Why are we buying older cars?

Is my Peak Car prophesy coming true?

A recent article in The Telegraph suggests that we are buying more older cars:

• Prices of 10-15 year old cars have risen by 8% in the last year
• Prices of 5-10 year old cars have risen just 1.6% over the same time.

So that represents a clear jump in demand for cars that would have been fit for scrap just a few years ago.

And the number of high milers on our roads is really quite surprising.  This breakdown is from DVLA, courtesy of a Freedom of Information request:

• 100-149k miles – 4.4 million
• 150-199k miles – 1.2 million
• 200-250k miles – 290,000

So that is nearly six million cars with over 100,000 miles on the clock.  A few years ago that would have been seen as the end of life of a car.  Now it is just run in.

But cars have been better engineered and better built over the last few years.

Then let us consider the Peak Car argument.  The cars that are 10-15 years old still have the features that a lot of us want.  Things like real buttons, switches, knobs and dials.

Newer cars started adding in things that we generally don’t want or like.  Enormous touch screens, fiddly menus, lane departure warnings, shrieking at us while yanking the steering dangerously.  Mandatory speed limiters.

So is it any surprise that people are voting with their wallets and keeping these older cars on the road?  It is a choice.

A choice to enjoy driving with a cockpit intended for humans.

It is also better for the environment to keep existing cars on the road rather than building new ones.  I’m not suggesting we follow Cuba, but the demand for the best older cars seems to be growing.

Other reasons mentioned are size and weight.  Every generation of cars gets bigger, wider and heavier.  At the same time that parking spaces seem to be getting smaller.  Anyone who has ever parked at Newcastle Railway Station Long Term car park will know exactly what I mean!

So there we have it.

It’s not just me, and it’s not just you.  The public are starting to wake up to the fact that newer cars are not as good as older cars.

Bravo!

Thanks,
Neil @ Carrosserie
Tel: 01833 630 011

PS. Please contact us if you want to chat about your classic.