AAP: Ahead of the Curve with Advance Auto Parts

This article is a reprint of my 31 July 2008 RealMoney column.

On July 23, J.D. Power & Associates cut its 2008 forecast for new light-vehicle sales and said it now expects U.S. sales to hit a 15-year low this year. The new estimate calls for 750,000 fewer cars to be sold than had been estimated as recently as March.

I’m sure that high gas prices are encouraging marginally more use of alternatives such as car-pooling or public transportation, but I also know from experience that those options are not always viable even if desired. Commuting and work schedules vary widely, so finding someone going your way at the time you need is often all but impossible. So I read the decline in new vehicle sales as a different kind of cost-cutting — namely, keeping a perfectly good older vehicle for a little longer. In other words, the average age of a U.S. vehicle is likely to incr