My car has been my baby for the past nine years.

When the Volkswagen New Beetle came out when I was in highschool in the late '90s, I fell in love. It was so cute! I made dowith two hand-me-down cars until the age of 24, when I saved $6,000for a down payment while living in Lake Charles, La., picked outthe silver New Beetle I wanted online, and headed over to adealership in nearby Orange, Texas to pick it up. Only regret: Theauto loan was through Chase Bank, not a credit union. Scoldaway.

The Beetle survived a cross-country road trip from the South allthe way to Oregon, a move to San Francisco, another move back upnorth and a final move to Los Angeles. I learned how to fit mybelongings into the oddly-shaped vehicle like a puzzle. Now, withscratches on the back bumper and rips in the leather seats, it sitsin my ridiculously-small parking spot, which is just the right sizefor a Beetle, at my apartment.

It's had its fair share of problems, including a faulty radiothat causes the battery to die overnight (the radio is nowdisconnected, forcing me to pathetically play music directly frommy iPhone while driving). But I plan to drive it until the nextexpensive repair is needed – and until I can afford to livesomewhere with a bigger parking spot. And when I do finally replaceit, it's going to be bittersweet.

My story may not be typical (most people would have kicked theirslowly-dying car to the curb by now) but one thing I have in commonwith many consumers is the belief that our emotional connection tocars is real. Cars represent success, prestige and personal style.They're with us during some of our biggest moments, like arrivingfor an important job interview or first date, or backing out of ourparents' driveway to go live on our own for the first time.

That's why I feel that even as ride-sharing apps like Uber andLyft rise in popularity and the buzz around self-driving carsbuilds, car ownership is here to stay. And that's good news forcredit unions, which have viewed auto loans as their bread andbutter product offering for a long time.

In my experience, Uber and Lyft serve a distinct purpose: To getyou where you need to go when you're drinking and/or don't want todeal with parking. They'll never fulfill the independence and prideassociated with owning or leasing your own vehicle. I'm not theonly millennial who feels this way: On Nov. 14, Bloombergreported that according to a study from the San Diego-basedconsulting firm Strategic Vision, young people love cars and wouldrather own one than rely on ride-sharing services. The study foundmillennials are happier with the vehicles they buy than any othergeneration, and while they do enjoy Uber and Lyft, they use theservices for specific reasons like attending events where parkingor traffic is a problem.

And don't expect self-driving cars to take over the roadways fora very long while. Consumers are dabbling in the idea byexperimenting with the Tesla's autonomous components, for example,and other automakers are planning to unveil their own versions ofself-driving cars within five years. But before they can gomainstream, many safety and regulatory issues will need to beaddressed. There's also the fact that the approximately 253 millioncars on the road today won't simply disappear, a Nov. 17 articlefrom The Motley Fool pointed out. The article hypothesizedthat while self-driving cars may be in mass production by 2020, thecomplete shift wouldn't take place until 2035, when the fleet ofcars on the road finally turns over.

The bottom line for credit unions is that ride-sharing apps andself-driving cars are not expected to disrupt car ownership ratesany time soon, so keep your auto lending momentum going. Here are afew things credit unions can focus on to boost their strategy in2017, all of which were suggested by CU Direct President/CEO TonyBoutelle in a recent interview.

• Maintain strong dealer relationships. Dealersalready appreciate credit unions for their quick response times andreliable payments, but credit union executives could improve theirdealer relationships by meeting with them to review reports ormetrics on how their loans are performing, Boutelle noted.

• Finance used vehicles coming off leases.Leasing peaked this year, with consumers leasing 30.9% of all newvehicles, up from 25.2% in 2014, CU Direct reported. Boutelle saidwhile he recommends only the larger, more sophisticated creditunions get into leasing, all credit unions can benefit from theuptick by financing used vehicles that are expected to come offleases next year.

• Keep an eye on your portfolio. The market willsoften next year from a credit standpoint and there will be moreauto loan delinquencies, Boutelle forecasted. That means portfolioand risk management will be critical. Credit unions should also bemore responsive to the market when setting rates. “We see that whenmarket rates move, credit unions are much slower to move, but thatmay not be good for the yield,” he said.

• Start looking to the distant future. Boutelleagreed that while ride-sharing apps and self-driving cars won'timpact the auto lending industry any time soon, credit unionsshould begin pondering their role in these emerging markets. “Weshould be thinking about how to creatively serve [the self-drivingcar] market,” he said. “Someone is going to have to finance it.” Hesuggested some credit unions begin thinking outside the box now byfinancing Uber and Lyft vehicles.

Having captured more than one in four auto loan originations inQ3 2016, according to CU Direct, credit unions are in excellentshape. But as with anything else, there's always room forimprovement. Keep nurturing that everlasting love affair betweencar and consumer by taking your auto lending strategy up a notch in2017.