IRVINE, Calif. -

While it may seem we’re swimming through a painfully large number of automotive recalls on a daily basis, that doesn’t change the fact that cars simply last longer, on average, than ever before.

This is reflected by the most recent U.S. vehicle registration data from IHS, which shows that the average length of vehicle ownership has hit another all-time high for both used vehicles (63 months) and new vehicles (78 months).

According to Brian Skutta, AutoAlert’s chief executive officer, how long a consumer holds onto their vehicle has a direct impact on the SAAR and is also a key performance indicator for the auto industry.

“To put this in context, the lengthening ownership lifecycle is resulting in consumers buying fewer vehicles over their lifetime, giving dealers fewer opportunities to sell them cars if you wait for them to come to you,” Skutta said.

Via an online survey of over 400 vehicle owners, AutoAlert reached out to get a better idea of where today’s customers could be swayed to get back in the market for a new or new-to-them vehicle.

Here are a few key findings of the study, according to AutoAlert:

  • Seventy-five percent of consumers would be very likely or somewhat likely to trade-in their vehicle today if their monthly payment would remain about the same.
  • Fourty-nine percent of survey respondents were not aware they were able to upgrade their current vehicle before their loan or lease is at end-of-term.
  • Regardless of how long consumers have owned their current vehicle, 63 percent of them would like to upgrade their vehicles every three years or less.
  • Dealerships that keep their service customers coming back are smart because 57 percent are very likely or somewhat likely to purchase a new car from the dealership where they service their car.
  • Sixty-nine percent of consumer respondents felt it was very important or somewhat important for the place they bought their vehicle to proactively notify them when they are in a position to upgrade their vehicle if it doesn’t impact their monthly car payment.
  • More than half of consumers want to be notified about key points in their ownership lifecycle (e.g. warranty is expiring, trade-in value is about to decrease rapidly, before incurring mileage overages on lease, end of contract).
  • The three highest motivating factors to buy or lease a new vehicle were:
    • 83 percent better fuel-efficiency
    • 68 percent too many repairs to be made on current vehicle
    • 65 percent additional safety features

“Dealerships find better stewardship of their customer records through data mining, empowering them to disrupt longer trade cycles down to an average of 36 months – a dramatic increase in trade-cycle velocity,” Skutta said. “This type of data-driven engagement with consumers is where dealerships are finding a great return on investment.”

According to the company, out of the more than 400 survey participants, 35 percent were millennials, 31 percent were Generation X and 34 percent were baby boomers.

To check out the full white paper of the results, click here.