On a long journey today I started thinking about the economics of running a car for different people. I occasionally visit inner London and I've always noticed a larger proportion of older vehicles parked in residential streets there. I presume that this is because they do much lower mileages (being secondary to public transport, so not being used daily, and as things are closer together not being subject to many miles when they do get used).
It got me thinking about the lifespan of different vehicles. From my anecdotal observations, lorries seem to all be newish - I assume that after a few years they have done so many miles they have had it - and 'high class' makes of car seem to be scrapped before ordinary ones (cf the number of 15 year old Mercs vs 15 year old Fiestas).
With a new car you benefit from a warranty, and can probably use a servicing plan to keep costs predictable. Anything that goes wrong in the first 5 years or so is likely to be warrantied or a service item anyway - and as a new car hopefully little will go wrong. This option is presumably better for those who can afford it and who want guaranteed reliability, e.g. living in the countryside or outer suburbs who rely on the car to get to work daily.
Older cars (say, 10-15 years old) tend to either be in the hands of the original careful owner, or be on their eighth owner and now a cheap runaround for somebody without much disposable income.
In my view, the economics are changing. People with less money, or with a bit of skill, could cheaply run an old car for many years. There's more to go wrong on newer cars and any repairs are more likely to be in a garage than on the owner's driveway. It may be cheaper to buy a newer car if the cost of keeping an older one increases.
I say this as the owner of two cars - 1998 and 1981 manufacture! In the case of the former, a Focus, I have run it for 10 years without much in the way of problems, but I think replacement is on the horizon next year.
It got me thinking about the lifespan of different vehicles. From my anecdotal observations, lorries seem to all be newish - I assume that after a few years they have done so many miles they have had it - and 'high class' makes of car seem to be scrapped before ordinary ones (cf the number of 15 year old Mercs vs 15 year old Fiestas).
With a new car you benefit from a warranty, and can probably use a servicing plan to keep costs predictable. Anything that goes wrong in the first 5 years or so is likely to be warrantied or a service item anyway - and as a new car hopefully little will go wrong. This option is presumably better for those who can afford it and who want guaranteed reliability, e.g. living in the countryside or outer suburbs who rely on the car to get to work daily.
Older cars (say, 10-15 years old) tend to either be in the hands of the original careful owner, or be on their eighth owner and now a cheap runaround for somebody without much disposable income.
In my view, the economics are changing. People with less money, or with a bit of skill, could cheaply run an old car for many years. There's more to go wrong on newer cars and any repairs are more likely to be in a garage than on the owner's driveway. It may be cheaper to buy a newer car if the cost of keeping an older one increases.
I say this as the owner of two cars - 1998 and 1981 manufacture! In the case of the former, a Focus, I have run it for 10 years without much in the way of problems, but I think replacement is on the horizon next year.