Why DIY Vehicle Maintenance Is Growing in 2026
The short answer: roughly 26 million people in the U.S. now handle their own vehicle maintenance — about 9.6% of adults — and that number is growing, driven by rising shop labor costs and an aging vehicle fleet. It's not a fringe hobby anymore; it's a large and expanding group.
The numbers
According to research from the Auto Care Association and Hedges & Company, U.S. DIY automotive enthusiasts spent roughly $84 billion in 2025, a figure projected to reach $109 billion by 2030. A February 2025 Circana survey found that 29% of consumers had switched from professional oil changes to doing it themselves — specifically to save money.
Source: Hedges & Company, 2025–2026 industry estimates, via the Auto Care Association. Figures are third-party market estimates, not EazyMaintenance data.
Two things are pushing this trend
- Vehicles are staying on the road longer. The average U.S. vehicle is now about 12.8 years old, which generally means more maintenance events over the life of the vehicle, not fewer.
- Shop labor costs keep rising, which is a large part of why nearly a third of surveyed consumers say they've moved a specific task — like oil changes — from the shop to the driveway.
What this means if you're one of the 26 million
If you're already doing your own maintenance, none of this is news — you're living it. What it does mean is that the tools built for this specific way of working (recurring, hands-on, mobile-first) are worth taking seriously, rather than making do with a notebook or a generic notes app built for something else entirely.
