Recent data from S&P Global Mobility reveals that the average age of vehicles in the U.S. has only continued to grow, according to a press release.
2024 has seen a new record set in average vehicle age, growing to 12.6 years–an increase of two months from 2023.
According to Todd Campau, aftermarket practice lead at S&P Global Mobility, vehicles aged between 6 and 14 years are most likely to seek out aftermarket service, making the continued rising of the average age a good sign for aftermarket businesses.
Vehicles in this age range current account for almost 38% of vehicles, with that number expected to rise to 40% through 2028. In the next five years, cars 14 years and older are expected to make up 70% or more of current vehicles in operation.
The total number of vehicles in operation increased by 2 million in 2024, but is a group being increasingly comprised of older vehicles. In 2019, vehicles newer than 6 years made up 98 million of vehicles in operation, but that number has since dropped to less than 90 million. Vehicles in this age range aren’t expected to return to 2019 numbers until 2028, S&P predicts.
The data also examined vehicle scrappage rates, which is the number of cars that were removed from the active vehicle population. January 2024’s scrappage rate of 4.6% has changed little from that of last year, which reported 4.5%.
