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Monday, 30 March 2009 |
 Carroll Smith, left, a parts specialist at NAPA Auto Parts in Benton, assists customer Donald Lee of Benton. Looking on is parts specialist Paul Archer. (Courier photo by Jillian Duke)
“Trend-wise, it looks like the do-it-your-selfer is becoming more prevalent. People are doing a lot of preventative maintenance on their vehicles,” said Robert Poyner, store manager at O’Reilly Automotive Inc., 906 Military Road in Benton.
“The things people can do on their own, they are doing. For instance, people used to spend $15-$20 on an oil change at a quick lube, but now it seems like they are starting to do them themselves.”
According to J.D. Power and Associates, the average age of vehicles traded in at U.S. car dealerships in February was 6.1 years. That’s up from 5.6 years a year earlier. That trend is expected to contribute to another month of depressed auto sales when carmakers report their March results on Wednesday.
“Consumers are starting to see vehicles as long-term investments,” said Trevor Trai-na, founder and chairman of the car ownership Web site DriverSide.com.
Automakers for the most part have stopped offering leases, which allowed people to drive a new vehicle for $200 or $300 a month and repeat the cycle every few years. People are taking better care of their old wheels instead.
“We have definitely seen an increase in sales. People are trying to save money by fixing their vehicles themselves instead of taking them to a shop,” said Josh Teague, a commercial driver for AutoZone Inc., 1200 Military Road in Benton.
“People are doing their own breaks, oil changes, fixing their fuel pumps and things like that. The prices at auto shops are outrageous. It cost one of our managers’ sons $600 to get his breaks fixed at a shop and he could have bought the breaks here and done it himself for $100.”
Teague said the store is making $2,000-$3,000 a week now. He said it used to bring in about $1,500 per week a year ago.
One local auto parts dealer has reported a loss in revenue, but says there is a reason his store isn’t selling like the others.
“I’m doing about a third of the business I was doing two years ago,” said owner Bill Barnes, NAPA Auto Parts, 1625 Arkansas 5. “I mostly sell to mechanics and shops, and they aren’t doing too well either.”
“Most people are waiting until the vehicle is completely broken down to try and fix it. It just costs so much to live right now that people can’t afford it,” Barnes said.
Deutsche Bank Securities analyst Rod Lache estimates that U.S. auto sales for March will decline 43 percent from a year ago to a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 8.6 million vehicles. That would be lowest figure since Ward’s Automo-tive Group began tracking monthly sales data in 1980. There were 16.1 million vehicles sold in 2007.
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