I haven’t seen one in years!

In “The magnificent Mini” (August 2014) there is the sentence “I haven’t seen one in years”… Isn’t it better to say “I haven’t seen one for years?  What is the difference between in and for in this context? Thank you. Carol 

The expression “I haven’t seen one in years” is correct. It’s another way of saying “I haven’t seen one for years” and in this context (we’re talking about a long period of time) it is actually better. It describes a negative (“I haven’t seen”). In the case of a positive (“We have been going to Spain for our holidays for years”) “for” is better.