The increase in new car sales brought about by economic growth and buyers moving up in years in the used market means that the age of the private fleet has significantly levelled off. Data comes from vehicle history expert Cartell.ie having crunched the numbers on private vehicles between January 2000 and 2015. The average age of the private fleet now stands at 8.83 years - 11 days older than the average in 2014, but a whopping 157 days younger than in 2011.
The levelling out has been expected as cars naturally have a certain shelf life, but the move has also been spurred on by more money on the market leading to an increase in new car sales and owners of older vehicles 'up-cycling', having held on to their cars for as long as possible.
"These results are interesting," said Jeff Aherne, Director, Cartell.ie: "We've seen an aging private fleet year-upon-year since the record year for new car sales in 2000 when credit was widely available in the market and the economy was in good shape. Now, for the first time since that period, we are witnessing a levelling off."
Anything else?
When all registered vehicles are taken into consideration the average age of the Irish fleet stands at 9.39 years.