The average motor in the UK is now nearly ten years old, according to analysis of the national car parc.
A review of official vehicle registrations figures by the RAC Foundation found that the average car on the country’s roads at the end of 2024 was nine years and ten months – the oldest since record began.
This is up from seven years and five months a decade earlier at the end of 2015. And back in 2003, the average age was just six year and a month.
The transport policy and research organisation said the figures suggest both positives and negatives for Britain’s drivers.
Firstly, the quality of reliability of the average car appears to be improving, meaning vehicles are lasting the test of time far better than they have done previously.
However, the numbers also suggest that inflated new model prices – especially during a cost-of-living squeeze – and the transition to electric vehicles has put motorists off changing their cars.
A review of official vehicle registrations figures by the RAC Foundation found that the average car on the country’s roads at the end of 2024 was nine years and ten months – the oldest since record began
Analysing the data by fuel type, petrol cars have the oldest average age at ten years and four months, followed by diesels at ten years and one month.
Understandably, newer technology has a younger shelf life.
The average plug-in hybrid, for instance, was three years and four months old at the end of 2024, while an EV is typically just two years and six months old.
Of all the cars on the road at the end of 2024, more than two in five (40.7 per cent) were at least ten years old.
This compares with just one in three (32.7 per cent) at the end of 2015.
As of the turn of the year, there are almost 34 million licensed cars in the UK.
The average age of cars on the road in Britain has increased dramatically in recent years. The RAC Foundation says this is due to improving reliability but also high new model prices and a reluctance to buy EVs
The average age of a car on Britain’s roads in 2015 was just seven years and five months, the analysis revealed
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘These findings probably reflect several things.
‘On the plus side, for motorists, the design and build-quality of modern cars means they are looking good and running reliably for far longer – the days of them rusting away before your eyes are well and truly behind us.
‘Even a twenty-year-old car with a full service-history can be a good bet for someone seeking a bargain buy that still looks up to date.
‘The bad news for the environment is that the overall ageing of the fleet means the replacement of fossil-fuelled cars by those with very low or zero emissions is not happening as quickly as policy makers hoped.
‘After they peaked in 2016, lower annual new car sales figures bear testament to a host of issues – Covid, the cost-of-living crisis, mixed messaging over the ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel models – plus the generally good roadworthiness of older cars meaning owners can comfortably adopt a wait-and-see approach as more new electric vehicles arrive in dealers’ showrooms and the public charging network grows.’
