Automobile Owners

A NEW SURVEY of women who buy or lease cars indicates widespread disenchantment: Only 57% of the women polled by Good Housekeeping would choose the same car again.

Women say they’re most disappointed by the design of seats, cup holders and a lack of other amenities. Other sources of dissatisfaction were fuel economy, cargo capacity and poor engine performance. Exterior styling and seats are among the important features to women shopping for cars. For 80%, a vehicle’s exterior design was the greatest source of satisfaction, followed by handling, comfort and safety. Women and carmakers also have different perceptions of what constitutes safety and convenience. The survey reveals women consider remote control keyless entry, power door locks and windows as safety features, while automakers typically market and advertise such features as conveniences to men.

The safety feature ranked as the most important was air bags, followed by anti-lock breaks and the engine’s power and pickup. Crumple zones and alarm systems were the least important to women, who own or lease 51.4% of the cars in America, according to Simmons Market Research.

* Consumers spent an average $18,865 on new domestic car purchases vs. $29,344 on imported cars in the first quarter. The overall average price was $20,756.

* Outstanding car loan credit totaled $414.6 billion as of March 31. The average interest rate charged by banks for new car loans was 8.9%; the typical rate charged by finance companies was 7%.

* Americans bought 7.8 million passenger cars during the first quarter of 1998, well below the 8.5 million autos sold during the same quarter last year. This represents declines of 9.5% in domestic and 1.8% in import auto sales.

* Imports accounted for 316,612 cars sold in the first quarter. A total of 152,767 Japanese, 82,194 German, 40,823 Korean and 40,828 autos from other nations were bought by Americans.

* The West has the highest percentage of people who own or lease cars while the Northeast has the lowest. Less than 80% of Northeast residents have cars, but nearly 90% of Westerners have them.

* The median age of those who own or lease cars is 42.8. More than 65% of people with cars are between 18 and 49. Only 11.6% of car owners are between 55 and 64, just slightly more than the 10.9% of 18- to 24-year-olds with autos. Among people 65 and older 15% have cars.

* More than 44% of those who own or lease cars attended or graduated college, while only 16% of high school dropouts have them. The remaining 40% of car owners hold high school diplomas.

* More than one-third (34%) of unemployed persons own cars; 56.5% of full-time employees have them, as do 9.4% of part-timers.

SOURCES: American Automobile Manufacturers Association; Simmons Market Research