In the past, we conducted the Car Reliability Survey every quarter because people’s memories didn’t seem good enough to go much longer between surveys.

Well, we now have proof that solid stats cannot be derived from annual surveys–even though both Consumer Reports and JD Power have long relied on these.

The survey conducted earlier this year covered all of 2021. Here’s how many repair trips members reported for each month:

Dec: 704
Nov 695
Oct 629
Sep 517
Aug 503
Jul 512
Jun 494
May 344
Apr 276
Mar 326
Feb 216
Jan 248

Even a semi-annual survey would be much better than an annual one. So we’re planning to conduct another round next month.

The stats on the site for the survey covering all of 2021 are now final, but when viewing them keep in mind that repairs were very obviously underreported, and that we did not have sample sizes as large as in the past.

To get to these stats, check the box for “Members-only access to our latest car reliability information” on the reliability start page.