Average age of cars

[Dobloseven]

On the radio this week,I heard that the average age of the cars on UK roads is just under 10 years,higher than it's ever been.Suppose it makes sense.There's more cars than ever,but new car sales aren't increasing and seem stuck at 80s levels.So the existing vehicles must be lasting longer.Set me thinking.The Rexton I use daily,is 9 in the summer and MrsDs Korando was 10 in December,so we're pretty much bang on the money.But factor in the almost 37 year old Renault and the Jaguar that's 20 in the summer, that's taken up residence on the front,and it all goes pear shaped.

[New POD]

The life expectancy of cars is related to 4 things. 

Wear out of mechanical components.  Ie number of miles/cycles

Random failures of electrical components  ie how much stress they are subjected to from shock from the road surfaces 

Rust. How much salt vs the protection. 

And the cost vs value of repairing said problems.

I think ICE vehicles peaked about 2005. 

Since then rust protection is not as good. Mechanical design is not fit for longevity and theres more electronics and the roads are worse. Plus diagnostics and repair costs have exponentially increased. 

I reckon that 10 years will start to reduce. 

[Metal Guru]

21+ 5 , 13 average here, we’ll above average.

[bunglebus]

Ours are all 20+, newest 2002 oldest 1998

[Dobloseven]

Can't see that figure of approximately 10 years reducing,unless more new cars go into the system and/or folk running the old ones scrap them, without replacement.I do think as well,cars aren't getting so much use, leading to a lower average mileage.There's still a lot of WFH,so folk less likely to be looking for a more reliable car to get them to work in the morning.Plus used car values have increased a lot,in line with new ones,so folk more inclined to try to keep old stuff running.Ten years ago,MrsD and myself had 3 vehicles,1,14 and 6 years old,so an average of 7 years.Go back twenty years and we had two,with an average of 2.5 years.Just waiting for the Six Cylinders to come in with the average age of their fleet!

[Homersimpson]

Average in our household is just over 51, oldest is 1959, newest is 2016.

[artdjones]

New car prices have increased by vast amounts without people's budgets increasing by the same percentage. As a car is a necessity for most people, the pressure to keep older ones on the road increases. Also not many cars were sold in 2020 and 21 because of COVID shortages, producing a shortage of mid priced used cars. I can't see that average coming down anytime soon.

In Ireland, before COVID, the list price of a basic Mégane estate was around €22k. Now it's around €34.5k for a basic Mégane, after deducting grants, etc. (The prices are high here because of VRT)

[warch]

Average round at mine is 44, oldest is 1955, newest is 2024. Remove Mrs warch's car from the equation and that figure goes to 58.

I'm sure cars have become much more expensive relatively speaking in the last few years, 25 years ago there were loads of new or nearly new cars available at massively discounted prices. 

[IronStar]

New cars have gotten more expensive, and (as with everything else really) wages didn’t follow. The result is cars being harder to replace, resulting in people holding on to them longer, and higher residuals. I wanted to buy a brand new Tipo two years ago, but the same car with same engine and trim level my friend bought a few years prior was almost half the price (14k€ vs 25k€). Guys who I bought 159 off paid low 30s for 2.0 Giulia Veloce. Out of the door price of QV was around 50k€. Good luck buying it anywhere close to this, last time I checked QV was around 90k€. Needless to say, my paycheck didn’t double in the same time.

Over here it’s around 17 years (with Belgrade around 13.5), which tracks with people holding onto their Puntos, mkiv Golfs, 307s and 206s as replacements are more expensive not just in purchase price but also in maintenance. 

[danthecapriman]

Working from home probably does come into it. Since Covid a lot of places have found savings can be made by getting people to carry on working remotely from home and getting rid of leases etc on commercial properties. Before my dad retired they did this and it saved the company an absolute mint on property costs. Obviously this then means no commuting and therefore the car doesn’t get used and you don’t necessarily need to keep buying a new reliable omgmpg one.

I bet the biggest reason though is living costs. Literally everything these days is costing more and more. For many, wages aren’t increasing at all or in line with that and disposable income is becoming less and less so people are making savings where they can. Cars being pretty hefty purchases means people are trying to get better value out of what they already have and are keeping it longer. It’s also generally cheaper to pay on maintenance and repairs every year than buy a new car every 3/4/5 etc years like many used to.

Maybe tax rates are having an effect too? People not wanting to buy new and get stung on purchase taxes or high annual road tax rates. Possibly the upcoming pay as you go EV tax is putting people off buying new until after it’s sorted and more known about what’s involved with it??

[motorpunk]

30 year average in my fleet. In my head they’re all modern anyway

[worldofceri]

26 year average here.

17 if you include only the roadworthy.

’72, ‘03, ‘05 and ‘17.

The law of diminishing returns has applied to automotive development over the last twenty years. If it wasn’t for the advent of viable hybrid and electric cars, the national 10 year average would be even higher, as fewer owners would be tempted by the latest models.

[RayMK]

My daily is nearly 8 years old. No intention of changing it yet.

My garaged but roadworthy classic which is rarely driven these days is 64 years old.  

(Mitsubishi Mirage Juro CVT,   Reliant Regal MKVI) 

[danthecapriman]

Average age here is 47.6 years😆

fuck you progress!!

[Matty]

26.75 here. A 59 year old, 2 18 year olds and a 12 year old. Assuming ive done it right. Maths has never been a strong point 🙄

[sierraman]

Be interesting to see how long EV’s last. Although the battery is probably extremely expensive they seem to be lasting plus you’ve no clutch/dmf/injectors/belt so maybe a one off cost at 10 years of 3-4k might be palatable. 

[The_Equalizer]

Averaging 41 years, although 2/3 are currently failing to proceed and the other 1/3 (Merc CLK) is up on ramps, but fixed (rear suspension partial rebuild and new exhaust manifold gasket). Not overly fussed with driving in winter when the weather is grim. Have been using public transport and the bike since October. Wife hired a car a couple of times while I was fixing the Merc. Also got bored a couple of weeks ago and worked out what the Merc has cost over 9 years of ownership (roughly 5K miles/year):

1) Purchase plus servicing/repairs > £130/month
2) Above plus tax and insurance > £178/month
3) Above plus fuel > £238/month

Very much toying with the idea of keeping to older cars (i.e. ones I can still fix) which rules out most things past 2010. 

[Weird Car]

My oldest is 1936 and newest is 2006, not sure where that puts my average but in general around Portsmouth it’s really not uncommon to see cars from 2005/6/7 still in daily use which really puts into perspective how expensive things are down south if so many people are keeping cars almost and in some cases more than 20 years 

[warch]

Pre the expansion of the ULEZ zone, I used to love car spotting in London. Many Londoners seemed to have 80s or 90s cars long after they all but vanished elsewhere (post scrappage scheme). 
 

I can only assume people rarely used their car so didn’t see the need to upgrade every few years. 

[lisbon_road]

Averages are tricky to work out, but if I eliminate cars I hardly use, I still get 25 years.  Her indoors won't put up with hers for much longer so it will change.

I reckon the future is hard to predict.  Thinking about what @sierraman wrote about electric cars, though I suspect batteries are often more than £4K.  What about the impact of Chinese cars?  On the one hand, those I know working on them, generally say that they are reasonably well made but I do wonder about longer term and spares availability.  China tends to just not allow people to keep stuff for long taking away the local need for spares.  

We hear to much about wet belts and crazy bills - my parents recent £3K bill for a minor brake issue on a four year old Jazz.  But I don't know how representative this is overall.

Very hard to predict anything much now.  

[danthecapriman]

2 minutes ago, warch said:

Pre the expansion of the ULEZ zone, I used to love car spotting in London. Many Londoners seemed to have 80s or 90s cars long after they all but vanished elsewhere (post scrappage scheme). 
 

I can only assume people rarely used their car so didn’t see the need to upgrade every few years. 

On the few rare occasions I’ve been to London (years ago) it did seem there were lots of old cars around. If you went off the main routes and touristy places onto the residential streets etc you’d see loads of them.

Cornwall was similar last time I was there too. Loads of old stuff still running around. One old dear must’ve thought I was a right loon as I was taking such an interest in her Allegro! To her it was just a car to get around a couple of times a week.

[comfortablynumb]

Worked out average age of ours is50, but that's mainly because of lots of late '60's, early '70's stuff.

Mind you, youngest car in use is 1988

[sierraman]

17 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

Averages are tricky to work out, but if I eliminate cars I hardly use, I still get 25 years.  Her indoors won't put up with hers for much longer so it will change.

I reckon the future is hard to predict.  Thinking about what @sierraman wrote about electric cars, though I suspect batteries are often more than £4K.  What about the impact of Chinese cars?  On the one hand, those I know working on them, generally say that they are reasonably well made but I do wonder about longer term and spares availability.  China tends to just not allow people to keep stuff for long taking away the local need for spares.  

We hear to much about wet belts and crazy bills - my parents recent £3K bill for a minor brake issue on a four year old Jazz.  But I don't know how representative this is overall.

Very hard to predict anything much now.  

High and dry I suspect with the Chinese junk. 

[danthecapriman]

2 minutes ago, sierraman said:

High and dry I suspect with the Chinese junk. 

 

[Six-cylinder]

Average of the 19 cars we used in 2025 is 40 years old.

Range is 1933 to 2016

 

93 years -1933 Rolls Royce 20/25

58 years -1968 Morris 1300

10 years -2016 Range Rover TDV6 Vouge

37 years -1989 Mazda 323 GLX 1.5

50 years -1976 Vanden Plas 1500

32 years -1994 Mercedes E320 Coupe

33 years -1993 Vauxhall Carlton 2.0i Club Estate

25 years -2001 Alfa 156 V6 Sports Wagon

23 years -2003 Fiat Seicento 1.1 Active

42 years -1984 Austin Mini Mayfair

26 years -2000 Citroen C15D van

30 years -1996 Citroen ZX 1.9TD Avantage Estate

36 years -1990 Mercedes 200TE Auto

29 years -1997 Citroen XM 2.0i 16v SX Auto

27 years -1999 Volvo V70 T5 Auto

53 years -1973 Daimler Sovereign 4.2 Auto

54 years -1972 Citroen DS Super

52 years -1974 Citroen Ami 8 Break

50 years -1976 Opel Manta 1.9 Coupe Auto

[vtec-e]

A very youthful 11 and a bit years here.

43 minutes ago, warch said:

Pre the expansion of the ULEZ zone, I used to love car spotting in London. Many Londoners seemed to have 80s or 90s cars long after they all but vanished elsewhere (post scrappage scheme).

I'm only a mile inside the ULEZ boundary, so it is really unusual to see anything pre-2000 these days, unless it is a historic and tax free.

[Macscrooge]

Ours are 1 and 3. But they replaced (last year) cars which were both 11. 
Kids’ cars are 12 and 18.  

[Angrydicky]

The average age of my fleet is 60 years old (1965)

[robt100]

20 year old average here, and thats after the BMW bought up the daily from 2004 all the way to 2007😅
Work van is the newest as 2008, but also highest mileage on 312,000. Joint oldest is the XJR and ZX6-R (something about R's it seems). All apart from the bike are high milers, 312k, 255k, 177k and then the bike, on... 16k.

[barefoot]

24 + 39 + 39 +47 + 54 / 5 = 40.6 + 49 m/c / 2 = 44.8