this post was submitted on 22 May 2024

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Average U.S. vehicle age hits record 12.6 years as high prices force people to keep them longer (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 7 months ago by return2ozma to c/news

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[–] corroded 132 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (14 children)

Or perhaps people are starting to realize that you don't need a new car as soon as your 5-year loan is paid off.

I do okay financially; if I wanted a new car, I'd buy one. I bought mine brand new off the lot 15 years ago, and I intend to keep driving it until I can no longer repair it. Why would I possibly want to buy a new, 5G-connected, spyware-infected plastic shitbox when what I have works perfectly well and probably has another 100k miles of life with a few minor repairs and maybe an engine swap at 2-300k or so?

[–] Bbbbbbbbbbb 35 points 7 months ago

Only reason Id buy a new car is to get a full electric, affordable, nontesla that has more than 150 horsepower.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago

Car payments are a poverty trap. I haven't had one in a decade. Buying a used car for cash is such a better deal anyway. I do need suckers to get those 1-2 year leases though to make my cars cheaper.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago (6 children)

CarPlay and radar cruise control are worth it for commuting imo… but beyond that I don’t care.

2021 civic I’ll be driving into the ground thank you very much.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Only reason I am thinking of replacing our car is because a BEV would pay for itself fairly quickly if I hear back from a job I applied to that has a 50 mile round-trip commute. Gas alone would be an extra $1000 per year compared to our current 11 year old vehicle.

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[–] Magister 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Same, my 2013 Sonata Hybrid has ~80'000 miles (130k km), paid off yeeeaaarrrsss ago, no problem with it, why change?

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[–] [email protected] 96 points 7 months ago (3 children)

My new favorite game is:

When the news says “high prices”, replace it with “low wages”; “inflation” with “paycuts”.

The whole economy starts to make a lot more sense.

[–] Qli 15 points 7 months ago

Someone make this a browser extension

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[–] kaitco 88 points 7 months ago

How dare people decide to hold onto their current cars instead of paying 9% on a 60K car!

Won’t somebody please think of the shareholders?!?

[–] [email protected] 60 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Great news. Cars are lasting longer these days. Only late stage capitalism could spin that as a bad thing.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

Right? They portray it as a problem rather than as a sign that cars have finally hit the point where they're not dramatically improving in reliability, safety, and efficiency nearly as quickly anymore. That is not a bad thing really.

For capitalists, a healthy used market is a bad thing. Captial requires continuous production to make returns on itself.

One of the few things anymore that has a really strong used market besides cars is housing, so the capitalists switched their investment from developing new housing to vacuuming up the existing stock to instead collect rent and increase the value of their portfolio.

[–] MeekerThanBeaker 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Safety is still improving. There are quite a bit more safety features in average cars than 12 years ago. Blind spot detection, collision warnings, brake assist, lane departure, rearview cameras, pedestrian detection, more airbags, driver attention warnings, etc.

A lot of those features were more often available in luxury cars, but they are becoming standard everywhere.

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[–] FlyingSquid 47 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Every car I have ever owned since I started driving in the 1990s, I have driven until I can't anymore. Either they got too old and broke down or something was just so expensive to fix that it wasn't worth it or someone totaled it. All of them have been bought used as well. And I plan to do it again with my 2016 Prius. I'd love to own an EV, but no way am I going to look into getting one until the Prius isn't driveable any longer. If that's more than 12.6 years, so be it.

[–] Lifecoach5000 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I’m in your camp. Take care of them and drive them into the ground.

[–] FlyingSquid 11 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I can understand the lure of buying a new car. They're neat and shiny and have features your car doesn't. But it's so wasteful and unnecessary. It's not like upgrading a computer because it won't work with any modern software and you won't be able to use the internet. A model A Ford can drive on the same roads as a Tesla assuming it's been maintained.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 7 months ago

It also won't drive you into a train against your will.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I feel like driving a car into the ground isn’t taking care of it…

300k miles, then engine swap!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)

where I like salt gets the body before the engine goes. I have 220k on one and it is starting to rust through.

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[–] [email protected] 43 points 7 months ago (2 children)

"Durable goods lasting longer than ever, but spun as economic anxiety"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Sort of. I'm glad we are wasting less in terms of automobile manufacture, but this is caused by price gouging on the part of automakers more than anything.

That means when we all eventually have to buy another car, we're just going to get fucked.

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[–] Lifecoach5000 30 points 7 months ago (1 children)

My baby turns 24 this year 🥹

I seriously have an emotional attachment to my car at this point. Driving something for so long, I’m going to be sad when it bites the dust. I’m shooting for another 10 years or until it hits 300k miles.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Wow 24 years and still under 300k? Impressive

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I'm daily driving a 32-year old car. I have no interest in something newer. AMA.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Please tell us more. Make? Model? Any modifications? Your history with the car?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago (5 children)

It's a blue 1992 Mazda Miata with a hardtop. I've owned it for about 7 years. No mods besides basics like a bluetooth radio and a short fixed antenna (instead of the factory retracting whip antenna). Maintenance is easy and replacement parts are dirt cheap. Recently replaced the clutch master/slave cylinders for about $40 worth of parts. A set of four tires can easily be found under $400. It averages around 26.5 miles per gallon in combined city/highway driving and I got 32 on my last long distance highway trip.

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[–] Weirdfish 27 points 7 months ago (5 children)

Requirements for a car. 1: All wheel drive 2: Small station wagon 3: Manual transmission 4: No touch screen 5: Does not connect to internet

Yup, looks like 2014 is the newest car I can buy.

Get your shit together car companies and maybe I'll be interested in you products again.

[–] Sorgan71 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The only newer feature I like is rear view cam. Its really a useful feature.

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[–] Hikermick 27 points 7 months ago (16 children)

They also last longer. Cars used to turn into a pile of rust before they hit 100k miles

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Even if money is no object, in many ways 10-15 year old vehicles may be the sweet spot in terms of decent features without sacrificing privacy.

I don't want a monolithic touchscreen (zero physical buttons) with apps, integration, cameras on me in the cabin, data collection and harvesting etc. For that reason I will stick with a decade plus old car.

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[–] Snapz 20 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Nice to not read a BS headline reframing things along the lines of "stingy millennials refuse to support new cars because of DEI!"

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[–] AncientFutureNow 19 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Laughs in late 90s model Astro van and early 2000s Toyota Camry.

[–] IMALlama 6 points 7 months ago (4 children)

I have a coworker who did a frame off (yes, they had a partial frame) restoration of their astro van. Some of those astro van people are really into them.

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[–] eran_morad 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Yeah bruh, i bought a Camry 11 years ago and a Sienna 7 years ago, i plan to drive them both for 20 years, minimum.

[–] Spedwell 7 points 7 months ago

Feel the same way. My Camry is a 2013—recent enough to have a simple display and Bluetooth, but old enough to predate the 'modern' infotainment systems.

Believe me, I plan to drive this car until the scrapyards run out of part donors.

[–] StaySquared 14 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Seems about right. I rather continue keeping my current vehicle (2016) well maintained than to get a high interest loan with a overpriced price tag on a new OR used vehicle.

[–] AA5B 6 points 7 months ago

Seems right to me as well. I do buy new but always kept them until repairs cost more than the car is worth, generally 10-15 years in.

I’m sure someone willing to either do the repairs themselves or risk spending more, could keep my cars on the road even longer

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

My truck is -07 and it's the newest vehicle I've ever had. I'm not even especially interested about newer models because they just get more difficult to fix yourself and come with bunch of features that I prefer to live without. I prefer a work horse over fashion accessories tho mine is quite nice to look at aswell. Especially from distance.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago

Drove my end of teens car just over 14 years, 230k miles. Transmission finally started to give and honestly for most of its life I treated the car like dog shit, but I learned to do most maintenance myself eventually. I did buy a new 2024 civic and I do love it so far, and it being a Honda I already know how to work on it from my last car. Maybe eventually I'll find time and a bit of budget to fix my old one but realistically for now I have to travel and work.

[–] bhmnscmm 9 points 7 months ago

Due to cost or reliability improvements? Or both? Because cars are definitely operational a lot longer than they were 25-50 years ago.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I buy or lease every 3-4 years. Why? Because I can. I’m doing my part to make sure to eat the depreciation hit for people who want to buy them on the used car market and drive them to the wheels fall off.

[–] AA5B 9 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There’s definitely good arguments for this, for some people, although I do believe many are making a mistake.

There’s an even better argument for leasing an EV, since the technology is changing so rapidly. A prime example is the upcoming shift to NACS chargers in the US. From the larger perspective, it’s an even better idea to help jump start the used EV market

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Finally waking up to the con

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