Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > General Discussions > Off-Topic Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 01-17-2012, 05:42 PM
MTI's Avatar
MTI MTI is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Posts: 10,626
US Cars Being Kept To Record Age

DETROIT – The average age of a car or truck in the U.S. hit a record 10.8 years last year (2011) as job security and other economic worries kept many people from making big-ticket purchases such as a new car.

That's up from the old record of 10.6 years in 2010, and it and continues a trend that dates to 1995, when the average age of a car was 8.4 years, according to a study of state vehicle registration data by the Southfield, Mich.-based Polk automotive research firm.

Polk also says the number of vehicles in the U.S. has been falling since 2008, but that trend reversed itself last year. In 2010, there were 240 million cars and trucks registered in the U.S. That grew slightly to 240.5 million last year, the company said.


Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-17-2012, 05:50 PM
jplinville's Avatar
Conservative
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dayton, Ohio region
Posts: 302
Economic uncertainty will cause that to happen. I didn't buy new when i went looking for the Tahoe because I don't trust the strength of the new GM. I would have preferred a new Ford, but the wife had her heart set on the Tahoe.

Sadly, most of those older vehicles have less maintenance performed on them, as that is one of the first things to go when belts tighten and money gets thin.
__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles




Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-17-2012, 06:13 PM
Geezer
 
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Holland, MI
Posts: 1,316
Hah! My cars are 11, 13 and 20. Somebody else is enjoying the newer iron...
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-17-2012, 06:18 PM
MTI's Avatar
MTI MTI is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Posts: 10,626
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim H View Post
Hah! My cars are 11, 13 and 20. Somebody else is enjoying the newer iron...
All the lease returns.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 01-17-2012, 06:52 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,392
my newest is my 05 suburban and i'll tell ya what.my girlfriends 2000 sub is so much better,it's tighter,quieter,and gets better milage.with the quality like that those numbers will be changing as the cars ain't gonna last 10 yrs.i have always said what they want is for the sheeple to make perpetual car payments.as soon as you get your car paid off or even before its paid off it dies and you go and get a new one and start paying again.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 01-17-2012, 07:05 PM
elchivito's Avatar
¡Ay Jodido!
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Rancho Disparates
Posts: 4,075
Maybe the upside to this economy will be people finding out that the only way to make a car cost effective is to drive it into the ground. Our running cars' age averages out to 12 years, now that the 240D is gone and if I don't figure in grandpa's 64 F100 in the barn.
__________________
You're a daisy if you do.
__________________________________
84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 01-17-2012, 07:06 PM
jplinville's Avatar
Conservative
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dayton, Ohio region
Posts: 302
Quote:
Originally Posted by catmandoo62 View Post
my newest is my 05 suburban and i'll tell ya what.my girlfriends 2000 sub is so much better,it's tighter,quieter,and gets better milage.with the quality like that those numbers will be changing as the cars ain't gonna last 10 yrs.i have always said what they want is for the sheeple to make perpetual car payments.as soon as you get your car paid off or even before its paid off it dies and you go and get a new one and start paying again.
Ours is the 2005 Tahoe. It's a nice riding truck, quieter than our other vehicles, and comfortable to drive/ride in on long trips.
__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles




Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 01-17-2012, 07:31 PM
Admiral-Third World Fleet
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Central FL
Posts: 3,069
I did my bit to push it towards the newer direction. Our fleet average has soared to 33.5 years after I sadly discarded the 65 Citroen for SWMBO's 380SL.
__________________
80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

Last edited by rs899; 01-17-2012 at 07:56 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 01-17-2012, 07:36 PM
Posting since Jan 2000
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 7,166
Another reason is that the cars last longer these days.
__________________
2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 01-17-2012, 08:03 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: CT
Posts: 300
Cars do last longer and I think there are many who bought vehicles before the RE market tanked who can no longer leverage their equity to car shop.
__________________
95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 01-17-2012, 08:36 PM
jplinville's Avatar
Conservative
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Dayton, Ohio region
Posts: 302
Quote:
Originally Posted by my83300cd View Post
Cars do last longer and I think there are many who bought vehicles before the RE market tanked who can no longer leverage their equity to car shop.
Who in their right (proper) mind would use home equity to purchase a new car?? That's got to be one of the dumbest moves...
__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles




Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 01-17-2012, 08:38 PM
Hatterasguy's Avatar
Zero
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Milford, CT
Posts: 19,318
Cars last longer, and used car prices are nuts.

I could still sell my truck for what I paid for it in 2009.
__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 01-17-2012, 09:04 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada.
Posts: 6,510
Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville View Post
Who in their right (proper) mind would use home equity to purchase a new car?? That's got to be one of the dumbest moves...
If living beyond your means grasping for any source of funding at the lower interest rates of morgages on your equity must be apealing. I have seen people lose their houses before the last downturn because of many things like this. Money or the lack of it that is. Also it is rumoured to be the primary largest source of marital issues. Some people even become completely out of control from a financial perspective.

You have to have a little personal disipline that too many lack. Living well within your means is a way to stay out of the pressure cooker and solvent.

Does not help the economy as much though but helps the individual in my opinion. Living well within your means is a natural comfort zone I have always felt.

If disatisfied with that increase your means. Plunging into debt instead makes no sense as the alternative to me anyways. The old saying if you cannot pay for it you really cannot afford it without some risk component being involved is still true.

They broke up after twenty years of wedded bliss and both went down the road with nothing basically. Factually they enabled this by never considering a lot of potential variables in life. Even a breakup. Then there is sickness, perhaps periods of low earnings etc plus other unexpected occurances. Too many people gamble too much for too long.

Many run some risk when first starting out and this is a neccesity sometimes. You should want to get by that period as soon as possible. It should not become a permanent way of life. I suspect a lot of these types of behaviours are fostered by unreasonable expectations or a very poor overall educational system as well.

Last edited by barry123400; 01-17-2012 at 09:23 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 01-17-2012, 09:09 PM
POS's Avatar
POS POS is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 2,506
Great stat - I sell new auto parts!
__________________
- Brian


1989 500SEL Euro
1966 250SE Cabriolet
1958 BMW Isetta 600
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 01-17-2012, 10:12 PM
aklim's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Location: Greenfield WI, USA
Posts: 8,514
Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville View Post
Who in their right (proper) mind would use home equity to purchase a new car?? That's got to be one of the dumbest moves...
I'm not sure I understand you. Can you clarify why you think so? We did the math a few years ago and got a home equity loan and paid off our car loans. The interest was lower and also deductible. Why would you say that was bad?

OTOH, if you are broke and using it to buy your new S-class that you obviously have no need of, it is bad. Used properly, I would be curious to see why you think it is a bad thing.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 04:37 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page