Survey finds more consumers rely on Web for big purchases, trust it more than public figures.

U.S. consumers consider the Internet to be one of the most trusted sources for making major purchases and second only to spouses for finding referrals, a survey has found.

The Internet is a more popular source for referrals than parents, close friends, colleagues, media and religious figures, according to the "Trusted Sources" Harris Interactive survey of 2,245 online adults commissioned by Reply!.

The survey showed that respondents would be more comfortable buying a used car on the Internet than buying it from public figures such as Sen. John Kerry, actress Ellen Degeneracy and George Washington. Few respondents said they would buy a used car from real estate mogul Donald Trump or Martha Stewart, who was convicted of inside trading, who was on the bottom of the list. Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush, Jay Leno and Tom Hanks received more trust votes than the Internet for buying a used car.

"Other than spouses, people seek advice from the Internet before any other source," says Reply! CEO Payam Zamani. "People don't just turn to the Web for small purchases like CDs and books anymore. They trust the Web as an essential referral source for making major purchases such as homes, cars and loans."

The survey found that finding trusted sources of referrals for major purchase decision has become more important to consumers. Sixty-three percent of Reply's! survey respondents said that finding a more trusted source of referral outweighed, nearly 3 to 1, the number of consumers who did not feel that this was important.

Sixty-three percent of respondents also said that they find the Internet to be an important, very important or extremely important source of information on referrals when it comes to buying decisions. A mere 5 percent say that the Internet is not resourceful for information, while 86 percent of the respondents say they tend to return to Internet sites that had provided referrals and good experiences in the past.

"This survey underscores what we experience on a daily basis at Reply.com," says Zamani. "People now routinely turn to the Internet to make the most important of purchase decisions. Consumers have used Reply! as a referral source to more than 12,000 trusted professionals in real estate, automobiles, financing, home improvement and more. As a result, we have enabled billions of dollars in transactions."