Hungarian drivers are among Europeans least likely to own a new car model

Hungarian drivers are among Europeans least likely to own a new car model, with just 19 new vehicles per 1,000 people being less than 2 years old, a recent study found. More interesting details below.

That’s according to Confused.com (Q1 2022), which analysed Eurostat⁽¹⁾ data to determine the European country with the highest proportion of new vehicles. The research suggests which country’s residents are most likely to choose a newer car over an old one.

Here are the results:

Hungarian drivers are among least likely to own a newer car

Hungarian drivers rank 25th. Confused.com found that, on average, there were just 19 new cars per 1,000 people in Hungary, a 2% decrease from Croatia in 23rd (19.28 per 1,000 people). Equating to 5.29% of registered vehicles, this means that just one in 20 cars on the road in Hungary are less than two years old.

With an average of almost 91 new vehicles per 1,000 people, Luxembourg has been revealed as the country most likely to own a new car.

When compared to countries with a similar population size, this is almost 3 times more than Cyprus (32.57 new vehicles per 1,000 people). This means that almost a quarter (24.50%) of cars on the road in Luxembourg are less than 2 years old, the highest percentage in Europe.

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Drivers in Liechtenstein are the second most likely to own a new car, with 52.47 new cars per 1,000 people. This is 42% fewer new vehicles per 1,000 people than in Luxembourg, but 36% more than their Swiss neighbours (38.53 new cars per 1,000 people).  This means that almost 1 in 6 (14.57%) registered vehicles in Liechtenstein are less than 2 years old. 

Lithuanian drivers place third. There are 51.32 new vehicles per 1,000 people in Lithuania, 77% more than similarly sized Slovenia (28.99 vehicles per 1,000 people). Despite this, Lithuania has the lowest percentage share of new vehicles in Europe (1.93%), a 39% decrease from their Latvian neighbours (3.19%).

Vehicle owners in Belgium are the fourth most likely to own the latest cars.

In total, there are 47.51 new vehicles per 1,000 people, a staggering 56% increase to their French neighbours (30.29 per 1,000 people). This means that almost 1 in 4 (22.69%) registered vehicles in Belgium are less than 2 years old – the third highest percentage in Europe.

Alex Kindred, car insurance expert at Confused.com, comments: 

“The year a vehicle was manufactured can have an impact on our insurance rates. It’s likely that newer cars are going to be more expensive to insure than older models. This is because if we were to make a claim, newer components are likely to be more expensive to buy and repair.

“However, prices can be made lower if newer cars have modern safety features, such as reverse cameras, lane assist and collision awareness. Although, the only way to know if you’re getting the best price is to shop around and compare car insurance prices, especially if you have a newer car.”

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Methodology

1. Confused.com undertook this research to find out which European country has the highest proportion of new passenger cars. The study uses historical vehicle stock data from Eurostat⁽¹⁾ to find the proportion of vehicles less than 2 years old as a percentage of all vehicles in each country.
2. First, the total number of vehicles for each country, along with the total number of vehicles aged less than 2 years, was collected from Eurostat. The percentage of new vehicles [those less than 2 years old] was subsequently calculated as the number of vehicles less than 2 years old divided by the total number of vehicles. This calculation was made for years 2010-2019.
3. Second, the number of new registrations per 1,000 inhabitants was calculated by dividing the number of new registrations⁽²⁾ by the population count⁽³⁾ and multiplying by 1000. This was done for each year between 2010-2019. Both new registrations and population estimates were sourced from Eurostat.

– No data was available for the following countries and years:  Austria (2019), Denmark (2010, 2011, 2012), Poland (2018), Portugal (2013), United Kingdom (2012, 2013, 2014, 2019).

4. Finally, the new vehicle percentage and new registrations per 1,000 inhabitants were averaged to provide insights into each country’s new passenger vehicle market.
5. All data was collected in March 2022 and is subject to change.

Source: Press release/confused.com