The commuter's view of the economy

Being a car person, I find it interesting to watch automotive trends in the general populace whilst driving to work and back. I bet most folks don't even notice these sorts of things, right? I drive a relatively remote stretch of US30 for about 15 miles, so its pretty easy to see trends.

I've heard Dad make comments on it before; you kind of get used to seeing certain people while you're either on your way to or from work. Everyone kind of has a routine and you start to recognize cars that you see everyday. You'd wave if it didn't completely creep other people out.

That's not really what this post is about, but it kind of is. The thing that I've noticed that is most interesting is the change in the makes and age of vehicles on the road over the past, say 9 months. I used to see a lot of Mercedes and BMWs out on 30, presumably commuting between Akron and Columbus (or points of similar magnitude). Surprisingly or not, I can count on one hand the number of both makes I have seen in the last week. I don't know whether this group of people were running around in leased vehicles that were stretching them financially, so they traded down and now travel incognito in the Camry that I just passed or whether they've been forced to completely relocate to more feasible commutes. I still see plenty of these German cars floating around town, just not out on the open road where they belong. This is kind of a trend that I would expect to see in light of our economic situation; people cutting back on frivolous expenses...I've heard that the luxury car market is a buyer's market at the moment.

The trend that seems to run counter to the current economic trend is with the age of the vehicles that I see. I used to see a bunch of older vehicles (primarily Crown Vics, Buicks, and Cavaliers/Sunfires) on the road, but recently, it seems like the majority of the cars that I see are newer Mazdas, Chevy's and Jeeps. Maybe these are the people who used to drive the German luxury cars, or maybe the folks with the old Buicks finally got tired of dealing with a headliner that kept falling into their eyes while driving. Regardless, the state of the auto industry has probably been a boon to those who were on the fence about picking up a new(er) car. With a lot of attractive offers and most companies being willing to practically give away their cars to avoid huge inventories, now certainly is a great time to upgrade to a newer car.

Sure, everyone's afraid of the economy and that their company might have to lay some people off, but even in times like that, you've got to be able to see when an opportunity presents itself. Maybe I'm a little bit naive, or maybe I'm not as aware of how lucky I am to be in a segment that seems to still be growing as I should be, but the whole situation doesn't seem as grim as most media outlets are portraying it as. On a personal level, things seem like they've gotten tighter, but it seems like they have stabilized (or even rehabilitated) to an extent.

There's another trend that I've been seeing a bit more of as well. That's the hot-rodding trend. Obviously as a bit of a hot-rodder myself, I catch these cars quite a bit, but it seems like a larger group of people are driving vehicles that they've modified to some extent. I've noticed a few in the parking lot at work, especially. I can't really call it a positive or negative trend. I try to justify the expense of a relatively pointless hobby with the gratification I get from learning new skills and making things work (better?), but for people who pay other people to trick out their cars, its a lot of money to blow on stuff that makes your vehicle less reliable. The money is better spent elsewhere, trust me.