Car Owners Hanging Onto Their Current Rides
February 26, 2009
Car owners, as suspected, are hanging onto their current vehicles longer -- and longer and longer.
The average age of trade-ins has been edging higher every year since 2004, according to recent data compiled by Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com. Today, the average age of a trade-in is nearly six years old, more than a year older than its counterpart five years ago.
In 2004, the average trade-in was 4.32 years old. For 2008, the average trade-in was 5.3 years old. In the first two months of this year, the age jumped to 5.95 years old.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 1:22 PM under Analysis | Comments (2) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
Maybe this is due to the fact that cars are holding together better and people don't feel the need to replace them as much?
Posted by: altimadude00 | March 02, 2009 at 6:55 AM
I'm sure that's part of it altimadude00. But there has always been a portion of buyers that liked having the latest and greatest vehicles on the road- these were typically the group that leased rather than bought. The economy's weakening has made leasing less attractive, as well as making the ability to afford a new car while trading in the 5 year old a bit harder. And with the economy continuing to spiral slowly further into the abyss, many people would rather not get any more debt- they'd rather just pay off what they have and try to at least survive.
Posted by: jerrywimer | March 02, 2009 at 10:22 AM