Keeping a Car for a Decade is the ‘New Normal’

Motorists are not only holding onto their cars for longer ownership periods, it’s no longer just because they can’t afford to do otherwise. Nearly 80 percent of consumers are comfortable owning a vehicle for 10 or more years, or “until it dies,” according to the 2014 Vehicle Mileage Survey conducted by the car repair website AutoMD.com. Consequently, 75 percent of auto owners now feel that trading-in for a new model every 2-3 years is “a thing of the past.” “We have been tracking the lengthening ownership cycle since 2010 and what was at first a reaction to a bad economy has now become a new reality - with the majority holding onto cars up to and past the 100,000-mile mark,” says Brian Hafer, AutoMD.com vice president of marketing. “The number of consumers saying that over ten years is the appropriate time to own a car has not shifted, even as the economy has improved.”