Middle Eastern Motorists Replace Vehicles 2x Faster Than US Motorists

Motorists in the Middle East keep their vehicles for only half as long as the US motorists do, according to a new study.

An online car classifieds site, Carmudi, analyzed thousands of vehicles listed in their databases to determine the average age of the vehicles.

The results were quite interesting and revealing. The report says that vehicles listed in the Middle East were on average 5.1 years old, Asia 6.5 years old and Africa 12.8 years old.

This compares to the average age of a vehicle in the US at 11.5 years, according to a recent study by IHS.

Easy financing with extremely competitive interest rates, cheaper fuel costs and higher disposable incomes per capita in the Middle East could be the possible reasons why the vehicles were replaced more often here than elsewhere. Surprisingly, the average age of vehicles listed in Saudi Arabia was 3.8 years, which jumped to 5.1 years for the UAE.

The economic and political conditions, improvement or decline, of a particular region also has a direct impact on the rate of replacement. Take Nigeria as an example where the economy is dropping each day, the motorists are more reluctant to replace their vehicles. The average Nigerian vehicle was 10.6 years old, while the average vehicle listed in Congo was 16.5 years old.

With the deteriorating conditions of the regional economy, auto-financing is expected to become more expensive. With the recent increase of 24% in the price of gas in the UAE, it is possible to experience an increase in replacement activity as motorists replace their vehicles with cheaper and more fuel-efficient models. As technology advances and the build-quality of vehicles improve further, the average age of the vehicles is bound to increase in the Middle East as well.