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> that people hold on to cars longer and buy used more And yet the average age of the car in Denmark is 8.9 years [1]. For comparison Germany is at 9.3 year, a

by woobar 8y ago

> that people hold on to cars longer and buy used more And yet the average age of the car in Denmark is 8.9 years [1]. For comparison Germany is at 9.3 year, and US is at 11.6 years [2] [1] http://www.aut.fi/en/statistics/international_statistics/average_age_of_passenger_cars_in_some_european_countries http://www.aut.fi/en/statistics/international_statistics/ave... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/261881/average-age-of-light-vehicles-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/261881/average-age-of-li...

ptaipale 8y ago
The two sources is different, so it might be good to be wary about comparing them. Could be right though. But anyway, these average ages may be due to little used old cars being taken out of registry, to avoid annual fixed taxes? This has not much impact on the average age of cars used in daily traffic. FWIW, I'm from Finland, also with a history of high car purchase taxes, and the average in above data is almost 12 years. The oldest cars, however, have lower annual car tax (they had the highest tax at purchase time). BTW I understand Denmark was about to lower the car purchase tax from 180 % to 100 % or so?
- jopsen 8y ago
  No, I think they did lower it to 180% last year..
  - KozmoNau7 8y ago
    85% below and 150% above the cutover, since ~2015 I believe.
- woobar 8y ago
  It is the same source for Denmark and Germany. Since US is not a part of EU, so I had to come with a different source. As for your other argument - both reports count "vehicles in use" (ACEA) or "vehicles in operation" (US)
  - ptaipale 8y ago
    Denmark and Germany are in EU, but that does not mean that statistics are made in the same way. Also, the "vehicle in use" is not necessarily such a clear definition. For instance, several of my colleagues own historical vehicles from 1960's and 1970's which are "museum registered", which here means that they must be at least 30 years old, can be used only on 30 days each year, and they are not subject to annual "MOT check" (but a different kind of check every 2-4 years). Are they included in the "vehicle in use" statistic? I don't know. And I don't know what are the specific regulations for similar vehicles in other countries. Because the cars are 40-50 years old, even a not very big number of them would skew the statistics of average age of cars.
- lagadu 8y ago
  The max rate was lowered from 180 to 150 about 2-3 years ago.
FullyFunctional 8y ago
It surprises me and doesn’t match my observations, but there at least one element to take into account: weather. There’s a reason the California car is treasured. Snow and the salt used to fight it is really corrosive to cars in Denmark.
- ptaipale 8y ago
  BTW, this has changed with many brands about 15 years ago. Cars made until that tend to disappear from traffic due to corrosion. In around 2000, it became common to galvanize the steel bodies of cars. Renault actually advertised this at the time: "will rust like a fish", with a picture of a car immersed in water. Seems to be legitimate: corrosion problems have become much more rare.

by woobar 8y ago

ptaipale 8y ago

The two sources is different, so it might be good to be wary about comparing them. Could be right though. But anyway, these average ages may be due to little used old cars being taken out of registry, to avoid annual fixed taxes? This has not much impact on the average age of cars used in daily traffic. FWIW, I'm from Finland, also with a history of high car purchase taxes, and the average in above data is almost 12 years. The oldest cars, however, have lower annual car tax (they had the highest tax at purchase time). BTW I understand Denmark was about to lower the car purchase tax from 180 % to 100 % or so?

jopsen 8y ago
No, I think they did lower it to 180% last year..
- KozmoNau7 8y ago
  85% below and 150% above the cutover, since ~2015 I believe.
woobar 8y ago
It is the same source for Denmark and Germany. Since US is not a part of EU, so I had to come with a different source. As for your other argument - both reports count "vehicles in use" (ACEA) or "vehicles in operation" (US)
- ptaipale 8y ago
  Denmark and Germany are in EU, but that does not mean that statistics are made in the same way. Also, the "vehicle in use" is not necessarily such a clear definition. For instance, several of my colleagues own historical vehicles from 1960's and 1970's which are "museum registered", which here means that they must be at least 30 years old, can be used only on 30 days each year, and they are not subject to annual "MOT check" (but a different kind of check every 2-4 years). Are they included in the "vehicle in use" statistic? I don't know. And I don't know what are the specific regulations for similar vehicles in other countries. Because the cars are 40-50 years old, even a not very big number of them would skew the statistics of average age of cars.
lagadu 8y ago
The max rate was lowered from 180 to 150 about 2-3 years ago.

FullyFunctional 8y ago

It surprises me and doesn’t match my observations, but there at least one element to take into account: weather. There’s a reason the California car is treasured. Snow and the salt used to fight it is really corrosive to cars in Denmark.

ptaipale 8y ago
BTW, this has changed with many brands about 15 years ago. Cars made until that tend to disappear from traffic due to corrosion. In around 2000, it became common to galvanize the steel bodies of cars. Renault actually advertised this at the time: "will rust like a fish", with a picture of a car immersed in water. Seems to be legitimate: corrosion problems have become much more rare.