It was only around five years ago when the US was in the midst of the Great Recession. People literally stopped buying many things that weren't absolute necessities, specifically cars. Now that the economy is recovering quite quickly, people are more anxious than ever to replace older cars they would have preferred to have traded in a few years ago but circumstances wouldn't allow. According to a new study by TrueCar.com, US car buyers spent $52 billion for new cars this past May.

The average new car price was $32,452, up by 4 percent from May 2014. Because of this high demand automakers are jacking up car prices. Buyers are also playing a huge part in that $32k average. They're loading up on options and, in fairly significant numbers, are ditching more affordable mainstream cars for luxury brands. Premium carmakers are now more hesitant to raise prices because of this new demand. For example, TrueCar claims the average transaction price of a new BMW increased by 6.5% in May. A new Toyota, on the other hand, was up by 2.3%. The average length of time for a new car loan is 67 months, also a new record high.