How long do you plan on keeping your current car? The idea of consumers hanging onto their cars longer has been gaining traction over the past year or two; we talked about it here. But the same headwinds that might be delaying new purchases are also threatening a blow to something perhaps more troubling: car owners not keeping up their maintenance.
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A new report from The Wall Street Journal found the average age of a car on American roads is 13.6 years — 30 years ago, that number was 8.4. Canada is a little short of that, from the most recent figures available our vehicle age is about 11 years. Our harsher climate may play a role, but our weaker dollar also spurs more exports of attractive used cars.
Some people can’t afford a new, or new-to-them, car. Some have announced their gas-powered vehicle will be taken from their cold dead hands. Some people actually believe when we buy an expensive product, it should last. Whatever the reason, we’re keeping our cars for longer than ever before. The WSJ report however, is pointing to a troubling trend: some consumers are hesitating not only on spending money to replace a vehicle, but also in some cases, to maintain it. Some aftermarket outfits — parts suppliers, tires, oil change shops — are reporting steep drops in sales, and some are taking a hit on the stock market. Tire shops are taking a hit on people opting for cheaper imports, but one round of inferior tires should be enough of a warning for anyone.
There is a laundry list of factors to consider: cars are built more reliably, and they should be lasting longer and require less maintenance. Hauling your new(ish) car back to the dealer for a tune-up (remember those?) every few months is a thing of the past. We expect — and for the most part, receive — vehicles that will be worry-free for years.
An odometer churning over 100,000 km is the expected norm. Double and triple that is the goal for many of the stalwart Japanese rigs, and the continued domination by Toyota of annual retained value ratings from Canadian Black Book proves it. That list is a good place to start if you’re considering a new vehicle, especially one you intend on keeping.
Maintenance is cheaper than repair
The WSJ piece is direct: many people are keeping their cars out of economic necessity, but they’re delaying maintenance for the same reason. Maintenance is always, always, always cheaper than repair, and though any celebration of people not cycling through cars the same way they do paper towels is encouraging, we need to take note of the real reasons people might be doing so. A poorly maintained vehicle is dangerous for owners and other road users. If basic safety levels are compromised, that’s a problem for all of us.
Much of the recent talk in the aftercare market has been targeted to new tech: will you be able to have options when servicing your electric or hybrid vehicle? While the sector has been making huge strides in training for the coming changes, they’ve never been better situated to take care of your existing vehicle. Recessions and economic uncertainty are nothing new, and history points to cyclical shifts most of us have endured. But maintaining an older car to delay the purchase of a new one requires you to service that older car or end up paying a lot more.
A few weeks back, Daniel Ross, senior analyst at Canadian Black Book, noted a change in consumer attitudes as consumers coped with rising costs. He said the push to hybrids and plug-ins signifies buyers considering the total cost of ownership instead of just a monthly outlay — buying a car by the month. If you have equity in your car or it’s paid off outright, why climb into a losing proposition if the car you already have is certainly good enough? As the cars on our roads continue to live a longer life, it seems drivers are finally making peace with what’s sitting in their driveways.
Last week, AutoTrader released some year-end data that might be signalling a similar trend: luxury nameplates like BMW and Mercedes-Benz had their lowest representation on the top-10 searched and sold vehicles list for the second year in a row, the lowest since 2019. Auto Trader’s Baris Akyurek, vice president of insights and intelligence, says they’re tracking a discernible shift in the market. The top 10 searched and sold reveals “a shift toward practical, mainstream models.” Challenging economic times mean consumers are getting cautious, and a push away from luxury vehicles is a canary in the showrooms.
“Movement has also definitely shifted to the $40K and under bracket,” says Akyurek. They track sales by watching day supply – how long a vehicle sits in the listings before selling. The median is about 60 days; vehicles from Lincoln, Kia, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, Lexus, Chevrolet, Mazda and Mitsubishi are moving well. At the other end of the spectrum, nudging 100 days, are Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Dodge and Ram. Luxury and pricier badges are sitting far longer, as consumers head to more affordable options.
Every year, more and more features that were once on offer only at luxury levels are increasingly standard on every vehicle. Legislation is always lagging, but from daytime running lights to ABS, traction control to backup cameras, we’re incrementally making our way to safer cars at every price point. I don’t have to buy a new car to get some pretty great safety and comfort features that have been common for years now.
It also looks like we’re exercising the right to resist the siren call of marketing campaigns that tell us we need to have the latest and greatest, with many of us clearly understanding adapting to increasingly more complex systems — especially infotainment — is an expense of time and energy. Hey manufacturers, less razzle-dazzle, more common sense.
Earlier this year the European New Car Assessment Program (ECAP), the highly regarded safety standard body in that part of the world, announced going forward, they would be requiring new cars to be equipped with fewer screens and more human-friendly intuitive buttons if vehicles hoped to earn a coveted 5-star safety rating. North American standards bodies should follow suit. It’s safer, and it’s what consumers want. This too, is an element of why people are planning to hold onto the vehicles they’ve already figured out. Centre stacks topped by giant screens may look cool in a commercial, but they separate the driver from the functions of the car and can be a deadly distraction, which is even worse for older drivers, according to this AAA study. The ECAP shift shows resistance is not futile.
Want to hang on to your, er, senior vehicle? Check out Driving.ca’s Brian Turner’s tips on maintaining it. Pricey vehicles, high interest rates for longer terms, a robust aftercare market ready and waiting: sometimes it makes a lot of sense to dance with the one who brought you. Just make sure you keep up proper maintenance, or you won’t be saving any money at all.
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