Motor-mad Brits aren’t letting the cost of living crisis crash their love of cars – as a study reveals three times as many families have been buying an extra car this year compared to those flogging one. One in six UK drivers (17%) have more vehicles registered at their address than they did 12 months ago while just 5% have one fewer.
A whopping 60% of the households that bought another vehicle said they did so because they needed it for commuting while 24% did because a child ‘needed one’ after passing their driving test. That leaves more than a third (35%) of motorists now living in ‘multi-car households’ despite the cost of living crisis forcing millions to tighten their purse strings.
Almost half of those who got rid of a car in the last year (45%) said they couldn’t afford it anymore. However just one in six UK households (15%) plan on getting rid of a car in the next 12 months for financial reasons.
The study by multi-car insurance provider Hastings Direct surveyed 2,001 UK driving licence holders in June 2023. Department for Transport car registration also data shows that the number of privately owned cars has risen by roughly 300,000 in the past three years.
UK-based Google searches for ‘used car’ have risen by 12% since December 2022, with searches for ‘buy car’ also rising by 12% in the same period. Motorists in Manchester own the most cars per household on average with 1.8, while Bristol comes in second at 1.6 and London, Liverpool and Sheffield are tied in third at 1.4.
Licence holders in Herefordshire top the billing for individual car ownership in England as four out of five (80%) have one registered in their name. Blaenau Gwent is the Welsh area with the highest ownership figures (78%), while almost nine out of ten full licence holders (87%) in Edinburgh own a car.
Hastings Direct’s advice to keep car running costs low includes carrying out regular maintenance checks, adding an experienced driver onto your insurance policy and obtaining multi-car cover.
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