The average U.S. car is nearly 13 years old—what that means for your wallet and safety
The cars and trucks Americans drive are aging at a record pace. According to the most recent data from S&P Global Mobility, the average age of vehicles on U.S. roads has climbed to 12.8 years, the oldest on record.
Digging deeper into the numbers, the picture becomes even more striking. Passenger cars are now on average 14.5 years old, while light trucks are on average 11.9 years old. In other words, the typical American car on the roads today was built during the Obama administration.
An older vehicle fleet on America’s highways is good news and bad news; It all depends on your point of view and what part of the story you’re focusing on. For some drivers, keeping a well-maintained sedan makes perfect financial sense. For automakers, insurers and safety advocates, the same trend raises serious questions. The aging of America’s automobile fleet affects the economy, the environment, public safety and the changing realities of what people can and cannot afford.
Vehicles are more sustainable than ever
Better materials and better manufacturing
The fact that vehicles are still on the road after almost 13 years of service is a major achievement. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average person travels about 13,500 miles per year. That means the average driver will have put about 175,000 miles on this 13-year-old vehicle. This is a testament to the advances in engineering, materials and manufacturing that allow cars to last this long.
Back then, even if the engine could survive over 100,000 miles, the vehicle’s body often could not. The use of galvanized steel was not widely adopted until the 1990s. Cars and trucks were susceptible to rust, and once the body rusted, the vehicle was usually sent for scrap. The current use of aluminum, plastics and composite materials in cars significantly reduces the risk of corrosion.
Keeping Your Old Car Can Save You Money
Building a new car also requires a lot of resources
That “new car smell” is iconic, but it’s never been more expensive. With new car prices hovering around $50,000, a typical five-year loan at 6 percent interest will cost you $966 per month, or about $11,600 per year. While repairing an older vehicle isn’t free, it rarely costs five figures a year (unless you drive a Bugatti, in which case maintenance isn’t your biggest concern).
Beyond the sticker price, a new car also increases your insurance premiums. Although many factors influence your rate, insuring a decade-old $15,000 sedan is almost always less expensive than insuring a $50,000 new showroom model. Moreover, the old car has already survived its biggest depreciation. While a new car loses about 42% of its value in just five years, the older vehicle has already stabilized, making it a clear winner for your bottom line.
While the appeal of a zero-emission electric vehicle is strong, the greenest car might actually be the one already sitting in your driveway. Keeping a vehicle on the road longer is a powerful environmental choice that goes beyond just fuel economy.
The hidden “carbon cost” of a new car lies in its manufacturing. Building a single vehicle requires an influx of raw materials like steel, aluminum and rubber, as well as a huge amount of energy to assemble it. In fact, some studies suggest that manufacturing a new car can produce more greenhouse gases than years of driving an existing car.
Even though manufacturing a new car requires high energy consumption, there is a problem: Older cars are inherently less efficient. Any environmental “savings” you make by avoiding the showroom could quickly be offset by the higher exhaust emissions from an aging engine.
Of course, the calculation depends entirely on your driveway. If you drive a 2013 Cadillac CTS-V, you have a legendary, but thirsty, ride. Swapping that V8 for a new Toyota Corolla would result in a reduced carbon footprint (even if it comes at the expense of significant power). On the other hand, if your old car is already a fuel-efficient compact, the environmental benefits of an upgrade might be negligible.
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The newest cars are the safest cars
Active safety systems have improved
Keeping your old vehicle forever is not without its drawbacks. The greatest risk concerns your safety and that of other motorists and pedestrians. Vehicles are much safer today than they were ten years ago. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are constantly improving. Lighting, braking and pedestrian safety technologies improve with each new vehicle model year.
That’s not to say that a car built in 2013 is a death trap. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that the average vehicle on the road in 2012 had an estimated 56 percent lower risk of death for its occupants than the average vehicle on the road in the late 1950s. NHTSA also estimates that improved safety technologies saved more than 600,000 lives between 1960 and 2012.
- What is included
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Windshield support
- Radar band detection
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X, K, Ka
The Uniden R8 is a dual-antenna radar detector with directional arrows, known for its long-range detection and false alarm filtering capabilities. Comes preloaded with red light and speed camera locations and supports firmware updates for continued performance improvements.
Keeping the economy humming
New vehicle sales also drive innovation
While keeping your trusty decade-old sedan is a smart move for your personal bank account, the bigger economic picture is more complicated. The record aging of a fleet creates a problem that affects the entire automotive industry. When consumers stop buying new, car manufacturers directly feel the consequences on their financial results.
This drop in demand isn’t just hurting quarterly profits; this slows the pace of innovation. High sales volumes provide the R&D budgets needed to develop next-generation safety technologies, more efficient engines and affordable electric vehicles. When revenues decline, manufacturers often reduce investments in new technologies and forward-looking manufacturing plants.
This, in turn, can threaten manufacturing jobs and block supply chain growth. While living a cheaper lifestyle with an older car helps your wallet today, a healthy, rotating auto market is what fuels the technological advances and industrial strength of tomorrow’s economy.
Cars can’t continue to age
As America approaches its half-fiftieth anniversary, our vehicles increasingly enter their adolescence. Whether you view this aging fleet as a sign of financial prudence or a looming safety issue depends entirely on your perspective.
However, at some point we will need to see the average age of vehicles stabilize, as well as the average price of a new vehicle.
