Cars or Spouses — Which Lasts Longer?

If you buy a new car today, there’s a 78% chance that you’ll keep that car for at least 10 years. The average US marriage lasts less than 9 years. Okay, you might really love the car, but that’s not the reason you’ll keep it.

According to a poll at autoMD.com, a car repair web site, 78% of those polled report that they plan to keep their current car for at least 10 years. Cars are simply much better made than they were years ago, when automakers were accused of planned obsolescence buy changing designs every two or so years, and building cars that just seemed to fall apart one little bit at a time. Today’s weak economy also plays a significant role in car buying habits.

Credit Japanese car makers like Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. (NYSE: HMC) for forcing US car makers to pay attention to quality beginning in the mid-1970s following the first oil price shock, when gasoline pump prices rose to around $1/gallon.

According to R.L. Polk & Co., a market research firm, US car owners now hold on to their cars for nearly 6 years, and the average age of cars and light trucks on US roads is nearly 11 years, an all-time high. The average marriage lasts less than 9 years. Think about it.

Paul Ausick