Average car age on the increase - what’s yours?

[rusty_vw_man]

Mrs RVM is Finnish and was struck by this article that the average age of Finnish cars is now 14 years - and there annual sales rate is about half what it needs to be to reduce that, so it’s only going up - 

https://yle.fi/a/74-20172016

Sounds old, but I realise I had no idea if it was - UK it turns out is 9.4, and EU as a whole about 12, although honourable mention to Estonia with a 17 year old average  

What I thought was more interesting was that these are all steadily increasing. 

Does make sense I guess - the world is just catching up with the way of the shite. 

My current average is 22, although that’s down from 2016 when it was 33 so I suppose I am bucking the trend!! 

[danthecapriman]

Mines 46.6 years!😄

I think for the masses though it’s not so much about keeping old stuff as classics or whatever, but it’s purely down to the cost of living. It’s getting worse and worse worldwide with even the weekly shop going through the roof so not buying a new car for a few more years is how people try to save. 
It’s good though imho, stops things that are still perfectly serviceable being binned for no reason than it being old. Also helps used car dealers, garages, parts suppliers and manufacturers etc etc.

[Dyslexic Viking]

The average car in Norway was 11.3 years old in 2024. 

And I can't calculate averages.

[Markeh]

This is why I shouldn't be trusted with an Excel spreadsheet.

[Schaefft]

With used car values dropping so quickly in the UK it's no surprise that cars get scrapped years before they'd be in most other countries. These numbers are likely to drop again everywhere though. The cars currently pushing up the numbers are late 90s/early 2000s, probably the most reliable/longest living cars we'll ever see again. Much of the stuff built closer to now is too complex/expensive to fix at age to make it that long.

[RayMK]

My daily driver is 8 years old, bought as an ex-demo when it was 6 months old.  My garage queen is 64 years old, bought when it was 31 years old.  The average is therefore a somewhat  skewed 36.  

[eddyramrod]

I agree with @Schaefft.  Brand new Peugeot; 2001 Omega.  My average is 12, which is quite low for me.  I really like the Omega, I can see myself hanging onto it for a while (Hmm, I've said that kind of thing before!).  If I do change it, then it'll only be for something older.

[artdjones]

In 2017 I bought a 13 Mégane estate for €6k, admittedly a bargain, and the car had done 118k miles. But a price of €8-12k would have netted a lower mileage car from a dealer. 2021 Mégane diesel estates are between 15495 and 20995 atm. So people are hanging onto their older cars in Ireland because they can't afford newer ones. Added to that is the gigantic increase in rents and house prices since 2020. There's also the fact that not many cars sold in 2020 and 21 because of you know what. So there's not the selection of cars around to tempt potential buyers. 

[EightMegs]

My only working car is 34 as of May.

[Jazoli]

My current average over four cars in the household is five years old, I/we don’t have any older cars these days, a couple of years ago it’d have been nearer 12 years old but we have a bit more cash these days and I got sick of sorting cars out all the time.

Mine is the oldest at 8 years old.

[Snipes]

10 and 31 (yes, 1994 was 31 years ago)

[inconsistant]

12 19 and 44 years old so a mean choddage of 25 years old

[Wibble]

I think my average works out at 33, with a 48 year old Ford, 32 year old Vauxhall and 10 year old Skoda.

[neil1971]

Nissan Note, first registered May 2011 so just over 15 years old, bought in November 2016 with about 89k on it and now on 191k. Usually buy something 5 or 6 years old, the idea being that the worst of the depreciation is over but it'll still have plenty of life in it, this is only the fourth car I've owned since 1992, the others are below, 13 - 15 year life:

Fiat Uno 60S, 1986 car owned 1992 - 2001, 70something k to 235k (scrapped)
Fiat Punto 55SX,  late 1995 car owned 2001 - 2008, 40something k to 150k (sold to work colleague, scrapped a couple of years later)
Nissan Almera, Dec 2003 car owned 2008 - 2016 48k ish to 172k (scrapped)

I'm possibly on the wrong forum with such a slow turnover!

[DSdriver]

1973 DS = 52 years

2002 9-3 floppytop =23 years

2007 9-5 Aero estate =18 years

Average = 31 years. 

[Carl1981]

My oldest is 1981 (44 years) VW T25

I have two from 1994 (31 years) XJ6 and Metro

one from 1998 (27 years) ZX

one from 2023 (2 years) HRV

one from 2024 (1 year) XC60

average age 22.6 years

[jonathan_dyane]

Currently average of the cars we have on the road is 43.5...

[mk2_craig]

A 36 year old Renner and a 5 year old Ford puts me at an average of 20.5years, add my wife’s 2016 Bini into the equation and that brings us down to 13.333 recurring years. 

[Surface Rust]

Good thread idea - my average is an alarming 44.8 years, almost my age!

[N19]

45, 25, 22. Average 30.66!

[catsinthewelder]

37,35,32,3x31 (all broken and SORN) daily driver 14

Average 30.14

Including the better halfs 10 year old Corsa, average 27.6

Also including my motorbike, average 25.7

[Three Speed]

Ignoring my wife’s 8year old Golf, mine come in at 51, 54, 66 and 74, averaging 61. The majority of the miles are shared between the youngest and the oldest which average out at 63.

[bunglebus]

My car just turned 27. The Mrs has a 25 year old Lupo, and a 24 year old Lupo awaiting repair. We also have a sprightly 23 year old Lupo that's being used as a first car for teenagers in the family, so 24.75 years

[Anthony]

My daily is 26 years old and then I've three others at 33, 34 and 35 years old.

Average age is thus 32 years old.

[gm]

my 1993 mx5 is 32 years old

the 1996 jaag is 29 years old 

the exo was registered in 2022 but the running gear is all 31 years old

and the 2009 modern volvo is a youthful 16 

which gives a nice round average of 27 years  

long live the shite !

 

[wuvvum]

Nissan Leaf - 7

Peugeot 107 - 17

LDV Maxus - 17

Mercedes C320 - 19

Rover 75 - 22

Toyota Carina E - 29

Innocenti Mini - 32

Volvo 164 - 52

Renault 6 - 53

 

Average - 27 ½

[brownnova]

Just counting mine and not the good lady’s

2CVs: 42, 40, 38 and 37 respectively. 
Yugo 35
Pontiac 35
9000: 27
9-3: 18
XC90: 18 

Average 32.2

Including the wife’s Scenic and (waiting to go back to the finance company) ZS it brings it down to 27.8. 

[RoverFolkUs]

In previous years my cars were averaging 13-15 years old. The occasional newer one but never much older than that, they were all reaching the point of uneconomical repair by that point and it was easier to just get something cheaply a few years newer. 

Now I've got an "aging fleet", they're proving perfectly reliable and so far have always been worth keeping on the road as opposed to replacing it with another shitter. 

MK2 Focus and Xsara Picasso now 19 years old

Have had the Focus since 2019 and Picasso since 2022, I see no reason that would prevent them going for at least another few years. They hardly ever want for anything, picasso has been superb, only needing things like tyres as well as regular service items, and a fresh cambelt a few weeks ago. 

Rover 620Ti 28 years old. More of my hobby car but it's perfectly capable of being 'An Car' as well

Average fleet age = 22 years old. I'd hop into any of them without a doubt they'd get me to where I need to go. Particularly the Focus and Picasso. With the Rover you never quite know what could go wrong and leave it incapacitated whereas parts for the former are still readily cheaply available. None of them are really dailies, they just get used as and when. 

I keep on top of maintenance without making them concourse examples. I tend to buy a car, bring it up to a standard I'm happy with and maintain it from there. 

I would probably be more apprehensive about reliability driving a modern car less than 10 years old than the cars I have now 😅

[808 Estate]

Mine is 29 this year.

[Spiny Norman]

The only car I have, my everyday car is 25 years old.