Average U.S. vehicle age hits record 12.6 years as high prices force people to keep them longer
Average U.S. vehicle age hits record 12.6 years as high prices force people to keep them longer
My new favorite game is:
When the news says “high prices”, replace it with “low wages”; “inflation” with “paycuts”.
The whole economy starts to make a lot more sense.
Someone make this a browser extension
Yeah I mean even just go to BLS inflation calculator and put in car prices. Cars are cheap, but if federal min wage was equal to min wage in 1960 (and this is by official stats) it would be able $16 an hour. Cars are cheap, we're getting shafted on pay like hell. Hopefully tech moves so fast it just blows everything out of the water. Hopefully not literally. Hopefully not hell on the other side. Time will tell. But my backup is a shotgun to the forehead so I got my backup plan lol
Please don't have my backup plan. Truly a "if it's hell on earth" situation. It just gives me mild comfort I can extinguish at least my human consciousness is necessary. Lol
How dare people decide to hold onto their current cars instead of paying 9% on a 60K car!
Won’t somebody please think of the shareholders?!?
Great news. Cars are lasting longer these days. Only late stage capitalism could spin that as a bad thing.
Right? They portray it as a problem rather than as a sign that cars have finally hit the point where they're not dramatically improving in reliability, safety, and efficiency nearly as quickly anymore. That is not a bad thing really.
For capitalists, a healthy used market is a bad thing. Captial requires continuous production to make returns on itself.
One of the few things anymore that has a really strong used market besides cars is housing, so the capitalists switched their investment from developing new housing to vacuuming up the existing stock to instead collect rent and increase the value of their portfolio.
Safety is still improving. There are quite a bit more safety features in average cars than 12 years ago. Blind spot detection, collision warnings, brake assist, lane departure, rearview cameras, pedestrian detection, more airbags, driver attention warnings, etc.
A lot of those features were more often available in luxury cars, but they are becoming standard everywhere.
Saying cars aren't improving in reliability, safety, and efficiency anymore is a bit of a simplification given the massive upheaval underway as the industry electrifies. BEVs are a massive step change in efficiency. My takeaway is just that shortages during COVID increased prices, coupled with inflation and high interest rates making the payments mind boggingly stupid as people are squeezed financially. I wish it was people driving less and riding ebikes more, but not sure any data points to that.
Every car I have ever owned since I started driving in the 1990s, I have driven until I can't anymore. Either they got too old and broke down or something was just so expensive to fix that it wasn't worth it or someone totaled it. All of them have been bought used as well. And I plan to do it again with my 2016 Prius. I'd love to own an EV, but no way am I going to look into getting one until the Prius isn't driveable any longer. If that's more than 12.6 years, so be it.
I’m in your camp. Take care of them and drive them into the ground.
I can understand the lure of buying a new car. They're neat and shiny and have features your car doesn't. But it's so wasteful and unnecessary. It's not like upgrading a computer because it won't work with any modern software and you won't be able to use the internet. A model A Ford can drive on the same roads as a Tesla assuming it's been maintained.
I feel like driving a car into the ground isn’t taking care of it…
300k miles, then engine swap!
Drive it until the frame is toast is what I do, then I buy the same car used and the old becomes a donor.
"Durable goods lasting longer than ever, but spun as economic anxiety"
Sort of. I'm glad we are wasting less in terms of automobile manufacture, but this is caused by price gouging on the part of automakers more than anything.
That means when we all eventually have to buy another car, we're just going to get fucked.
So many of these cars are designed overseas, too. Its almost as though countries that don't have unlimited access to pillaged resources consider durability, energy efficiency, and ease of maintenance to be value-adds rather than profit-reducers.
Also, it should be noted that Americans basically don't make sedans anymore. Its all trucks and suvs.
My baby turns 24 this year 🥹
I seriously have an emotional attachment to my car at this point. Driving something for so long, I’m going to be sad when it bites the dust. I’m shooting for another 10 years or until it hits 300k miles.
Wow 24 years and still under 300k? Impressive
I was fortunate enough to live very close to my job for a number of years. Now I wfh so she doesnt get a lot of mileage these days either.
I'm daily driving a 32-year old car. I have no interest in something newer. AMA.
Please tell us more. Make? Model? Any modifications? Your history with the car?
It's a blue 1992 Mazda Miata with a hardtop. I've owned it for about 7 years. No mods besides basics like a bluetooth radio and a short fixed antenna (instead of the factory retracting whip antenna). Maintenance is easy and replacement parts are dirt cheap. Recently replaced the clutch master/slave cylinders for about $40 worth of parts. A set of four tires can easily be found under $400. It averages around 26.5 miles per gallon in combined city/highway driving and I got 32 on my last long distance highway trip.
They also last longer. Cars used to turn into a pile of rust before they hit 100k miles
For light or commuter use maybe. Ive had three ford pickup trucks that have spent more time in the dealer shop than on my farm this year. And a waiting list over a month to get them in. Constant problems from day one. Recalls, premature breakages and issues i normally dont see until well past 150k miles. Mid duty or heavy duty use vehicles dont exits anymore. I cant even change brake pads on a new chevy truck without a computer reset at the dealer. It is beyond infuriating.
Hard disagree. Rust is a consequence of the material, not of the vehicle's vintage. Furthermore, older cars are not only simpler and easier to work on, but also, parts are cheaper. If any 1990s Honda isn't making it to at least 200k miles, its an anomaly.
What are you talking about? American made cars (majority of historical volume) were notoriously bad until recently. Hondas and Toyotas were the exception. Now the expectation is that every make/model makes it to 200k miles.
And rust was an issue because they used inferior paint on older vintages. I don't see how blaming it on material deficiencies supports your point.
Older cars for sure did rust faster because the manufacturers didn't adopt galvanizing until the late 80's. Then in the 90's various other spray coatings and sealers became common. Aluminum is also now prevalent to save weight.
Old cars in the south and southwest didn't have road salt accelerating the oxidation. But if they were brought up north they caught up quickly. Cars in the north prior to galvanizing would be rotted out in 100k miles easily.
There's a guy in my neighborhood who occasionally brings out a neon purple Geo Storm and it makes me smile Everytime I see it.
The newer cars aren’t any harder to work on for driving related functionality. Or, at least they’re not any harder than they were 20 years ago.
The electronics are a layer on top of a relatively legacy layer of “car”.
Requirements for a car. 1: All wheel drive 2: Small station wagon 3: Manual transmission 4: No touch screen 5: Does not connect to internet
Yup, looks like 2014 is the newest car I can buy.
Get your shit together car companies and maybe I'll be interested in you products again.
Even if money is no object, in many ways 10-15 year old vehicles may be the sweet spot in terms of decent features without sacrificing privacy.
I don't want a monolithic touchscreen (zero physical buttons) with apps, integration, cameras on me in the cabin, data collection and harvesting etc. For that reason I will stick with a decade plus old car.
I watched a video that basically points this out. People have already figured out how to make the most optimum vehicle about 10 years ago, hell probably before, but because we live in a capitalistic society, manufacturers have to keep "innovating" and raising prices and adding useless features that create more problems than convenience. Touchsreens in cars are a perfect example: 1 - At first they were used to display radio and connect to gps, but are now overglorofied phones that have basic car features buried behind menus and laggy screens 2 - Distracted driving was already a problem with texting and driving. So lets put a giant screen on the dash where you can watch Netflix (while I doubt you can while driving, the fact I still gotta look at a screen to turn my wipers on in a flash of rain is a major flaw) 3 - Its a new source of revanue, you'd be stupid NOT to put a screen in your car. All that juicy data, waiting to be collected and sold. If Watch_Dogs taught me anything, its that making our world smarter only makes us more vulnerable. 4 - We were able to get around WITHOUT a screen in our car. A phone mount, a bluetooth adapter, and a dashcam make my 2012 mini cooper feel like a 2025 modern smartcar. Sure it sucks that I had to buy the external upgrades, but I've still got modern conveniences like seat warmers, AC, cruise control, traction control. (The only feature I can give Tesla is Self-Driving mode, which is still in beta, so you're more of a test subject and not a paying customer) 5 - (This is a personal rant) A screen looks fancy, until you realize its actually cheaper to call it a software problem, rather than manufacturing dedicated switches. Making it even harder to repair, since your mechanic now has to learn to code, alnogside manual labor if a part is broken.
The only benefit I see in buying the latest car is if you're worried about the car being overworked. Aka its legit old and undrivable, but the way I see it, its cheaper to fix your old car over breaking your brand new cybertruck before its off the lot.
Oh, I actually remembered an innovation they have done, make the cars bigger. Because for some reason, people will keep paying 1000$ monthly payments as long as their pickup slowly becomes a monster truck
Nice to not read a BS headline reframing things along the lines of "stingy millennials refuse to support new cars because of DEI!"
We killed the napkins because of avocado toast!
Laughs in late 90s model Astro van and early 2000s Toyota Camry.
Feel the same way. My Camry is a 2013—recent enough to have a simple display and Bluetooth, but old enough to predate the 'modern' infotainment systems.
Believe me, I plan to drive this car until the scrapyards run out of part donors.
Seems about right. I rather continue keeping my current vehicle (2016) well maintained than to get a high interest loan with a overpriced price tag on a new OR used vehicle.
Seems right to me as well. I do buy new but always kept them until repairs cost more than the car is worth, generally 10-15 years in.
I’m sure someone willing to either do the repairs themselves or risk spending more, could keep my cars on the road even longer
My truck is -07 and it's the newest vehicle I've ever had. I'm not even especially interested about newer models because they just get more difficult to fix yourself and come with bunch of features that I prefer to live without. I prefer a work horse over fashion accessories tho mine is quite nice to look at aswell. Especially from distance.
Drove my end of teens car just over 14 years, 230k miles. Transmission finally started to give and honestly for most of its life I treated the car like dog shit, but I learned to do most maintenance myself eventually. I did buy a new 2024 civic and I do love it so far, and it being a Honda I already know how to work on it from my last car. Maybe eventually I'll find time and a bit of budget to fix my old one but realistically for now I have to travel and work.
I buy or lease every 3-4 years. Why? Because I can. I’m doing my part to make sure to eat the depreciation hit for people who want to buy them on the used car market and drive them to the wheels fall off.
There’s definitely good arguments for this, for some people, although I do believe many are making a mistake.
There’s an even better argument for leasing an EV, since the technology is changing so rapidly. A prime example is the upcoming shift to NACS chargers in the US. From the larger perspective, it’s an even better idea to help jump start the used EV market
Two of my my recent leases were/are EVs for that reason.
Due to cost or reliability improvements? Or both? Because cars are definitely operational a lot longer than they were 25-50 years ago.
Finally waking up to the con
My 10 year old car has 4 wheels, a good engine, comfy seats and bluetooth. Heating and cooling are fantastic. It does not have sensors that shit themselves if you get too close to a road line, does not need to go to the dealership for an authorized computer reset after the oil is changed, and it doesn't have any "eco" turbos waiting for their seals to leak.
What more can I ask from a vehicle? Maybe I'm getting old and cranky, but everything they've added to new cars is useless crap to distract drivers and eventually break.
Yup. My wife's car is a '22 and while overall solid drives her crazy with its sensors yelling at her. Thankfully, the auto adjustment to steering if you 'veer out of your lane' can be disabled. It still beeps at her for usually no good reason, though. Meanwhile, I hate it because it uses Android auto and is absolutely horrible at managing multiple phones. When I drive it won't connect. Meanwhile, when she gets home, it hijacks my bluetooth even if I'm listening to something with my headphones. If I unpair it on the phone side it spams pair requests until I block it.
Meanwhile, my car is roughly 10 years old, runs just fine, doesn't beep just because I used my turn signal with a car next to me, and has basic bluetooth that just works. I much prefer mine.
I bought my current car, an '08, for $7000 in 2014. I paid it off in 2017 and havent had a car payment in years, its been a dream. I get car envy and fantisize about buying a new car but then i look at the prices and im content with currently paying $0 a month
Also an 08. I am fine. Plan to keep it going as long as I possibly can and then buy an EV.
it's* been a dream
They also have been holding up better and last more miles. Unfortunately that means the road to switching to EVs is going to take longer.
Good news for a bad reason.
On the bright side, at least planned obsolescence isnt in the auto industry???
Is that sarcasm? Because the auto industry is known for it.
Yeah, they typically just make things a pain to get to. Had to take the entire bumper off to change a single headlight bulb in dad's car.
You can get the same effect as a new car by buying a used car and then lighting $20,000 on fire when you drive it off the lot.
My '21 is functionally the same cost as when I bought it, minus what I would call normal depreciation. Keeping cars for longer also means used prices are remaining higher for longer, reducing access to getting a new one if something happens to your current vehicle and completely throws out anyone getting a new (to them) car for the first time.
My 2004 Subaru Forester is going to drive until the heat death of the universe if I can keep doing routine maintenance. Added bonus: it's a manual so I get to be part of an ever dying breed of people who can drive stick. We're almost at 200k miles and going strong.
I can drive stick and I don’t want to. It’s just a car and dealing with a manual is just plain annoying.
I love my 2012 Mini and want to keep it for a long time, but it keeps trying to kill itself. I won't let it happen!!
I've never had a car loan in my life. I've never had comprehensive insurance. I've had four cars in 22 years. Only once have I had a car less than 12.6 years old, and just barely. 10y is the sweet spot when I go used car shopping.
My current 2007 C4 grand picasso sitting at 153k km should last me at least another four-five years before I hit my pain point maintenance-wise.
I cracked the windshield on my current car, but that repair cost 1/5 of what 22 years of windshield insurance would've cost, ignoring inflation.
I wonder if sellers will feel this pressure and bring prices down.
I have an 04 canyon and it's ran great with proper maintenance and some repairs. Modern vehicles should last a long time as long as you put the needed maintenance into them
Is it high prices or is it less spending power in the majority of citizens?
And then the inevitable industrial shrink caused by that seems so surprising to everyone
I'm cool in my 2009 with no payments for what I do.
Or perhaps people are starting to realize that you don't need a new car as soon as your 5-year loan is paid off.
I do okay financially; if I wanted a new car, I'd buy one. I bought mine brand new off the lot 15 years ago, and I intend to keep driving it until I can no longer repair it. Why would I possibly want to buy a new, 5G-connected, spyware-infected plastic shitbox when what I have works perfectly well and probably has another 100k miles of life with a few minor repairs and maybe an engine swap at 2-300k or so?
Only reason Id buy a new car is to get a full electric, affordable, nontesla that has more than 150 horsepower.
Car payments are a poverty trap. I haven't had one in a decade. Buying a used car for cash is such a better deal anyway. I do need suckers to get those 1-2 year leases though to make my cars cheaper.
CarPlay and radar cruise control are worth it for commuting imo… but beyond that I don’t care.
2021 civic I’ll be driving into the ground thank you very much.
I frequent the Bay Area (Cali) and wouldn’t dream of taking a car without some semi-autonomous driving features. Sitting in traffic while the car brakes, accelerates and steers is the best.
Installed CarPlay in my 2011 car. It’s awesome and still no car payment.
Same, my 2013 Sonata Hybrid has ~80'000 miles (130k km), paid off yeeeaaarrrsss ago, no problem with it, why change?
My 2010 Passat Wagon has 211000 Miles and is about to get its first set of new shocks/struts. some big things I had to replace were the mechatronics and rebuilt the cylinder head. Cylinder head was because I ignored a timing issue with the chains. Chime in if you have high mileage.
Only reason I am thinking of replacing our car is because a BEV would pay for itself fairly quickly if I hear back from a job I applied to that has a 50 mile round-trip commute. Gas alone would be an extra $1000 per year compared to our current 11 year old vehicle.
I'd personally wait a bit as the market is trending down from the high prices during COVID and manufacturers are slowly rolling out more and more incentives again.
For sure. I had my last car for 20 years until it finally NEEDED to be replaced. And my current car I've had for five years. After paying it off early, I've enjoyed not having that payment, and I hope it lasts just as long as my last car.
How to sound like a boomer without saying you're a boomer.
"It's just more stuff to break! I don't need none of that wifi or internets and touch screens or whathaveya"
Not wanting unnecessary “features“ that are just thinly veiled spyware that overcomplicate every aspect of driving is not a boomer opinion. Wanting buttons you can feel without looking for instead of a giant screen that has automatic updates and needs to have access to your cellphone for basic functionality is not a boomer opinion.
Knowing that tacking voice activation onto every 'smart' device, including vehicles, is just an excuse for companies to record everything you say for their shitty marketing isn't a boomer opinion.
In my experience doing tech work, boomers love that shit and fall for all of it, and it all fucks up in some way much more quickly than should be allowed.
I guess you didn't see the recent article that studied all the information manufacturers collect on you in these new generation of vehicles. Some notable ones are Nissan and Kia collecting information on your sexual activity and six companies collecting your genetic information all for what? So you can control Spotify from your infotainment screen?
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/
I'm not OP, but if wanting cars that have physical buttons and cars that don't charge me subscription fees makes me a boomer, then I guess I'm a boomer.
Okay techbro
What a strange take. In fact most highly technical people tend to want simple unless they have enough money to treat things like cars as toys.
Ya if you don’t like pissing your money away that makes you a boomer!
Sick take chief.