The disruption in the pattern of between 16 and 17 million newvehicle sales that coincided with the recession created a break inthe historic sales cycle that essentially led to a greaterdisparity within the vehicle fleet. With fewer new carssold, the average age of vehicles increased,therefore leading to a historically older vehicle population.At the same time, new vehicle sales have ramped up, creating amodest surge in the number of new vehicles on the road.

The breakout of repairable vehicle appraisal data by the age ofthe loss vehicle underscores the shift that has occurred in thelast several years to a markedly older mix. Nearly 42 percent of allrepairable appraisals were for vehicles aged 7 yearsand older during the 2013 calendar year—the highest everrecorded in the last 15 years, and more than 15 percentage pointshigher than in 2005.

A comparison of annual change in U.S. new vehicle sales tocurrent model year vehicles' share of repairable appraisal volumeunderscores the relationship of new vehicles sold to the age ofinsured vehicles with claims. When U.S. new vehicle sales slippedin 2001 and 2002, the appraisal count share of current model yearvehicles also fell. A similar, yet more severe pattern can beseen in 2008 through 2010 (see below).