Average U.S. vehicle age hits record 12.6 years as high prices force people to keep them longer

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?

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.

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.

"Durable goods lasting longer than ever, but spun as economic anxiety"

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.

They also last longer. Cars used to turn into a pile of rust before they hit 100k miles

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.

I'm daily driving a 32-year old car. I have no interest in something newer. AMA.

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.

Nice to not read a BS headline reframing things along the lines of "stingy millennials refuse to support new cars because of DEI!"

Laughs in late 90s model Astro van and early 2000s Toyota Camry.

Yeah bruh, i bought a Camry 11 years ago and a Sienna 7 years ago, i plan to drive them both for 20 years, minimum.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

On the bright side, at least planned obsolescence isnt in the auto industry???

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 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!!

Good news for a bad reason.

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

I'm cool in my 2009 with no payments for what I do.

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