That’s how much the average car is used a day – but you can also hire cars for just one one hour. So why not explore the many options to go car free – but still drive a car.
The average car is used for just one hour a day – that’s 23 hours a day they sit motionless, slowly depreciating in value. During that time, they are parked at home 73% of the time and elsewhere 23%.
If that doesn’t convince you, here are some more stats on the wastefulness of cars to blow your mind.
The average new car cost £39,308 in 2023. And there were 1.903 million new cars registered in 2023. That’s a total of £76 billion spend on new cars.
The typical running cost of running a car with an internal combustion engine is £3,000 to £4,000 a year, excluding depreciation. Costs include insurance, petrol/diesel, MOTs (plus any fixes), everyday and occasional maintenance (oil, tyres, washer fluid), vehicle tax, breakdown cover, car washes …
Depreciation varies a lot by car type and age and mileage. Here are some typical figures
| After year | Typical drop in value | Worth of a £30,000 new car | Worth of a £60,000 new car |
| 1 | 25% | £22,500 | £45,000 |
| 3 | 50% | £15,000 | £30,000 |
| 5 | 65% | £10,500 | £21,000 |
| 10 | 80% | £6,000 | £12,000 |
Imagine a typical UK street with 30 houses, where each has access to a car. Around 43% (13 households) would have two (or more) cars and 57% (17 households).
So that’s 43 cars in total. The new cost of each household’s cars (at today’s prices) would total £1.7m for the street. And they still typically sit there for just on hour a day.
In 2022, the average person who travelled by car took 337 trips as a driver for an average of 2,726 miles – an average of 8.1 miles per trip. They took a further 165 trips as a passenger, totalling 1,466 miles, an average of 8.9 miles. Those 502 trips are an average of 1.4 a day.
Overall, women make more car trips than males but for shorter distances. In 2022, women made 507 car trips per person, totalling 3,806 miles each. Men made 495 car trips per person for a total of 4,593 miles each.
The average UK driver loses 80 hours a year due to traffic congestion but this varies by city.
| City | Time wasted |
| London | 156 |
| Bristol | 91 |
| Manchester | 84 |
| Leicester | 76 |
| Sheffield | 73 |
| Liverpool | 73 |
| Belfast | 73 |
| Edinburgh | 72 |
| Hull | 69 |
| Nottingham | 66 |
In London last year, a one-way drive of 10km took 49 minutes at optimal traffic time but 1h28m at rush hour. And on average, drivers in the capital took 36 minutes and 2 seconds to drive just six miles, which is almost one minute more than in 2022.
The most common purpose for a journey by car in the UK was for leisure, (31% of trips in 2022), then shopping (20%) and commuting (16%). 10% were for education or escort education (EG taking kids to school).
Research has consistently found that a 40/40/20 ratio applies to car journeys made by the average person.
With the 2nd and 3rd categories, hire cars or taxis could be used if you don’t own a car.
Stats from