Washington-area drivers are holding on to their cars for longer amid the sluggish economy, with the average vehicle age climbing to more than nine years, according to a new report. The average age of typical passenger cars registered locally rose to 9.25 years in 2011 from 8.23 in 2005, according to the report slated to be presented Wednesday to the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. The average age of heavy trucks increased even more, from 8.61 years to 10.56 years.
Ronald Kirby, director of Transportation Planning Board for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, blames the economy. Though the Washington region hasn’t been as hard hit as some most parts of the country, there has been enough uncertainty to keep people from upgrading to a new car.
“At the margins, a lot of people can wait a little longer than they used to,” he said.
The study, conducted every three years, takes a snapshot of the vehicles that are registered locally and shows the makeup of the fleet of vehicles by model year.
However, even though drivers may settle for older cars more willingly than they would have a few years ago, that doesn’t translate to fewer cars on the roads. Regionwide, the number of vehicles increased 4.1 percent between 2008 and 2011.
The previous report said vehicle registrations had dropped 5.8 percent in the District between 2005 and 2008. But Kirby said officials realized after the fact that the study undercounted D.C. vehicles by about 27,000 and should have shown an increase. The latest study found the District’s share of cars jumped an additional 2.9 percent, less than the 4.1 percent increase in Northern Virginia and the 4.3 percent rise in the Maryland suburbs.
Older vehicles may be necessary for drivers who cannot afford to shell out for a new car, but the older vehicles can hurt the region’s air quality, running less efficiently and putting out more pollutants. Improving the region’s air quality is contingent upon replacing low-efficiency or high-emissions vehicles with newer, better models, Kirby said. Eventually, he said, people will need to upgrade vehicles, but the question is when.
Still, the data yield a piece of good news for air quality. The study shows a continuing drop in the popularity of SUVs and other large vehicles. In 1996, light-duty trucks represented 35 percent of the region’s vehicles, but the share had climbed to 50 percent by 2004. Now, in the 2011 data, the proportion has dropped back down to 40 percent.
“There’s been a shift to passenger cars, there’s no way around it,” Kirby said.
