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That old clunker in your driveway is not looking so bad right about now, huh? As borne out in the last few month's set of sales figures, Americans are purchasing fewer cars today than in previous years, meaning that the current fleet of vehicles on the road is older than ever before. According to data compiled by R. L. Polk & Co., the average vehicle in use today is 9.4 years old, up a few points from last year's 9.2-year average.

Light trucks don't manage to live quite as long with an average age of 7.5 years, but that figure is still up from the 7.1 years recorded in 2007. What gives? Sagging consumer confidence, unavailable credit and a distinct lack of discretionary funds are the main culprits, though last summer's record high fuel prices also contributed to the figures.

Collectors of classic '80s machinery take note: Vehicles are also being scrapped at higher rates than in past years. A total of 5.6% of all cars and trucks were scrapped in 2008 as compared to 5.2% in '07. Getting parts for that cherry IROC-Z is only going to get harder as the years go by.

[Source: R. L. Polk & Co.]

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STUDY: Median age of cars in U.S. increases to record high originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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