As the cost of car ownership continues to climb and the UK faces a war on car ownership, Turo, the peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace, has commissioned a Car Ownership Index with YouGov to shed light on Brits opinions and frustrations with the state of UK driving.
The nationally representative survey of 2,000 people found that almost a third (31%) of surveyed Brits who don’t own, lease or finance a car say this is due to the high cost of ownership. A quarter (24%) of respondents stated the high cost of car insurance as a key reason they don’t own, lease or finance a car, while one in five called out the high cost of maintenance and repairs (21%) and the high cost of fuel (20%). This comes after petrol prices in the UK reached an average of 150.1p per litre in April, the highest since November 2022*.
Meanwhile, three quarters (74%) of Brits asked said they support increased regulation of car insurance to address rising costs, as Labour’s new Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, has promised to investigate rising car insurance premiums and take action on unfair practices in the industry.
Surveyed Brits also expressed their dissatisfaction with the driving conditions here in the UK. Two-thirds (63%) said UK roads and potholes are one of the most important motoring issues at this time and eight in ten (81%) support the policy of providing new funding for councils to repair potholes by deferring a planned road infrastructure project. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the East Midlands and North West report the worst road conditions in the country, contributing to widespread frustration among drivers**.
ULEZ expansion
Roughly a year on from the government’s expansion of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in August 2023, one in ten (11%) of Brits asked say that ULEZ and other clean air zones are one of the most important motoring issues. Data shows that the British public is split on the topic of ULEZ, with over half (55%) opposing further expansion and almost a third (30%) in support.
Generational driving divide
In fact, proposed environmental policies were generally divisive. Over a third (39%) of 18-24 year-old respondents support the reinstatement of the 2030 ban on the sale of new combustion cars, making them twice as likely to hold this view than those aged 65+ (19%). Almost half of Londoners surveyed (46%) support the reinstatement of the ban, twice as many as those in the Midlands (23%).
Of the Brits surveyed who own, lease or finance a car, 35% said they were concerned about the impact of their car on the environment. Millennials, aged 25-49, were the most likely to express this concern (39%), followed by those aged 50-64 (35%) and 65+ (30%).
Overall, one in ten (10%) of Brits asked who don’t own, lease or finance a car cited environmental impact as a reason. While one in ten (14%) of those planning to stop owning, leasing or financing a car also listed this as a reason.
Rory Brimmer, Head of UK Business Development at Turo said: “There’s no doubt that Brits today have concerns about the future of driving. There are several factors putting pressure on drivers, and action is certainly needed to ensure that motorists are not left behind. At Turo, we hope that by offering a flexible and cost-effective alternative to ownership, we can ease the burden on drivers during this challenging time and offer a practical solution while the Government works to address these broader issues. We also help those who do own cars to unlock the money-making potential of this asset, which our polling found sits idle 95% of the time – with the average UK host making almost £400 a month per car.***
Alexander, Turo guest, London said: “I always used to be a car owner, but with road tax, parking, MOT and maintenance costs etc, ownership became prohibitively too expensive and too complicated for me. I sold the car, and now rely on a mixture of cycling, public transport and car sharing for longer trips. Car sharing with Turo is convenient and I enjoy building person-to-person relationships with great car owners – it’s easy to book a car, enjoy a journey to the coast or countryside, and then simply drop the car back. I’m conscious of my environmental footprint, Turo fits in with that, and I am pleased to be supporting the sharing economy, where I can give back locally.”
** ONS, Road condition statistics
*** Figures represent the average monthly performance (based on their gross monthly earnings) of all UK hosts in the 12 months ending June 30th 2024.
