The median age of passenger cars in operation in the United States remained at 9.2 years in 2007 tying a record high in 2006, according to the latest vehicle population report from RL Polk.
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The median age for trucks increased 5.8% to 7.3 years last year. Though registrations were down, the median age for light trucks rose 4.4% to 7.1 years.
“The median age of trucks, while still lower than cars, is starting to increase more now than in the recent past as the surge of pick-up trucks, SUVs and minivans purchased in the 1990s get older,” said Polk aftermarket head Mark Seng.
The percentage of total passenger cars and trucks scrapped in 2007 was up slightly to 5.2% compared to 5.0% in 2006. The scrapping rate for passenger cars increased to 5.5% in 2007 from 4.9%.
“We continue to see increasing vehicle durability across all vehicle types regardless of last year’s increase in the scrappage rate for cars, light trucks and total vehicles,” said Polk aftermarket consultant Dave Goebel.
“In 2007, the percentage of the car population 11 years of age and older was 41.3%, compared to 40.9% in 2006. For light trucks, this was 29.5% in 2007 and 29.2% in 2006.”
