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> While the average vehicle age has risen steadily over the last 15 years, the trend accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic partly because of a drop in new

> While the average vehicle age has risen steadily over the last 15 years, the trend accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic partly because of a drop in new-car sales, IHS said. I'm not a car expert, but I'm guessing the dearth of driving in the past year has also affected this. Anecdotal, but I've put barely any miles on my 2013 car in well over a year, which I see as extending its life. I'm noticing my dealership has really amped up their direct-mail pleas to "come in for service," suggesting this revenue stream has dried up as cars stay in driveways.

bgribble 5y ago
Getting you to come in for service is just an excuse to get you to come in to look at cars. Service is usually a break-even business for dealerships, but it’s a good source of sales leads.
- mdorazio 5y ago
  This is false. I've worked with many dealerships across different brands and the service department generally makes far more profit than the sales department. This is especially true outside of luxury brands where actual margins on new vehicle sales can be in the single digit percentages, while margins on basic recurring services are huge. See this Edmunds article for a pretty accurate breakdown [1]. [1] https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/where-does-the-car-dealer-make-money.html https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/where-does-the-car-dealer...
ghaff 5y ago
While I was consistently surprised how many cars were still on the road over the past 18 months, I'm sure I drove less than a thousand miles. So basically didn't move the needle in terms of replacing my ten year old car.
a3n 5y ago
Similar to my doctor's office (a university/corporate enterprise with multiple offices and hospitals) sending me emails during the pandemic to come in and get seen about this or that.
fortyrod 5y ago
Seems reasonable. March/April is the end of the Concept2 indoor rowing annual "season" and I noticed that I had put essentially the same distance on my rower last year as my truck.
mariojv 5y ago
This seems accurate. We barely drove our car in 2020, didn't go for an oil change for basically an entire year. After some basic maintenance after we got vaccinated, it's running as well as ever. I think another thing impacting this may be high car prices making people wait until things "cool down." A lot of folks I know are talking about how high car prices, home prices, really all prices are becoming. Some people may want to wait it out to see if this is permanent or just an aberration due to the pandemic.

bgribble 5y ago

Getting you to come in for service is just an excuse to get you to come in to look at cars. Service is usually a break-even business for dealerships, but it’s a good source of sales leads.

mdorazio 5y ago
This is false. I've worked with many dealerships across different brands and the service department generally makes far more profit than the sales department. This is especially true outside of luxury brands where actual margins on new vehicle sales can be in the single digit percentages, while margins on basic recurring services are huge. See this Edmunds article for a pretty accurate breakdown [1]. [1] https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/where-does-the-car-dealer-make-money.html https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/where-does-the-car-dealer...

ghaff 5y ago

While I was consistently surprised how many cars were still on the road over the past 18 months, I'm sure I drove less than a thousand miles. So basically didn't move the needle in terms of replacing my ten year old car.

a3n 5y ago

Similar to my doctor's office (a university/corporate enterprise with multiple offices and hospitals) sending me emails during the pandemic to come in and get seen about this or that.

fortyrod 5y ago

Seems reasonable. March/April is the end of the Concept2 indoor rowing annual "season" and I noticed that I had put essentially the same distance on my rower last year as my truck.

mariojv 5y ago

This seems accurate. We barely drove our car in 2020, didn't go for an oil change for basically an entire year. After some basic maintenance after we got vaccinated, it's running as well as ever. I think another thing impacting this may be high car prices making people wait until things "cool down." A lot of folks I know are talking about how high car prices, home prices, really all prices are becoming. Some people may want to wait it out to see if this is permanent or just an aberration due to the pandemic.