CARS IN THE UK ARE GETTING OLDER

A report produced by SMMT has highlighted that the UK vehicle population continues to grow, with there now being 32 million cars on the road in the UK.  They say that the continuing increase has been due to buoyant new car sales and fewer cars being scrapped.

SMMT reported that the number of cars older than 12 years rose by over 10% in just 2013 – an increase of over 2 million from the previous year’s survey.  In fact, during the last 10 years the average age of a car in the UK has risen from 7 years old to 8 years old.  This is probably due to a combination of factors such as the state of the economy (people holding on to cars for longer) & the increasing reliability and durability of more modern vehicles (improved bodywork corrosion resistance, mechanical parts lasting longer).  It is also possible that a greater uptake in manufacturer credit deals linked to longer warranty periods & scheduled servicing programmes, has contributed.

It is interesting to note that the SMMT figures suggest that in 2012 about 1.9 million cars were scrapped in the UK, but in 2013 this fell to less than 1.8 million. This is in stark contrast to the number of Certificates of Destruction that were issued in those years, suggesting that huge numbers of cars - 600,000 per year – are simply disappearing.

In terms of the vehicle brands being purchased by UK motorists, Ford retains the top spot, taking both 1^st & 2^nd position with the Focus & Fiesta models. 

 

Make	Model	Total on UK roads
Ford	Focus	1,462,735
Ford	Fiesta	1,423,254
Vauxhall	Corsa	1,246,650
Vauxhall	Astra	1,188,385
Volkswagen	Golf	998,645
Renault	Clio	680,890
Volkswagen	Polo	625,144
Ford	Mondeo	562,948
Peugeot	206	520,562
Renault	Megane	480,498