SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

If a person age 35 or older bought a car from your dealership last year, chances are pretty good (68 percent) that car was used. If someone in the millennial generation bought a car from you, the odds that it was used are even higher. 

According to a study from Edmunds.com, more than three-fourths (78 percent) of the vehicles that millennials bought last year were used.

The root of this, says Edmunds chief executive officer Avi Steinlauf, is largely the price-point. Millennials, he said, were hit the hardest by the recession, and it has been “a little bit tougher for them to rebound,” thus making the used vehicle a more attractive option.  

But things eventually change.

“As they get older and their incomes increase, they start to mirror the broader population,” Steinlauf told Auto Remarketing in an interview Friday.

As for certified pre-owned, the study didn’t specifically ask millennials about this segment, but Steinlauf emphasized that the assurance and warranty offered by CPO programs would likely be appealing to those in this crowd that value such certifications.

Along those same lines, quality of the vehicle itself is important to millennials.

What often gets lost in the shuffle in media coverage of this generation and the importance of technology, Steinlauf says, is that millennials aren’t just in it for the tech and gadgets.

Granted, many certainly appreciate these features; looking at overall results, four-fifths of Generation Y put a strong emphasis on having smartphone features integrated into the car, and close to two-thirds (62 percent) would spend more if the car was Wi-Fi connected.

But the study found that price, fuel economy and performance rank much higher than in-car technology

Or as Steinlauf put it, millennials “have their priorities straight.”

Here’s another statistic from Edmunds’ study that sticks out: 39 percent of all used-car pages on Edmunds.com was from millennial shoppers. But if you look at the mobile traffic to those same pre-owned pages, close to three-fifths (58 percent) came from millennials.

What that boils down to is that it’s another “manifestation” of the penchant millennials have for using mobile devices. In fact, 54 percent of mobile traffic overall came from millennials, Steinlauf said.

“They over-index in utilizing mobile technology and accessing our information that way,” he said. 

Roughly a third of millennials used their phones to find contact information for local dealerships, versus a fourth of folks who are 35 or older. Likewise, 70 percent of car buyers in Gen Y texted with a dealer during the shopping process; only 43 percent of all other adults did the same.