As U.S. car sales pick up, trade-ins are older

Sac Bee ^ | 01 Apr 12 | Mark Glover

[blueplum]

The economy remains wobbly, unemployment is still high and yet people are buying new cars at a pace that would suggest a sweeping wave of prosperity.

Even auto industry analysts concede that it's counterintuitive … until you take a closer look at what's being traded in for new wheels.

[snip]

David Rodgers, senior vice president and general manager of the Sullivan Automotive Group, which oversees John L. Sullivan Chevrolet and Roseville Toyota in the Roseville Automall, said that, more than car age, he's been struck by the high mileage he's seeing on trade-ins.

"The average (age) is running about three to four years older than what we were seeing before (the recession), but the mileage is what is really noticeable," he said. "We're seeing 200,000 to 250,000 miles on some cars, where we were seeing 85,000 to 130,000 or 140,000 before."

[snip]

In last year's third quarter, R.L. Polk & Co. said the average length of ownership among U.S. motorists who had purchased a car new hit a record 71 months. Likewise, retention of vehicles originally bought used climbed to an all-time high of 50 months.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/04/01/4379965/as-us-car-sales-pick-up-trade.html#storylink=cpy

[Carry_Okie]

A spring loaded center works too, for a lot less.

Yes, there is one in the door of my wife's (!)%$&%#) Volvo (that car really sucks).

Won't help the fact that I just don't like them.

[Carry_Okie]

Let me tell you a little story. In the summer of 1959, I was almost five. Grandma left us in her Chevy Impala in the parking lot in El Cajon, CA. It gets hot there. She told us that, if it got too hot, we could lower the windows and showed us how.

Those power windows were cool! Up, down, up, down, up, up, down, up, down... we laughed and giggled playing with the nifty windows... until the battery died. Oh, and yes, they are still making four-year-olds.

Just try and find that hammer after a collision with airbag dust and bags all over you. Crank windows are a safety item.