTok pixel and Conversions API installed on your site
- At least three web lead gen events configured, with View Content as the minimum
- A daily budget from $50 per ad group, so roughly $1,500 per month as a realistic starting point for used dealers
One note: TikTok’s video support in AIA is still maturing. Fully automated video from feed data is not there yet. You can add video via CSV upload, but the core format runs on your feed images. For used dealers, that is honestly fine. Your listing photos are the creative.
Seven Months Live and Most Used Dealers Have Not Heard of It
TikTok AIA launched in March 2026. It has been live for seven months. Most used dealers have not heard of it yet, let alone tested it.
That means lower CPMs, less auction competition, and cheaper attention than you will get 12 months from now.
If you are already running Meta AIA for your used stock, adding TikTok is not a major lift. The feed is similar, the tracking setup is familiar, and the audience is there.
The question is not whether TikTok works for used cars. The data already answers that. The question is whether you get there before your competition does.
Steven Kukucka is Director of Accounts at AXL MEDIA, an automotive performance marketing agency in Melbourne. Questions about TikTok AIA for your dealership? steven@axlmedia.com.au