Toronto, Ontario — According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, while vehicles on North American roads have never been older, they are also being routinely repaired and serviced less.
Notably, the study highlights how while the average age of light passenger vehicles in Canada and the United States are between 11 and 13.6 years, 30 percent of these vehicles are also overdue for some kind of maintenance.
When looking at more detailed statistics, in May of this year, shares of tire chain Munro plunged by 12 percent, said the news source, and this was “primarily driven by a strained low-to-middle income consumer that traded down to tires at opening price points.”
The article continues that then, in September, shares of Genuine Parts, owner of Napa auto-supply stores, crashed by more than a fifth—the company’s biggest-ever one-day drop in decades–on the stock market.
Similarly, for Napa, the reason for this drop was “driven by a continued cautious end consumer who’s deferring certain services and maintenance–related purchases.”
Finally, The Wall Street Journal notes that vehicle information company Carfax—which receives information from 151,000 providers in the U.S.—said recently that 19 percent of American cars are running late for an oil change.
The news source comparatively notes that North America has also seen rising electric vehicle sales.
These vehicles “don’t require oil changes and have fewer moving parts (which) could depress business for auto parts stores and quick-lube chains, but,” the news source further outlines, “that is probably too recent a trend to explain skimpy spending. In addition to economic strains, another factor is the pandemic and the work-from-home trend.”
Autozone CEO Philip Daniele told The Wall Street Journal that “in tougher economic times, people will generally defer maintenance and discretionary items early in the cycle, they start to repair their cars because they realize a little investment today, maintaining their vehicle, defers a major repair into the future.”
To see the full report, click here.
