Average vehicle age sets a record at 11.8 years old

[69GTX]

Average age of my 2 daily drivers is 19 yrs old........average mileage on them is 34,000 miles each.


I like them old with low miles. On old vehicles the low mileage premium is a bargain as long as the cars are rust free, and previously well maintained.

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

11.8yrs old is new to me

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted by Railrust
I kept a car 16 years once, not easy to do up in the North East. Today's cars are built better? Debatable, but there is no doubt the price has gone up and because of that maybe people are keeping them longer. I saw a lady put a transmission in a Hyundai with almost 300k miles on it lat year, I asked why, the answer I got was...beats a car payment. The car was reasonably solid, the replacement tranny wasn't that much, so I guess she was right. I guess it just depends on what you want.

Have an 16 year old car here. Rust is catching it though....

16, 15, 13, and 6 months here.......

 

[umungus1122]

Originally Posted by hatt
A base 2002 baby cab S10 was about $14,000(about $20,000 in today's $$) sticker. A new extended cab Frontier starts at $19,000. Extended cab S10 would sticker at around $22,500 today.

Just not a huge difference in price.

Well I worked at the Chevy dealership at that time period, considered buying one, and it was $11k. Granted they were leftovers, but still. Also working part time as a contractor then, and full time as one today, income in our industry has certainly not increased to correlate with the increased price of vehicles.

 

[caprice_2nv]

My employers fleet of 3 work trucks is average 9.66 years old. 2005 Silverado, 2010 Tacoma, 2013 Silverado. All 3 trucks get used all day long Monday to Friday. The 05 has over 9000 engine hours on it.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by CKN
It's a lot older than that on BITOG...............................

Probably a lot of truth to that ^^^^^

 

[Fawteen]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by walterjay
I remember when a 70K mile car was pretty much considered a clunker.


My parents are 60 and don't remember such a time. Maybe back in the 50s?


I'm 57 and I well remember cars from the 60's and 70's that were pretty well used up between 70,000 and 100,000 miles. Even in mild climates rust would tear the floor pans and body up. I've seen a number of barn finds with "low mileage" on them that the body looks good, but the frame is rotted, or the floorboards and trunk pan have turned into swiss cheese.

There are always exceptions, but those are rare, and it's clear the maintenance was much more intensive on those that it was on ordinary vehicles.

 

[tblt44]

I drive a 16 year old Avalanche with 173k
My wife drives a 13 year old Tahoe with 194k.
My daughter drives my 17 year old sierra with 245k.
I enjoy no car payments.
I would enjoy better milage of the newer trucks but I enjoy no payment more.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by walterjay
I remember when a 70K mile car was pretty much considered a clunker.


My parents are 60 and don't remember such a time. Maybe back in the 50s?


I'm 57 and I well remember cars from the 60's and 70's that were pretty well used up between 70,000 and 100,000 miles. Even in mild climates rust would tear the floor pans and body up. I've seen a number of barn finds with "low mileage" on them that the body looks good, but the frame is rotted, or the floorboards and trunk pan have turned into swiss cheese.

There are always exceptions, but those are rare, and it's clear the maintenance was much more intensive on those that it was on ordinary vehicles.


What kind of Maintenance are you talking about? As far as I know nobody undercoated there cars back then? Even today the cars in our area are rusting out in 10-12 years if not undercoated. Some are better than others, one vehicle I see tons of that aren't rusty is 97 up Camry's, a Corolla from the same era is usually rusted out in the rocker panels just like many other makes and models.

My 83 Caprice and 84 Cutlass were both undercoated somewhat regularly and survived over 20 years of winter driving.

 

[Smokescreen]

The only vehicle I bought new was a 2009 Corolla which I sold to my son with 420,000 kms (263,000 miles) on it. We replaced the alternator and battery. It still has the factory original brake pads on it. Nothing else has been repaired. Just simple maintenance of tires, oil, ATF and coolant.

When they last like this there is no reason for me to buy new as used has tons of life left at a fraction of the price.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by benjy
as vehicles are becoming even more way overpriced, especially 4WD pickups where preowned prices are nuts as well many can't afford or want a new ride. for me the unproven problematic technology is another reason + at least gently preowned can save thousands! the more you spend the more you loose $$$ ok if you got the bucks but many average people do NOT!!!



Exactly. The increase in average car price transactions far out paces the rate of inflation by an outrageous amount, add to that in my view since 2010 the amount of increased complexity and expense of the parts of modern vehicles makes them a BAD, very bad investment. Also wages in the USA have been flat or decreasing over the past 35 years or so.


Not so by any stretch.
If you compare apples to apples, sale prices are lower in inflation adjusted dollars than they were years ago.
Consider that we paid $16.8K for our 5spd 4dr Accord LX in August 1999.
In November 2012, I drove home a new Accord 4dr automatic for just $19.2K, so it was significantly cheaper than the '99 in constant dollars.
Last September, we brought home our Accord Hybrid for $23.5K, so even with all of the additional build cost involved in the Hybrid, it cost no more in constant dollars than did the 1999 Accord.

 

[caprice_2nv]

Originally Posted by Smokescreen
The only vehicle I bought new was a 2009 Corolla which I sold to my son with 420,000 kms (263,000 miles) on it. We replaced the alternator and battery. It still has the factory original brake pads on it. Nothing else has been repaired. Just simple maintenance of tires, oil, ATF and coolant.

When they last like this there is no reason for me to buy new as used has tons of life left at a fraction of the price.


That's why if I had to buy a "newer" vehicle it would probably be a Camry or Corolla from 97-09. That's probably the only thing that would be as cheap as my 80s cars to keep on the road.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted by caprice_2nv
Originally Posted by walterjay
I remember when a 70K mile car was pretty much considered a clunker.


My parents are 60 and don't remember such a time. Maybe back in the 50s?


Cars of the 50's and 60's were no where as reliable as todays automobiles. At 100,000 miles reliability was very much in question most of the time.

 

[caprice_2nv]

I was born in 1983 and my experience has been with late 70s and newer vehicles. I may also be slightly biased because once I got older most of the terrible economy cars were already weeded out and off the road. Trucks, and full size rear wheel drive cars were the ones that stayed on the road for 20+ years. There were some pretty terrible economy cars coming out back then so it wasn't a good time to try to save fuel I guess.

 

[HM12460]

My Colorado has 13,520 miles on it now. Going to buy another new truck next summer. Life is short. Drive whatever it is that blows your hair back.

 

[TheLawnRanger]

Life is short. However, I have to have enough money to make it until the end whenever that is.That's a good philosophy if you can afford it though.

 

[4WD]

In the Houston area there is a new buyer of well used cars:
My son sold a 13 year old Pontiac several years back and it is still running around town - and just sold a 12 year old Chrysler.
Two things both buyers had in common - they paid cash and spoke no English ...

 

[TiredTrucker]

Originally Posted by camryrolla
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/27/record-average-age-cars-on-road/

Anything to avoid a new car payment.


I suppose, but when one has vehicle that looks and runs great, why get rid of it? For some higher priced POS? We keep our 2006 Cadillac CTS because it just plain runs well and is a great car. Built in 2005 so coming up on 14 years early this fall. Will stay with us for a while longer.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Three cars, one 14.5 years, the next, 33 and the third, 56. All in service and ready to go at all times.

The 86 just completed a 1700 mile round trip to Salt Lake and back. The 2005 has 72,000 miles. A long way to go before I'll need to replace it. Purchased new and treated as if it was the last car I will ever buy. The 63 I have owned since 1981.

Personally, I despise the lack of visibility, gigantic consoles, the idea that the buyer gets to beta test the DSGs, CVTs,DIs, all the other clever bits of "engineering" and the quest to make every bloody vehicle "premium" to appeal to low payment lease intenders. Who cares if it's overpriced, over teched, and overly complicated if it's only $139 a month for three years with $3500 down ?

Whatever moves the metal and reasonable basic cars just don't do it any more. Let the industry do what it wants. They won't be satisfied until they put everyone into a Suburban or an Excursion type vehicle with a $100,000 price tag and 10 year loan program.

Sorry, I've dropped off that hamster wheel. Having no debt of any kind is a lot more satisfying than having a new car Hoovering up cash every month.

Maybe people are getting wise and finding a constant monthly debt commitment for a depreciating asset year after year is like a scab that won't heal.


.

 

[DweezilAZ]

Originally Posted by TiredTrucker
Originally Posted by camryrolla
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/06/27/record-average-age-cars-on-road/

Anything to avoid a new car payment.


I suppose, but when one has vehicle that looks and runs great, why get rid of it? For some higher priced POS? We keep our 2006 Cadillac CTS because it just plain runs well and is a great car. Built in 2005 so coming up on 14 years early this fall. Will stay with us for a while longer.

^^^

Ding ding ding ding ding.

I think we have a winner here.