Summertime only comes around but once a year. And when it does, you can always expect to see the sun shining brightly, kids eating ice cream and folks heading to the beach.
While all these may be staples of the season, none are more indicative of summer than seeing someone drive down the highway in a nice convertible with the wind blowing through their hair.
Who gets to live this lifestyle, you ask?
The answer: Successful, college-educated consumers living in California or Florida.
According to a recent analysis, Experian Automotive found that more than 50 percent of all convertible car buyers had at least a bachelor’s degree, while only 38.2 percent of average new car buyers had a similar education level. Additionally, nearly 19 percent of consumers purchasing a convertible had an average household income in excess of $175,000, and 11.7 percent owned a home valued at more than $1 million. Conversely, only 10.7 percent of average new car buyers had a household income of the same level, and only 4.4 percent owned at home valued at the same price.
The analysis also showed that a significant portion of convertibles were registered in predominately sun-filled states. In Q1 2014, 23 percent of all convertibles were registered in California (13.4 percent) or Florida (9.6 percent). Texas (7 percent), New York (4.3 percent) and Illinois (3.9 percent) rounded out the top five.
And, now that you have an idea of who the person driving the convertible is, you probably also noticed that they were most likely driving a Ford Mustang. The analysis found that in the first quarter of 2014, the Ford Mustang was the convertible vehicle model of choice across all 50 states. The Chrysler Sebring, Mazda Miata/MX-5, BMW 3-Series and Chevrolet Corvette rounded out the remaining top five convertible makes and models in the United States.
For more information on this analysis or other automotive-related insights, visit www.experian.com/automotive.