Used cars ain’t what they used to be
People are hanging on to their used cars longer than they used to, and can you blame them? The dang things simply are made better than in the old days, so are lasting longer with less maintenance expense. They’re also usually already paid off, so there’s no monthly credit payments that have to be made.
Specifically, the average age of a used car these days is about 11.4 years, up from 11.2 years in 2012 — according to the Polk research firm. A company executive said he expects the average age of used cars to increase even more over the next five years.
The bad news for some is that people hanging on to their old beaters help depress new car sales — but the same situation creates more business for repair shops and auto parts stores, so it’s hard to complain.
List of congressional hopefuls getting longer
Who will be the next person Hawaii voters send to Congress?
With the current officeholder in the U.S. House, U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, running for the U.S. Senate, it’s been interesting to see which of our local politicians have the most ambition.
In the running so far are four candidates who would be congressional rookies: two Honolulu City Council members, Ikaika Anderson and Stanley Chang, and two state legislators, Sen. Will Espero and Rep. K. Mark Takai.
No word yet on Mufi Hannemann or Charles Djou, who’s had the job before. Of course, not every well-known politician hankers for Washington. Ed Case, who also served in Congress, has abandoned politics for the private sector. At least for now.
