What their mother, best friend, co-worker, and children have to say matters most to car shoppers, according to a recent survey by Autolist.com. Fifty-two percent of survey respondence said that personal recommendations had the biggest influence in their car-buying decision.

“When someone in your immediate circle has a good or bad experience with anything, it makes you feel better about making the same decision,” said Chase Disher, analyst at Autolist. “Because cars are such a huge purchase in our lives, word-of-mouth means that much more here.”

Autolist surveyed more than 1,100 current car shoppers in late January and early February to conduct the survey. Respondents were given a list of influences on their car buying in the past and asked to pick up to three that affected them.

Those surveyed were also given other choices which included recommendations by data-backed organizations (Consumer Reports and J.D. Power), media awards, YouTube reviews, community recommendations (Reddit, Facebook groups, online forums), and social media influencers on platforms.

Respondents ranked “Data-backed media recommendations” second with 33 percent of those surveyed saying that they had influenced past vehicle purchases.

Coming in third place was media awards. Publications including MotorTrend and Car & Driver give annual awards. Other influential awards come from the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Kelley Blue Book, and Cars.com.

A close fourth was YouTube. Across all age groups, 22 percent of shoppers said that YouTube played a roll in their buyer choice.

Social media influencers came in seventh, chosen by 11 percent of respondents.

Nine percent of respondents chose “none of the above.”

The results change when 18-23 year old buyers’ choices are isolated. They too chose word-of-mouth as their top influence but named YouTube as their second favorite.