The Average US Car Is Now Nearly 13 Years Old as Repair Bills Climb 33 Percent

The car in your driveway is older than you probably think. The average vehicle on American roads has reached 12.8 years old, according to S&P Global Mobility, and separate industry data puts the figure even closer to 13 when 2026 registrations are factored in. At the same time, the average cost of car maintenance and repair has climbed roughly 33 percent from 2021 to today, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, a combination that is changing how much drivers spend just to keep their existing vehicle running.

Why Drivers Are Holding On to Their Cars Longer

Trading in a car every few years used to be part of the normal rhythm of ownership. That habit has slowed considerably. S&P Global Mobility’s research shows the average vehicle age climbing for a second consecutive year by roughly two months, part of a longer trend that has pushed the total U.S. fleet to about 289 million light vehicles in operation. Passenger cars now average 14.5 years in service, while light trucks and SUVs average a younger 11.9 years, reflecting the market’s broader shift away from sedans.

The reasons are mostly financial. New vehicle prices have climbed well past $47,000 on average, and financing costs have risen alongside them, making a paid-off car with occasional repair bills a cheaper option for many households than a new loan stretched across six or seven years. Modern manufacturing and corrosion protection have also made vehicles more durable, so a car crossing 100,000 miles no longer signals the end of its useful life the way it once did.

The Repair Bill Is Catching Up

Keeping an older vehicle on the road costs more than it did just a few years ago. The average car maintenance and repair bill has jumped about 53 percent from January 2019 through February 2026, and repair costs specifically have climbed 33 percent from 2021 alone, outpacing wage growth by a wide margin. A typical repair now runs close to $838, and collision-related repairs have climbed to an average of nearly $4,818 as of last year, driven partly by the sensors, cameras and electronic control units packed into vehicles built over the past decade.

Today’s vehicles carry anywhere from 50 to 150 electronic control units managing everything from fuel injection to climate settings, a level of complexity that raises both parts costs and the specialized labor needed to diagnose a fault correctly. A worn brake pad is still a worn brake pad, but the sensors, wiring harnesses and software tied into modern safety systems mean even routine repairs increasingly require dealership-level diagnostic equipment.

There Are Not Enough Mechanics to Go Around

Labor is the other half of the cost equation, and it could be the tighter constraint of the two. The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts a shortage of roughly 68,000 auto technicians every year for the next decade, and the average working mechanic is now in their late 40s, with fewer young workers entering the trade to replace retirements. The nonprofit TechForce Foundation estimates that between 2023 and 2027, roughly 406,000 technician positions will need filling as workers leave the field, while new graduates are expected to supply only about 60,000 of those openings.

“With average age growth, more vehicles are entering the prime range for aftermarket service, typically from six to 14 years of age,” said Todd Campau, associate director of aftermarket solutions at S&P Global Mobility. More than 110 million vehicles, nearly 38 percent of the fleet, currently sit in that six-to-14-year window, and S&P Global Mobility expects that share to climb toward 40 percent by 2028 as more vehicles from the high-sales years of 2015 through 2019 age into that bracket.

There is one bright spot in the labor data. TechForce reports that enrollment in automotive technician training programs ticked up slightly this year for the first time in a decade, though the group cautions that the shortage will take years to close even with that improvement.

Where the Oldest Cars Are on the Road

The aging trend is not spread evenly across the country. Northern Plains and Northwestern states, along with Gulf Coast states such as Alabama and Mississippi, run well above the national average vehicle age, with Montana posting one of the highest figures in the country. Colorado and Hawaii, by contrast, have seen their average vehicle age climb far more slowly than the rest of the nation over the past five years, while Mississippi, North Dakota and Washington, D.C. are aging faster than the national pace.

Climate plays a real role in that spread. States with heavy road-salt use in winter tend to see bodies and undercarriages corrode faster, pushing owners toward replacement sooner regardless of how well the engine and drivetrain are holding up. Drier, milder climates let a car’s mechanical components outlast its cosmetic condition by years, which is part of why Southwestern used vehicles often carry a premium in nationwide listings compared with an identical model that spent its life in the Rust Belt.

How to Keep Your Repair Bills in Check

A tighter technician supply means shopping around pays off more than it used to. Industry data shows price variations of 20 to 30 percent for the exact same repair between different shops in the same area, so getting two or three quotes before authorizing major work can meaningfully change the final bill. Independent repair shops typically charge less than dealership service departments for routine maintenance, though certain warranty or recall work still has to go through a dealer regardless of cost.

Staying current on scheduled maintenance, such as oil changes, fluid flushes and timing belt replacement on the manufacturer’s recommended interval, remains the cheapest way to avoid the kind of catastrophic failure that turns a routine service visit into a four-figure repair bill. Owners of vehicles nearing the 10- to 12-year mark should also budget specifically for major wear items such as suspension components, water pumps and transmission service. These parts tend to fail in that window regardless of how well a car has otherwise been maintained.

For owners trying to decide whether to repair or replace an aging vehicle, a rough rule of thumb still holds up: if a single repair costs less than the car’s current market value and the vehicle has no history of recurring major failures, repairing typically remains the better financial move, especially with new vehicle prices still elevated and financing costs adding thousands more to the true price of a replacement.

Building a small maintenance fund specifically for an older vehicle, rather than treating every repair as a surprise expense, is one of the simplest changes owners can make. Setting aside even $50 to $100 a month covers most routine repairs outright and softens the blow when a bigger job comes due. A dedicated fund also removes the temptation to skip a needed repair for a few months, a habit that tends to turn a small, cheap fix into a much larger one once a neglected part finally fails.

The bigger trend is easy to sum up in plain terms. New vehicle prices are not falling meaningfully anytime soon, the technician shortage will take years to close even with rising enrollment, and the fleet keeps getting older every year. For most households, a well-maintained car that has already been paid off is the cheapest vehicle they will ever own, provided they budget for the repair bills that come with keeping it going a decade or more past its original warranty. Drivers who plan for that reality tend to come out ahead of those who treat every repair bill as an unwelcome surprise.

Sources:

• S&P Global Mobility: Average Age of US Vehicles Rises to 12.8 Years
• Hagerty: The Average Vehicle Is Nearly 13 Years Old, Making Maintenance Critical
• ConsumerAffairs: Car Repair Statistics 2026
• Auto Connected Car News: Why the Average Age of Cars Is Almost 13 Years Old