Report states that Americans drive older cars
It seems normal to state that the newer a model is, the greener it is. Newer cars get better mileage (well, not always), improved safety features, and they have new emissions technology with makes them cleaner. According to a recent report by R. L. Polk & Co, the median age for passenger cars is 9.2 years in the US for second year in a row. It was 8.3 years in 1998. These figures have increased steadily since then. So Americans are driving older cars. If we look at what happens at the end of a car's life, 5.5 percent of cars were scrapped in 2007, compared to 9.5 percent in 1970 - so Americans are scrapping less as well.
The could be several reasons for this. Americans might not want to change their cars more often for economic reasons, because their vehicles are more reliable and have increased longevity or simply because cars don't change all that much in each model year. In addition, the question of whether if it's financially worth it to upgrade to a greener car -- regardless of how polluting an individual's current vehicle might be -- will never go away. There are no easy answers to be had.
[Source: R. L. Polk & Co]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Lad 4:17PM (2/25/2008)
Speaking for myself, the new cars, which are still 25% effecient ICEs, are too expensive to buy, to drive and to maintain. So, if I must spend too much for a car, I'll wait for the already announced 80% effecient battery electrics.
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steven 4:34PM (2/25/2008)
There is an interesting commentary in Automotive News (sub req'd) about reasons for the declining new cars sales in Colorado. Not the hot bed of the automotive world, but interesting nonetheless.
http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080218/ANA06/802180352
There are three primary reasons... Better quality, Longer finance terms & Higher fuel prices.
"Adding insult to injury, the population of Colorado has grown more than 10 percent during that period while new-vehicle registrations declined more than 23 percent."
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Tim 4:38PM (2/25/2008)
Like the Soviets before us, we are living beyond our means and spending far too much on military and social(ist) programs. People can only pay so much in taxes so the gov’t borrows from the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank.
In fact, over 100% of all income tax collected is paid directly to the families who own the Federal Reserve Bank in the form of interest on “money” THEY created out of thin air and loaned to the US Gov’t. But since we only have their fiat credit money to repay the debt, we are in perpetual debt. You can’t pay a debt with credit.
This fraud has been perpetrated to virtually EVERY nation on the planet and this UNLIMITED WEALTH makes these families very RICH and POWERFUL.
Anyway, you can loan and charge interest on money (gold and silver), but loaning and charging interest on credit is FRAUD. Our founding fathers knew this when they wrote the Constitution.
http://autarchic.tripod.com/files/money.html
This fiat money/fractional reserve fraud lets politicians spend without boundaries to gain political favor but it also increases the money supply which makes our money worth less. That's called inflation.
Inflation makes things like cars, food and energy cost more. The more expensive things become, the longer we'll keep them or the less we’ll use.
It's THAT simple!
Will YOUR favorite politician return to Constitutional money?
When you support the lesser of 2 evils, you still support evil.
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Wildgoosechase73 5:29PM (2/25/2008)
No surprise here, cars are better built, last longer, are becomming more expensive and now there is the option of extended financing as long a 104 months. Just wait until 2012 when the new CAFE regs are in full effect. When the average auto price increases by $6,000 new car sales will plummit.
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stevejust 5:32PM (2/25/2008)
@Steven:
I really only agree with only one of your three stated reasons. I read on bankrate.com early this year that something like 42% of potential new car buyers are upside down in their autoloans, meaning they owe more on the car or truck they're driving than that car or truck is worth. And some people have been taking that negative equity and rolling it into another car loan.
Basically there's going to be a sort of "car market bubble" popping about now -- if it hasn't already -- in part because people's imaginary wealth created by their 25% a year appreciating home loans isn't coming to fruition. Surprise surprise.
I think it's that reason more than anything else. The only other explanation is that last year and this year have been pretty boring new model years.
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KarenRei 5:45PM (2/25/2008)
Lad: Same here. My parents have been encouraging me to replace one of our two cars (an '86 Olds; the other is a '96 Saturn), but I've never felt it important enough. The financial cost is too high for the perceived benefit, even with a Prius. But with electrics coming on the market, that changed everything. I'm on the waiting list for an Aptera. :)
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Silver 6:21PM (2/25/2008)
I'm waiting for a plug-in vehicle to be mass produced at an affordable price point. There's no way I'm buying a new car until they give me a pure electric one.
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Chad 9:39AM (2/26/2008)
My fuel efficient sub-compact has been paid off for two years now. I would like to keep it for another three or four years if possible. Keeping cars for ten years or more just makes more financial sense. It helps people live within their means.
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Azrael4h 9:58AM (2/26/2008)
Emissions wise, it's actually better for the environment to buy and maintain an older vehicle than buy a new one. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to build a car, which equals massive emissions.
If we stopped manufacturing cars for three years, the total emissions output during this time would plummet. Cars aren't the only culprit here, but this is Autoblog, not CDblog or housewaresblog. The cars themselves really don't put out all that much relative to manufacturing.
I made the mistake of buying new myself. I'd have been better off waiting, even with a 19mpg car vs the 34mpg one I have now. Financialy, I could have saved and by now bought a '99 Neon R/T, which I know from experience can get over 40mpg. My brother had one. A little more, and I could have an old compact diesel truck, which would get around 50mpg. Both would be paid for, and I'd be out less than my new car. Plus, the higher mpg on each vehicle would let me save at the pump, and since I wouldn't be using a compact to pull a trailer when I need to haul something larger than a golf bag, I'd save on wear and tear.
Whats more, is the emissions needed to manufacture my little car wouldn't have been made; while the car itself would have been manufactured, one less would have been made because one less would have been sold. Offsetting the marginally higher emissions from driving two older vehicles.
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steven 10:10AM (2/26/2008)
@6: Not my list, it is from the A/N commentary I linked to. But the basic jest of it is, if you spend more $$ on gas, that cash has to come outta your budget somewhere. The author's assumption is, it could come outta your budget for that next new car.
The finance one is obvious as you point out, but a lot of folks don't finance the purchase of their cars, so there have to be other reasons.
Likewise, if you car lasts longer, you may not want/need to replace it. Take my wife, she keeps her cars for 8 yrs because they last that long and she gets 5 yrs with no car payment, but I lease a new one every 3 yrs. Of course, the rest of the folks that can't afford a new car for all the other reasons have always been there, so this appears to be folks that could afford a new car that are now choosing not to for a variety of new financial reason. Some of both camps may just be waiting for that elusive electric car.
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L.Wood 10:15AM (2/26/2008)
I never heard of no guy (gal?) named Report, but he may be on to something. The last time I looked at my finances it looked a lot like I could not afford to buy a new car worth horse bleep. I am racked with something like $800+ of debt, don't have a house payment, don't have a car payment, work 40 hours a week and still can't afford to buy a nice new car because the prices for nice new cars are ridiculous. So I drive an older car.
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Rick 11:12AM (2/26/2008)
Article fails to realize owners trade their cars in for new cars. Those used cars are then sold to someone else. They own the car for several more years and then they sell it. So it's not that people own their cars logner than before, it's that cars just last longer than they did. (Thanks to imports)
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Zigster 11:21AM (2/26/2008)
during my lifetime cars have not been improving as quickly as computers have
it's difficult to justify buying something new unless it is substantially better than the last version
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Throwback 12:56PM (2/26/2008)
I think the points mentioned in previous posts are all valid. i would also add that used car sales have increased during the past 5 years. I saw this on Autoline a few weeks back. I think great used car values along with the financial pinch people feel are huge factors. as someone mentioned many people are upside down in their car value. In the past folks would just roll the negative equity into the new loan. That becomes harder to do when you have less disposable income.
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davewin 3:07PM (3/06/2008)
@ Azrael4h:
Totally agree. We should be looking at the overall environmental impact of producing, operating, maintaining, and scrapping a vehicle.
To suggest that we need to buy new cars for environmental purposes is only looking at part of the picture.
In a recent post I suggested this kind of information should be compiled if it already isn't. Does any one know of any?
http://www.automanifesto.com/2008/03/lifecycle-environmental-impact.html
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Andres 11:44PM (3/13/2008)
One thing that is strangely missing is who buys older used cars. If you live in a place such as Southern California, you'll notice that a lot of undocumented immigrants and others who are ineligible for a proper driver's license get their hands on cheap reliable older vehicles because they can walk away from a $500-$2K car if it gets impounded. Living in a latino area, I see this ALL THE TIME. In this country there are about 10 million people who are undocumented. They still need to get to work somehow, and many work in trades that REQUIRE reliable transportation. If you are low income, but dont have this concern, you may be better off buying a newer car for $10K-$15K, make a low car note and not worry about breakdowns. You also get a safer more efficient car.
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