Vehicles on U.S. roads keep getting older as Americans hold onto their cars to save money due to post-pandemic price inflation.

The average age of light vehicles rose by two months last year for the second straight year of increases to 12.8 years, according to S&P Global Mobility. That’s a new record, surpassing 2023’s record-busting 12.6 years.

“With the heavy vehicle registration years of 2015 to 2019 moving into the after-market space, there will be stronger opportunity for maintenance and repair as these vehicles roll off warranty,” said S&P Aftermarket Practice Lead at S&P Global Mobility Todd Campau

Broken down by vehicle type, passenger cars’ average age ticked up to 14.5 years, while light trucks’ average rose slightly to 11.9 years.

The driving public has been gravitating toward pickups and less toward passenger cars in recent years, S&P said. Last year, the number of cars fell to fewer than 100 million for the first time since the 1970s, S&P said.

Vehicle registrations exceeded 16 million last year for the first time since 2019, the year before the pandemic hit. Still, the number of vehicles in operation grew 1% to 289 million, with a flat 4.5% scrappage rate, or units taken out of operation. 

The Northern Plains, Northwest and Southern states average vehicle ages exceeded the average. Others, including Washington, D.C., Mississippi and North Dakota, saw vehicle age growth, while Colorado and Hawaii experienced slower age growth.

Purely electric vehicles are seeing average age growth for the first time in a few years, though that average stayed low at 3.7 years, S&P said.  Hybrids’ average, meanwhile, actually fell from 6.9 years to 6.4.

"Consumer preference currently is favoring hybrid and plugin hybrid options over fully battery electric vehicles to a large extent, driving average age to flat or even negative for those propulsion types," Campau said.

DIG DEEPER: New Used-Car Shopping Guide Caters to Biggest Chunk of Shoppers