LAS VEGAS - After four years of driving around in the same car, Heather Robertson decided it was time to start shopping.
"No time like the present," she said. "I was more open-minded, not really knowing what my options were."
Thursday night, Heather traded in her 2008 Honda Civic for a 2012 Chevy Cruze.
"For me, the gas mileage was important. I think to be able to get more mileage out of a car is always a bonus, and so that was definitely a factor and why I ended up with the Cruze. It had better mileage than some of the cars I've looked at," she said.
According to the latest auto sales forecast by J.D. Power and Associates, Heather isn't alone. More drivers are thinking about the size of their vehicles and have a wider selection to choose from.
"I had an SUV before I got rid of it to go back down to a smaller car," she said. "I just don't need all that extra space right now."
Auto experts expect U.S. auto sales to surge in November - outpacing October sales and possibly pushing the number of vehicles sold to 14 million by the middle of next year.
Doug Fleming of Findlay-Chevrolet says one reason for the increase in sales is that drivers are tired of putting money into something old. He also says more people are switching back to American-made vehicles.
"We're bringing back a lot of those import people - the people that left GM years ago and went and bought the Toyotas and Hondas. They're coming back, because we have the Cruze and Sonic. We have a lot of great small cars available now," he said.
The large selection made choosing a vehicle easy for Heather. "I sat in all them, and this was the most practical one," she said.
Findlay-Chevrolet says businesses are also increasingly buying new cars and updating their fleets.
TrueCar.com says Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving - will be the best day to buy a car this year.
