Here’s How Often Americans Replace Their Cars — and How Much They Spend

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With all the car ads you see on TV and shiny new vehicles you see on the road, you might think that Americans are constantly buying new cars. But if you look at the averages, the reality is that Americans tend to hold onto their cars for a long time.

One study by insurance company The Zebra found that Americans have had their longest-owned cars for an average of around eight years. And that’s just the amount of time someone has owned a car.

Considering that some of these are bought used, the average age of cars and light trucks in operation in the U.S. is even higher — 12.5 years, according to S&P Global Mobility. That’s over three months more than the average from 2022, continuing an upward trend. Two decades ago, the average was 9.7 years.

At the same time, however, many Americans are swapping cars more frequently. The Zebra study also found that the average length of ownership is five years or less for nearly two-thirds of Americans. As S&P Global Mobility noted, economic headwinds held back new vehicle sales, but projections for sales to improve could limit this average vehicle age growth.

But just because you can replace your car doesn’t mean you should. As The Zebra pointed out, someone who drives the average amount of miles for an American would be able to make a typical car last around 14 years, or 21 years for an electric vehicle.While older cars can have more maintenance costs, those could still be less than making new car payments or buying a new car outright. On average, a new car buyer paid $48,247 for a vehicle in November 2023, according to the latest Kelly Blue Book (KBB) data. While that’s down 1.5% from the previous year, it’s still relatively high, considering that pre-pandemic, new cars were selling on average for less than $40,000.

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Even when accounting for the sale of non-luxury cars, the average price was $44,417 in November 2023, according to KBB.For used cars, the average price in November 2023 was $26,091, found KBB. That’s more than $1,000 less than the previous year. However, Cox Automotive projects less than one percent growth in the number of used cars sold in 2024, as supply will be held back due to limited production from 2020-2022.

Altogether, Americans face competing factors when it comes to car ownership. While some people may want to buy cars if factors like supply, prices, and interest rates improve, many people have cars that are less than five years old, so there could be plenty of miles left on those vehicles.

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