Average age of cars on U.S. roads breaks record

The average age of vehicles on the road in the U.S. is rising, even as consumers snap up more new ones — a paradox attributable to substantial increases in reliability.

The typical car on the road in the U.S. is a record-high 11.5 years old, according to a new IHS Automotive survey.

Yet Americans are buying cars at an annualized rate of more than 17 million vehicles, marking a high not seen since before the Great Recession. In fact, U.S. vehicle owners bought 42% more cars than they scrapped in 2014, according to IHS. The number of light vehicles registered in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 257.9 million units.

How are vehicles getting older, while Americans are buying newer cars, too?

Simple: They're either keeping the old ones along with the new ones — know anyone who bought a new car and kept their old one in the driveway? — or the vehicle made its way into the used-car market, where someone else bought it..

"Vehicles are simply lasting longer than ever before," Mark Seng, global aftermarket practice leader at IHS Automotive, told USA TODAY. "The consumer is hanging onto their vehicle longer than ever before."

Automakers have substantially improved the reliability of their vehicles. Although it's still possible to buy a "lemon," it's getting increasingly difficult.

Analysts say that most of the major automakers have overcome major quality issues. Now, industry surveys such as the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study typically examine minor quality issues such as ease-of-use of infotainment systems.

The number of vehicles on the road that are at least 25 years old is about 14 million. That's up from about 8 million in 2002. Those are vehicles made in 1990 or earlier.

Meanwhile, the number of vehicles that are 16 to 24 years old is 44 million. That's up from 26 million in 2002, according to IHS.

"There’s quite a bit of evidence of these vehicles lasting longer, staying on the road longer, people hanging on to them longer," Seng said.

For the aftermarket industry, this is encouraging news. Newer cars don't need many repairs — and are likely to find their way into dealerships to be fixed when they do have problems.

Independent vehicle repair shops are also capitalizing on the wave of older vehicles needing repairs, Seng said.

"As the vehicle gets older, they get nearly all of that repair business, as opposed to that dealer channel," he said.

IHS projected that the number of vehicles that are older than 12 years will rise by 15% over the next five years.