Vehicle census finds metro Washington residents slowed car replacement over past years

Vehicle census finds metro Washington residents slowed car replacement over past years

The average age of vehicles on the road in the Washington region is up just over 1.21 years since 2005 as the impact of the great recession continues to have its influence on the market. The findings are from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Boards annual survey of the regions transportation environment. The fleet aging experience here is similar to that across the country.

The study also found that the aging effect was more pronounced for trucks and heavy duty vehicles, again similar to national trends, and that the popularity of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) has generally declined since 2004, the model year for which nearly half of all the vehicles registered in 2011 were found to be light-duty-trucks (which includes SUVs). The study found that the SUV percentage had dropped to 35 percent by the 2009 model year.

One other trend that emerged from the survey is that hybrid electric vehicles have continued to grow in popularity here. The study found that though fewer than 5,000 such vehicles from each model year from 2000 to 2004 were in the fleet in 2011, almost 15,000 2010 HEVs were registered in the region. HEV ownership is highest in Northern Virginia.

Overall, the study found that more than 3.85 million vehicles are registered in the Metro Washington region, which represents more than 1.9 vehicles per household.