Strapped Americans try to stretch car dollars

For the accomplished four months, Margaret McCormick's 2001 Toyota Celica has been sitting in the parking lot of her address complex, with one collapsed annoy and a burst transmission.To fix it, I charge $1,000, but I aloof don't accept it," says McCormick, of Fresh Castle, Del., who has been out of assignment for two years.McCormick is amid a growing cardinal of Americans disturbing to accumulate their cars on the road, as job losses and gas at aloof beneath $4 a gallon booty huge bites out of their wallets, a fresh AAA analysis shows.Many Americans await on their cars for their livelihood, and accident admission to them could be financially devastating," says Jim Lardear, administrator of accessible and government diplomacy for AAA Mid-Atlantic.More than bisected of American drivers — 54% — said they don't appetite the banking accountability of a fresh car, so they're befitting their earlier ones running.One in four drivers said they accept alone aliment and aliment on their cartage in the accomplished year because of the apathetic economy, accretion the likelihood that they'll face a major, cher repair.