Survey Shows Bond Between Truck Owners and Their Trucks - It's Truck Love For Sure!

CHICAGO, Sept. 25, 2009; How much do pickup truck owners love their trucks? Consider that 64 percent of all pickup truck owners (66 percent of male owners) said that their truck is an extension of their personality and more than 40 percent of them have slept in their truck, it's safe to say that truck owners have an incredibly strong bond with their truck.

When it comes to what is important in truck owners' lives, their trucks rank pretty high. The survey showed that, when given a list of things that pickup truck owners view as more important than their truck, 28 percent failed to cite their spouse as more important. More than half wouldn't choose their house as more important than their truck and 59 percent wouldn't choose sex over their truck.

"Having covered the pickup truck market for so long, I've seen the passion that truck owners have through the forums on PickupTrucks.com," said the site's editor Mike Levine. "This survey really shows how much they love their trucks."

Close to 40 percent of truck owners have a nickname with more than half (51 percent) of 25 to 34 year olds saying they have given a name to their truck. Some of the more common names are either female names like "Betsy," "Bessy" or "Sally;" or color references like "Big Blue" or "Little Red."

Truck owners also spend a considerable amount of money on customizing their trucks, with 45 percent spending at least $1,000 and 17 percent spending at least $3,000. The most common components customized are wheels and tires (36 percent), audio and video (29 percent), exterior trim (29 percent) and exhaust systems (19 percent).

"The high value that pickup truck owners place on their trucks and the amount of money that they spend in aftermarket products makes sense when you consider the fact that 64 percent consider their truck as an extension of their personalities," added Levine.

PickupTrucks.com will head to the Lone Star State in September 25 as the sponsor of the PickupTrucks.com Stage at the State Fair of Texas. The PickupTrucks.com stage will be located in the center of this year's Truck Zone and will host all the day's announcements and entertainment. Consumers can also go to www.pickuptrucks.com and vote for the best Texas edition pickup truck at the show.

About the Survey

The survey was conducted online for PickupTrucks.com by Impulse Research with a random sample of 1068 men and women 18 and over who own pickup trucks.

The survey respondents have been carefully selected to closely match US population demographics and the respondents are representative of American men and women 18 and over who own pickup trucks. The overall sampling error rate for this survey is +/-3 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence.

About PickupTrucks.com

PickupTrucks.com is a website dedicated to the distinct needs of pickup truck buyers and owners.

In addition to thousands of new- and used-truck listings, PickupTrucks.com offers relevant information and powerful tools so that truck buyers can make the right decision on what to buy, where to buy, how much to pay and how to outfit their vehicles. The site features expert truck reviews, the latest truck news, a pickup truck configurator, pricing calculators, user generated ratings and more.

PickupTrucks.com is a member of the Cars.com(TM) family of sites. Other Cars.com properties include MotherProof.com(TM) and NewCars.com. Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC(TM).