According to new data, the majority of cars on the road nationwide are trending older with the average age at around 14 years, a record high for the United States.
A decade ago, the average age for cars was 11.5 years.
Mike Todd, who owns Todd’s Garage in Morro Bay, says he has noticed more people with older cars coming in.
“A lot of people repair their cars to keep them going,” Todd said.
Todd says many people will choose to repair their cars if costs run 10 to 20 percent of the car’s value.
“I am planning to keep it as long as they have parts that they have available to maintain the car,” said Soo Oh, owner of a 1995 Toyota Previa.
According to S&P, 13 million new passenger cars were registered since 2020 with 27 million exiting the United States’ overall vehicle population.
Todd says the biggest issue he sees is people not maintaining their older cars properly, like using the appropriate oil.
“You try to vary from that to save a few dollars or go extended intervals — all it does is carbon up the engine or wear it out faster causing other issues and now you have issues on issues,” Todd said.
The supply chain production issues that arose during the pandemic are credited for driving up the price of used cars.
“[The] used car market did go crazy during the pandemic. Twenty-year-old cars were selling for two to three times more than what they on average sold for,” Todd said.
“I actually had a car that I was able to sell. I got some decent price for it because the price had gone up,” Oh said.
Car insurance is also up. Consumer Price Index data shows car insurance is up more than 20 percent since last year.
“Even with our old cars, the insurance cost has gone up, so we definitely don’t want to have added burden,” Oh said.
New car prices are down 3.5 percent since January 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book, which reports some consumers are opting to spend less overall and buy used or stick with their older cars.
“I really have no desire to want to make payments on a new car,” Oh said.
According to S&P Global Mobility, cars aged 6 to 14 years are expected to represent around 70 percent of the operating fleet nationwide for the next five years.
