Generation Y spends lots of money on car mods

The Detroit Free Press is running a 3-part series on the automotive modification habits of those young adults from Generation Y. I have to be honest and say that I'm not quite so sure how they're different from any other previous generation in their consumer habits, other than the fact that they've got access to much better technology than back when I was in college and learning that Douglas Copeland would be put in charge of naming my generation. I'd like to avoid getting into one of those "back in my day…" mindsets, but you know, I do remember when the closest thing to an in-dash monitor were the 5" black-and-white TVs that came in conversion vans. Anyways, in case you haven't noticed, there's a lot of money being spent on loud stereos and big wheels nowadays, and not surprisingly, it's most common amoug those that are old enough to make decent money but don't yet have mortgages or kids to feed. More than half of young adults plan to make some sort of aftermarket modification to their car, which is helping contribute to the $31.5B/year automotive aftermarket in this country. I've certainly made my fair share of contributions to those type of statistics since I got my first vehicle.