Old Cars Growing Older

If the cars you see on the road seem a little older to you these days, you would be correct because the average age of the vehicles on our highways has reached an all-time high according to the Polk market research firm.

Polk’s research says that the average age of American vehicles has now reached a record high of 11.4 years old, an age that Polk says will likely increase going forward. In fact, the numbers show that the cars on American roads have been getting older for many years now, a trend reflected in the fact that the average age was just over 8 years back in 1995 and had climbed to 9.6 years by 2002. Polk predicts that the number of vehicles a dozen years old or older will rise to 20% or a full fifth of the cars on the U.S. roads by the year 2018. The analysts at Polk surmised that declines in overall new car sales during the recession and subsequent down-turned economy have pushed the average age of cars up because people are simply keeping their cars longer.

Because people are keeping their cars longer, it also means they will have to keep them running longer, and that means more opportunities for those who sell auto parts and repair cars. Polk noted that auto parts retailers have a growing opportunity with potential consumers who will be working on their own vehicles and that the auto repair shops should be paying close attention to their business plans and making concerted efforts to retain business among the do-it-for-me (DIFM) car enthusiast audience.