Average car in the UK is oldest it has ever been

The average age of a car on UK roads has reached almost 10 years old, meaning the UK’s fleet of cars is the oldest it’s ever been.

At nine years and 10 months old, the average car in the UK has risen to be almost two and a half years older than it was just a decade ago.  

It’s petrol and diesel cars that are leading the way. The average petrol cars is 10 years four months old, with diesel just behind on 10 years one month.

They are being dramatically offset by electrified cars. The average plug-in hybrid car was three years four months old at the end of 2024.

The average electric car was just two and a half years old.

Even so, the far greater number of petrol and diesel cars is skewing the figures. More than two in five cars on UK roads were at least 10 years old at the end of 2024.

It was less than one in three at the end of 2015.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, says the findings reflect several things. For motorists, the design and build quality means cars are looking good and running reliably for far longer.

"The days of them rusting way before your eyes are well and truly behind us. 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 happing as quickly as policymakers 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 – while the generally good roadworthiness of older cars means owners can comfortably adopt a wait and see approach.

Gooding added that to hit the Climate Change Committee’s 2030 emission reduction targets without a cut in the number of miles driven, there needs to be a tenfold increase in the 1.3 million electric cars on UK roads at the end of 2024.

“That is going to require a huge push.”

Interestingly, the RAC Foundation added that although zero emission cars only comprise 3.8% of the national car fleet, they drove 5.3% of all car mileage.

This suggests the government’s focus on tax benefits for electric company cars is having an impact in reducing overall car mileage emissions.