The turnover of household vehicles has slowed since 2009, based on U.S. Department of Transportation surveys of household vehicle travel.

The 2017 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) reported that households held on to their cars, trucks and vans longer. The average vehicle age has increased from 9.3 years in 2009 to 10.5 years in 2017. The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration (EIA) says that this suggests that many households have delayed buying a new vehicle and continuing a trend of U.S. households operating vehicles longer.

The aging of U.S. household vehicles was reported across all light-duty vehicle types, in particular for pickup trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles.

Credit: EIABy comparison, the average age of in-use cars increased, in absolute terms, from 9.5 years in 2009 to 10.3 years in 2017. The increases in average age between 2009 and 2017 ranged from a low of 0.4 years for other light trucks to a high of 2.4 years for pickup trucks. The slowing of vehicle turnover has implications for transportation fuel consumption, because newer vehicles tend to have better fuel economies, EIA says.

Households with lower incomes tend to have older vehicles than households with higher incomes, EIA says. It adds that since 2009 the gap has narrowed, and the average age of vehicles used by higher-income households has increased more than those used by lower-income households. Overall, the aging of the vehicle fleet suggests many households have delayed buying a new vehicle or have instead bought a used vehicle. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditures Survey show that spending on vehicle repair and maintenance has also increased in recent years.

Even as vehicle turnover has slowed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that fuel economy has continued to increase because of technology advances adopted across all vehicle types. Average and aggregate energy use by vehicles, however, also is affected by travel demand and characteristic data not incorporated in vehicle-age statistics, such as variations among household vehicle ownership and use.