Data Envelopment Analysis as a Supportive Tool in Buying and Selling Cars

Abstract

The article proposes the use of the Data Envelopment Analysis method in building passenger car rankings. In this study various combinations of variables were adopted so asto reflect diff erent customer profi les (such as economy, dynamics and safety) which made it possible to determine best cars for a given profi le. Such rankings can be useful to both the seller in the process of preparing off ers for customers and to the customer who would like to compare cars by eliminating the infl uence of the emotions which are usually connected with buying a car. Th e appropriateness of the vehicles was estimated using a non-radial super-effi ciency SBM (Slacks-Based Measure) model, which permits not only the building of the ranking list, but also a detailed analysis of the sources of supereffi ciency and the inefficiency of given aspects.