Car sales are down.

It's more challenging for customers to get financing for new or used vehicles.

Lease deals have all but dried up.

But there appears to be a silver lining for the struggling automobile industry during these hard economic times. People are investing in their old cars, and that's good news for local repair shops as well as service departments at area dealerships.

"We're seeing a lot of cars with between 85,000 and 160,000 miles on them," said Mike Giovanditto, who works at Brian's Circle Getty on Route 28 in Derry, N.H. He said work has really picked up in the last couple of weeks as more people are replacing rusted brake lines and having front-end work done. Plus, customers are paying for maintenance in the hope of getting better gas mileage.

"We're changing air filters and fuel filters and doing a lot of oil changes so people get the best fuel use out of their cars," he said.

Kenny Meharg, service manager at Regan Ford in Haverhill, said his shop is seeing an increase in routine work, but also is seeing more major, costly repairs.

"We've replaced six or seven transmission assemblies in the last two months," he said, noting that the cost of that job ranges from $2,000 to $3,500, depending on the make and model. "Before, people would have traded that car in."

Meanwhile, he said, the odometer readings on cars in the shop have gone way up, from an average of 59,000 in January to 85,000 during the first week of October.

He attributed the change to the economy, which has people "pulling back," and to the popularity of certain Ford brands, particularly the Focus models, which people would rather fix than unload.

A woman he works with owns a Focus with 180,000 miles on it, and she has no intention of trading it in, he said.

But not everyone is holding on to their old cars, said Joe Cullinan, sales manager at Regan. He said the sale of some cars remains brisk, and even people with a fairly low credit score can get car loans with decent terms.

"Sales are off a little bit," he said. "But not way off, and there is plenty of money available for people who have average to slightly below average credit."

Yesterday, for example, his team had sold three cars by 2 in the afternoon — one for cash, the other two financed. He noted that Ford is even offering 0 percent financing for customers.

Charlie Daher, owner of Commonwealth Motors in Lawrence, said while sales have slowed somewhat, the repair bays of his four brands have never been busier, and that the Honda service department, for example, regularly works on 200 cars a day.

The dealership, which sells Hondas, Kias, Volkswagens and Chevrolets, employs 200 people, but is looking for more, he said.

"We're advertising to hire new mechanics," Daher said.

Independent repair shops are reporting a similar surge in business.

"It has been absolutely crazy," said Chip McAllister, owner of Sutton Street Service Center in North Andover, which recently tore out its gas pumps and is focusing exclusively on car repairs.

"We talk to clients all the time and tell them the best investment they can make is to keep their car for as long as they can," he said. "A lot of people are saying that they were going to get rid of their car, but now they're going to keep it another two years."

He said it's even worthwhile for the owners of big gas-guzzling SUVs like Suburbans and Tahoes to keep their vehicles rather than trade them in for a car that gets better mileage.

"The cost to replace it isn't worth it," he said. "It will take them seven or eight years to pay it off."

Instead, they're paying to fix them up and hoping that gas prices start to go down, which they have in recent weeks.

Some car repair shops report that while their business remains steady, they hope to start seeing more customers in the coming months as a result of the economy.

Ed Marion, owner of the Automotive Emergency Room on Jackson Street in Methuen, said business really slumped after 9/11, when the major manufacturers like GM started offering 0 percent interest rates on new cars to help jump-start the economy.

That made it cheaper for people to buy new rather than fix their old vehicles.

"I hope we're going to come back," he said. "Everybody's cutting corners and I hope they start coming back to the independent shops where prices are less."