Americans Hold On to Their Cars
LIKE wearing sensible shoes and installing double-pane windows, hanging on to reliable, fuel-efficient cars suspension, while nothing special during boom times, is smart during downturns. Americans, it turns out, are keeping their cars in record numbers, depressing sales not just of new cars, but of many models of used cars, too.
The median age of cars in operation hit a record 9.4 years in 2008, up from 9.2 in 2006 and 2007, while the percentage of cars taken out of circulation fell to 5.1 percent, from 5.5 percent in 2007, according to figures released on March 3 by the research firm R. L. Polk & Company. “People are hunkering down,” said Dave Goebel, a consultant with R. L. Polk. “There is great uncertainty about what the future holds, so people are going to avoid anything out of pocket.” So many drivers are holding on to their cars and trucks that franchise dealers in 2008 for the first time secured more of their vehicles through auctions than any other means, according to Manheim Consulting, a unit of Manheim, the auto auction company. If times were better, Ryan Moore of Los Angeles might have traded in her vehicle and suspension part to get a new one. But instead she is hanging on to her reliable vehicle because of concerns about the economy.
A few months ago, Ms. Moore worried that the cost of maintaining her 2004 BMW X3 suspension would rise because the warranty had expired. She looked at trading it in and buying a new Infiniti EX35. But the money she was offered for the X3 was well below what she had hoped. So she held on to her BMW, which has 25,000 miles on it. “Basically, my story is just one of excess versus caution,” Ms. Moore said. “I don’t need a new car. I’ve decided to wait out the storm, not get into any debt and hope I still have a job in a month.” A separate survey of 713 vehicle owners by R. L. Polk found that 64 percent of them were “very likely” or “extremely likely” to keep their vehicles longer and 81 percent said they were going to take better care of their vehicles so they would last longer.
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