UK Average Car Age Hits Record Nearly 10 Years

The average age of cars on UK roads has reached a record high of nearly 10 years, with data showing the average car was nine years and ten months old at the end of 2024. This increase reflects improvements in vehicle build quality and reliability, allowing cars to last longer, but it also raises environmental concerns as it slows the transition from fossil-fuelled vehicles to electric models. Petrol cars have the oldest average age at over 10 years, while newer technologies like plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles have much younger average ages of around three years and two and a half years, respectively. Nearly 41% of cars are now at least a decade old, up from about 33% in 2015, and the total licensed cars number almost 34 million. Experts, including Steve Gooding of the RAC Foundation, warn that replacing fossil-fuelled cars with low or zero-emission vehicles is not progressing fast enough to meet UK climate targets, requiring a tenfold increase in electric vehicles from the current 1.3 million on the road. The rising cost of new cars, driven by regulatory standards and consumer preferences, also contributes to motorists holding onto older vehicles longer.