Name: Why The American Car Fleet Is Getting So Old
Uploaded: 2021-10-29T22:11:37.000Z
Duration: 12 min 51 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

In 2021, the average age of vehicles on the road in America

reached a record 12.1 years. Cars are getting faster, safer,

more tech heavy, and the average age of a vehicle in the US is

It has been increasing for really ever since we've been

Two big reasons for this say industry analysts cars have been

growing more durable and more expensive. Drivers are holding

on to their cars longer and cars are spending more time in the

used vehicle market before they head to the junkyard.

I have a 1993 80-series Land Cruiser that I bought brand new

28 years ago and it has 215,000 miles on it and the engines

never been apart. I have serviced the vehicle regularly

Many buyers especially those with less money to spend are

seeking out used vehicles as new vehicle prices climb.

There is some concern that this is going to reduce the churn

rate or the number of folks that are going to be buying a new

So far though, plenty of Americans seem to be buying new

cars. New vehicle sales reached a record high of 17.5 million in

2016. And the number of vehicles per household has gradually

increased over time even as vehicle age has risen. But every

driver that chooses to hold on to a car for another year is

postponing a trip to the dealership and some industry

analysts wonder if rising vehicle ages and prices indicate

trouble for new car sales in the future. Automakers are stuffing

cars with new technology and improvements, but will that be

enough to keep buyers wanting the latest and greatest.

In the 1970s, a car would be expected to last at most 100,000

miles. At that time vehicles had five digit odometers so the

typical odometer only went up to 99,999 miles. But now it is

typical for cars to last well over 100,000 miles and many will

make it to 200,000 or more. 25% of the cars on the road in the

US are at least 16 years old. There are some cars that last an

especially long time iSeeCars a search engine for car shoppers

publishes a list of the longest lasting vehicles and brands on

the road. In order to make the list at least 2.5% of the cars

with a certain nameplate have to make it to the 200,000 mile mark

about 1% of the average vehicle model  well make it past 200,000

miles. But some models are disproportionately represented

among higher mileage vehicles, SUVs and trucks from Toyota,

Honda, and General Motors. The Toyota Land Cruiser a favorite

vehicle of offroaders United Nations forces and wealthy SUV

buyers tops the list. More than 16% of Land Cruisers on the road

have at least 200,000 miles on the odometer. It is followed by

Then when you go to the third vehicle, which is the Chevrolet

Suburban, you're now at 5%. So the first vehicle on the list

has three times the percentage of models with 200,000 plus

miles versus the third vehicle on the list showing how A)

quickly it drops from the first few vehicles on the list and B)

how truly unique and capable and durable the Toyota LandCruiser

is. It really stands out even among this group.

Toyota especially has a reputation for making cars that

We have 100 vehicles on display right now in the building and

quite a few of them have an awful lot of miles on them, over

200,000 miles 300,000 miles. We have one Japanese market Land

Cruiser Prado that was a highway service vehicle and it has over

420,000 miles on it with the original engine in the frame and

One Toyota owner's full size Tundra pickup lasted for more

than a million miles for example, the automaker bought

the truck back and gave the owner a new one.

It's pretty clear that Toyotas have not just a reputation for

durability, but a proven track record of durability just just

by glancing at this list. Typically the cars on this list

especially at the top of the list are body on frame cars you

see a lot of body on frame vehicles here and you see a lot

of Toyotas. Of course the Land Cruiser is both it's a body on

frame Toyota, and the next vehicle on the list the Toyota

Consumer Reports also publishes a list of 10 cars it says are

most likely to make it to the 200,000 mile mark and it is

populated entirely with Toyotas and Hondas. It is important to

note that just because a car is not on the iSeeCars list doesn't

mean it is not reliable. Porsche for example, has a strong

reputation for reliability, but might not make it onto a list

like this because Porsche owners often drive their cars

conservatively to keep mileage low. In addition to being more

durable cars are also becoming more expensive. In December

2020, the average price of a new vehicle in America reached a

record $38,000. Average new vehicle prices have been

bouncing around the mid $30,000 range for several years. As this

has happened, automakers have also appeared to trim their

portfolios of lower priced vehicles. In 2013, sales of cars

costing less than $20,000 made up 20.1% of total annual new car

sales. By 2020, that figure was 9.4%. Customers who are priced

out of buying new cars are likely to turn more and more to

use vehicles. But many owners are simply foregoing car

purchases altogether preferring to hold on to their cars for

Part of what makes it easier to hold on to vehicles longer is

the availability of parts of the internet even for obscure or old

cars. There are opportunities for shops even dealers to

provide services to cost conscious car owners looking to

Fix operations of repair and servicing of vehicles is gonna

be an important part of dealers operations, and probably a

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Why The American Car Fleet Is Getting So Old

average

typically

plenty

reputation