CHICAGO—Many drivers hung onto their old carsduring the recession, providing a boost to the nation's auto partssector. Net lease investors were then drawn to these properties,pushing down their cap rates to historic lows. And even though theworst of the economic times seems past, auto parts remains one ofthe more popular net lease options. Caprates for the single tenant net leased auto parts store sector sankto 5.98% in the fourth quarter of 2015, a decrease of 27 bps fromthe previous year, according to a new study from theBoulderGroup, a net lease firm insuburban Chicago. This decline slightly outpaced the overall netlease retail market which compressed by 25 bps over the same timeperiod.“Clearly we are nolonger in a deep depression, but people are still being moreconservative when it comes to big ticket items like cars,”RandyBlankstein, president ofBoulder, tells GlobeSt.com. Arecent report byR.L. Polk& Co.andIHS Automotiveshows that the average age ofvehicles on the road has increased slightly to 11.5 years. Theresearchers expect the average age to continue increasing through2018.For its new study,Boulder surveyed deals forAdvance Auto Parts,AutoZoneandO'Reilly Auto Partsstores because these three accounted for thehighest percentage of transactions involving auto partstenants.One of the reasonsnet lease investors like auto parts stores so much is that, alongwith dollar stores, they are one of the few investment gradeoptions priced below $2 million. And when compared to dollarstores, auto parts stores are likely to be located in primary andsecondary markets near major retailers.Cap rates for Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone andO'Reilly Auto Parts compressed to 6.35%, 5.75% and 5.68%respectively in the fourth quarter. Advance Auto Parts propertiestend to have higher cap rates due to a greater supply of olderstores with shorter term leases when compared to the others. In thefourth quarter of 2015, Advance Auto Parts properties with lessthan 10 years of lease term remaining made up 50% of the overallsupply. In comparison, leases of less than 10 years accounted foronly 29% and 20% of all O'Reilly Auto Parts and AutoZone propertieson the market. In addition, Advance Auto Parts only signs 15-yearleases for new construction properties, and O'Reilly and AutoZonetypically sign 20-year leases.“Transaction volume in the auto parts sectorshould remain active as investors continue to seek this asset classdue to the positive outlook and fundamentals associated with theauto parts industry,” according to the study. “Recently constructedproperties with long term leases should continue to be in thehighest demand as these assets are the most sought after amongst1031 buyers due to their lease term duration.”