For the first time in a year car sales are up across the country.

Many of the major auto makers are posting double digit gains and some of the figures here in the Lehigh Valley are even higher.

For Sheldon and Veronica Smith, Tuesday was an exciting day.

"She already knew what she wanted, it wasn't a search," said Sheldon Smith.

The Smiths are among millions of Americans who are buying new cars.

In fact, Detroit's Big Three are all reporting double digit increases in sales for August up from a year ago.

GM reported an increase of 10 percent, Ford posted 13 percent and Chrysler saw a bounce of 14 percent.

"There is an array of cars that we are selling right now that I think the economy is coming back," Samuel Borrelli, president of Faulkner Chevrolet and Cadillac.

Borrelli says the increase at his Bethlehem dealership is 10 percent overall, 50 percent for smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles.

Local Ford and Chrysler dealers report the same thing but say trucks and luxury vehicles are moving well also.

Car dealers say car companies are offering competitive incentives to lure customers out of the recession.

Borrelli says they're also seeing a trend in financing.

He says banks are more willing to make loans and customers are spending more money at signing.

"I find that more people are putting money down as a matter of a fact. It's a strange thing because a lot of people were coming in before they wanted to be at zero down," said Borrelli.

Edmunds.com, an automotive website that tracks US car sales, says imports like Volkswagon and Honda and Toyota also had a good August posting solid gains over last year.