The average age of a petrol fleet car undergoing service, maintenance or repair (SMR) has risen by more than a year since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

The average age of a petrol car undergoing SMR has jumped from 18 to 31 months

New data from Great British Fleet Event exhibitor Epyx shows the average age has jumped from 18 to 31 months.

Similarly, the average age of a diesel van undergoing SMR has increased from 31 months to 39 months, according to figures from the company’s 1link Service Network SMR management platform, used by fleets totalling more than four million vehicles.

Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at Epyx, said: “It’s well-known that the fleet vehicle parc has risen since the start of the pandemic but the extent revealed by these figures is perhaps still surprising.”

Less surprising are the reasons for the increase – which include the move to longer replacement cycles due to reduced mileage in the early days of the pandemic, followed by the issues with new car and van supply.

Epyx warned that the move to operating older vehicles creates challenges.

“They are more likely to break down and the maintenance regime applied needs to be more thorough to ensure ongoing roadworthiness. These are certainly issues that we have been working through with fleets over the last few years, using our technology to help them keep costs under control, minimise downtime and ensure safety.”

Meadows added that it remained open to discussion when the average age of fleet vehicles would stop rising and whether they would ever return to pre-pandemic levels.

“The underlying question is whether fleets will choose to operate younger car and vans when supply makes that possible or whether they have learnt that they can economically and effectively operate older vehicles. We’ll find out over the next few years.”

Epyx will be at next month’s Great British Fleet Event along with parent firm Fleetcor and sister firm r2c Online. The event takes place on 25 April at Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes. For more details and to register for a free ticket, click here.