Buying a car online is not a new concept, but going through the entire process of snapping up a brand new vehicle direct from the manufacturer, without visiting a showroom, has never been possible in the UK.

This all changed last week when Hyundai pulled back the curtains on its new, dedicated service for customers who want to buy a car via safe shopping online with no third parties or bricks and mortar visits involved.

With both desktop and mobile versions of the site, it is possible not only to select a new model and pick up an appropriate finance package, but even get a valuation for part exchange on an older car. In short, the platform does everything that a dealership normally handles, without the stress of having to get involved in a sales situation, face to face.

The online-only experience is designed to get rid of the need to haggle with salespeople, which Hyundai believes will benefit the customer immensely. And since surveys regularly show that plenty of Brits are reluctant to kick off the car buying process for precisely this reason, it could prove to be a success.

The only issue is that the site does not currently offer the option for people to take a test drive of the car they are buying, which may be an obstacle for those who prefer to have first-hand experience of any item that is on their wish list.

This impacts all areas of safe shopping online, which is why the practice of ‘showrooming’ has become prevalent. So for anyone who is not satisfied with simply glancing at images of a car on their desktop, smartphone or tablet before committing to it, a trip to a dealership is still going to be a necessity.