What cars do buyers keep the longest? As a dealer, you may have your own ideas. Year after year, you may hear anecdotes from customers, or see longevity reflected in your sales. To make it official, however, iSeeCars.com recently analyzed over six million cars to determine which ones owners keep the longest after buying them new. Interestingly, SUVs account for five of the top 10 new cars that owners keep the longest, followed by sedans, which have three models on the list. The vehicle drivers tend to keep the longest is the Ford Expedition, which is kept for an average of nine years before being sold.
“While the average car buyer gets rid of their car 7.4 years after purchasing it new, there is a wide variety of cars that owners are more likely to keep for longer,” said iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly in a press statement. “Many factors could contribute to a car’s longevity such as its function as shown by the dominance of family vehicles, or because of a fondness of a timeless classic like the Chevrolet Corvette.”
Ly noted that vehicles like the Corvette are often kept separate from the family utility vehicles, so it’s retained longer as a hobby and a lifestyle rather than a necessary vehicle.
In addition, Americans, it seems, are after ample cargo space; hence the enduring popularity of SUVs. The three sedans on the list include the Toyota Avalon, the Honda Accord and the Ford Taurus are models that tend to have a lot of cargo space.
“Coincidentally, these three vehicles are also the top three sedans on the iSeeCars list of longest-lasting vehicles likely to reach 200,000 miles in this same order,” said Ly.
According to the data, Americans keep the following cars the longest:
- Ford Expedition — Average years of ownership: 9.0
- Chevrolet Corvette — Average years of ownership: 9.0
- Toyota Sequoia — Average years of ownership: 8.9
- Toyota 4Runner — Average years of ownership: 8.8
- Toyota Avalon — Average years of ownership: 8.6
- Ford Explorer — Average years of ownership : 8.4
- Chevrolet Suburban — Average years of ownership: 8.4
- Honda Accord — Average years of ownership: 8.3
- Ford Taurus — Average years of ownership: 8.3
- Honda Odyssey — Average years of ownership: 8.3
