That's part of the reason, but it doesn't explain the spike in the age of the average car, from 9 years to 11, since 2007, the last year of Bush's term in office.
It's another symptom of the Obamalypse.
The average might be even higher but for President O'Bozo's $3 Billion Dollar "War On Clunkers" that took almost 700,000 cars out of the used car pipeline.
Obama's 'Cash For Clunkers' Unleashed 'Environmental Nightmare'
"In a classic tale illustrating the “law of unintended consequences,” a new report concludes that President Barack Obama’s $3 billion “Cash for Clunkers” taxpayer-funded boondoggle artificially drove car prices up, not down, and unleashed an “environmental nightmare” through shredding, not recycling, many of the 690,000 cars people traded in for an up to $4,500 car credit."
A study conducted by Resources for the Future further underscored the program’s failure economically and environmentally:
"Approximately 45 percent of the spending went to consumers who would have purchased a new vehicle anyway. Our results suggest no gain in sales beyond 2009 and hence no meaningful stimulus to the economy. In addition, the program will reduce CO2 emissions by only 9 to 28.4 million tons, implying a cost per ton ranging from $91 to $288 even after accounting for reduced criteria pollutants."As the Washington Post even conceded, Mr. Obama’s Cash for Clunkers scheme was an economic and environmental failure: “So were the naysayers right?” asked the Post. “It seems so.”