[SoftTalker]

As GP said, the author recognized that people are keeping cars longer and that they are more durable. However a new wrinkle is that "the proportion of brand new vehicles being written off has increased." This is due to the costs of repairing "Advanced Driver Assistance Systems” such as automatic braking and lane-keeping assistance. These systems include sensors, cameras, and other equipment that must be carefully calibrated, which adds a lot of skilled labor costs to the repairs. It's no longer the case that a repair is just hammering out dents and spraying some paint.

[emmelaich]

I've spoken to a number of people lately that have had to take their Audi/VW/Mercedes/ other to the shop for repair because of the electronics.

One was charged thousands to fix a snow sensor. We don't get snow in Sydney.

Guy who runs a fleet of luxury vehicles said the sensors are cheap and simply fail after five or so years.

My own VW Passat randomly failed to start occasionally with some mysterious light on. (I forget the details). I sold it.

[cratermoon]

Any collision that sets of the airbags in a modern car is almost guaranteed to be a write-off.

[SoftTalker]

Yep, they are surprisingly complex and expensive sensor-controlled devices, and a modern car might have a dozen of them. Just their replacement alone will be thousands of dollars, on top of the actual collision repair work.

[cratermoon]

Plus each airbag has a small explosive charge, which requires special and expensive handling.