• The Chicago Tribune, Thursday, February 23, 2012 11 AM

People who buy new cars are holding onto their vehicles for a record amount of time, an average of almost six years, according to the automotive research firm R.L. Polk & Co.

The recent recession has pushed people to hold onto their cars and pay off their loans. In the process, they discovered that their vehicles were more reliable than they might have expected, said Mark Seng, a Polk analyst.

Automakers are looking at the trend and believe that it's one reason it will take some time for auto sales to return to the pre-recession levels as more people learn to live with older cars.

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