New cars are getting more and more expensive. But they’re also more durable than before, meaning drivers have a better chance of getting their money’s worth.
As the average transaction price for new cars reached a estimated at $45,872 in November – the highest on record, according to a joint forecast by JD Power and LMC Automotive – the average age of cars on the road has also reached a record high of 12.2 years in 2022a separate report from IHS Markit found.
The average age was just over 11 ten years ago. In 2002, it was 9.6 years old.
Advancements in everything from materials to technology have helped, according to Edmunds editor Will Kaufman, “and it doesn’t hurt that today’s vehicles have better ways to alert owners in the event of maintenance problems”.
10 cars with the greatest potential lifespan
Among the models with the greatest potential lifespan, the Toyota Sequoia tops the list, with the ability to go nearly 300,000 miles, followed by the Land Cruiser, according to a recent iSeeCars studywho analyzed over 2 million cars over the past 20 years to see which vehicles could last the longest.
Overall, SUVs and trucks are the most common vehicle types to rank in the top 10, while more fuel-efficient passenger cars, including the Prius and Avalon, earned two spots on the list.
“Buyers really, really value reliability, and automakers are certainly sensitive to the impact that a reputation for reliability — or unreliability — can have on their brand,” Kaufman said.
Six of the top 10 were SUVs, trucks or Toyota cars. Other top-five contenders include the Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon, both three-row SUVs.
Every car and truck on the list can achieve nearly a quarter of a million miles or more, according to the report.
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Typically, most drivers consider 200,000 miles to be the upper limit of a car’s lifespan, although some models clearly have the potential to travel much further.
A limited supply of new cars and trucks due to continued chip shortages has pushed consumers to use their existing vehicles longer, according to IHS Markit, which tracks vehicle registrations in every state.
At the same time, millions of people who previously commuted to work were driving fewer miles on their cars while working from home, further extending the life of their vehicles.