Enthusiasts Planning to Spend More in Next 3 Months

As a means to begin forecasting future consumer behavior, Fast Lane Research has initiated a quarterly in-house study of automotive enthusiasts. Data from the study will be included in the regular TORQ.

One of the features of the forecast will include an insight into the spending habits of enthusiasts. With periodic surveys to collect information from a representative sample of people interested in customizing, racing or restoring their vehicles we can formulate an index of spending over time. During a five day period in March, over 650 automotive enthusiasts contributed their thoughts and information into our database. The chart below illustrates their responses to the two-part question about individual spending on custom parts and accessories. Both parts include the distribution of responses throughout the spending scale from not spending anything on parts during the period ($0) to spending a great deal ($20,000+).

As the car show, racing, and cruise seasons kick into full speed it should come as no surprise that consumers would be more willing to spend money on their hobby; especially for hobbies that involve a dedicated lifestyle element. The upwards shift of average spending from the bottom levels to the upper-middle are a clear indication that people are ready to participate in the hobby again after withholding for the past few months. With just a few percentage points changing within the $250-$2,500 range there is not a significant amount of difference for this area. However, the bracket with the most change was that in the $2,500 to $5,000 range which seems to have skimmed off the lower ranges. Essentially, the central chunk of spending does not appear to have much fluctuation, but their is a migration of planned spending from the bottom up.