The Used Car Industry
In the past 30 years, the United States auto industry has gone through many
changes. In order to stay competitive with a foreign market, constantly
threatening to eat away at profits, the American auto industry has had to
respond by being flexible and adapt itself to this new situation. Although, in
the past, they were slow to get the message sent out by the consumers, the
domestic auto industry now seems to be more than willing to analyze, and answer,
the demands of a smarter, savior consumer. The growth of the used car field has
been a result of these demands.
Rising, higher prices for new cars have caused the typical American consumer to
examine alternate solutions for their transpiration needs. As the average car
on the road is 8 years old, compared to 5.8 years in 1970, the signal to the
auto industry has been that cars are being built better and consumers are not
afraid to buy them.
Of course, this choice does not come without an opportunity cost for the
consumer. A used car will generally be bought on the condition "as is" or, at
best, with a very limited warranty. If a buyer of a used car drives off the lot
and finds they have purchased a vehicle that needs lots of money spent on it for
repairs, they may possibly find themselves out of luck. Another downside may
come as more people continue to saturate the market, looking for used cars to
buy, the resources available will become scarce. An increase in used car prices
may gradually start to rise. As the figures indicate, for now consumers seem to
be content with taking this risk. Sales for used cars and trucks last year
totaled at 15.1 million(going on your a ...