Accredited official statistics

NTS 2024: Household car availability and trends in car trips

Published 27 August 2025

Main findings

• Around a third (34%) of households had two or more cars in 2024, 44% one car and 22% no cars.
• Around 59% of cars (including sport utility vehicles) people owned were petrol, 30% were diesel, 6% hybrid, 4% battery electric and 2% plug-in hybrid.
• Car (driver and passenger) trips made up 59% of trips and 76% of distance travelled. Average trips remained similar compared to 2023 with 357 car driver trips per person and 189 car passenger trips per person.
• Females made more car trips than males, but males made longer car trips on average.
• Around 83% of people reported to have used a private car at least once a week, and 6% less than once a year or never in 2024.
• Around 40% of households in the lowest income quintile had no access to a car, compared to 14% in the highest income quintile.

Household car access

Chart 18: Percentage of households by car access: Great Britain (1971 to 1988) and England (1989 to 2024) (NTS0205)

Household car access

• There have been long-term increases in the proportion of households with access to more than one car since 1971, however the trend has levelled out in more recent years.
• Around a third (34%) of households had two or more cars in 2024 compared to 8% in 1971.
• The proportion of households with one car was 44% in 2024, however, the long-term trend has remained broadly constant since 1971.
• The proportion of households without a car fell from 48% in 1971 (based on the Census) to 22% in 2024.
• In 1985 to 1986, there were 8 cars for every 10 households in Great Britain; in 2024 there were 12 cars for every 10 households in England.
• These trends are comparable to those found in the Census.

Types of vehicles people own

Chart 19: Cars^{[footnote 1]} by fuel type: England, 2019 to 2024 (NTS0909)

Fuel type

• In England in 2024, 59% of cars (including sport utility vehicles) people owned were petrol, 30% were diesel, 6% hybrid, 4% battery electric and 2% plug-in hybrid. These figures are broadly comparable with vehicle statistics based on Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) data (VEH1103). The National Travel Attitudes Study wave 9 statistical release contains more information on attitudes towards ultra-low emission vehicles and government policies relating to them.

Vehicle transmission type

• In England in 2024, 61% of cars people owned were manual and 38% automatic or semi-automatic.

Where people park

• Around 64% of respondents usually parked their vehicles on private property (excluding garages) overnight in 2024^{[footnote 2]}. This has shown a general upward trend since 2002 (50%).
• The proportion of parked vehicles in garages overnight decreased from 22% in 2002 to 9% in 2024, showing a downward trend.

Trends in car trips

Chart 20: Average car trips and miles travelled (as driver or passenger), per person per year: England, 2002 to 2024 (NTS0303)

Car trips and distance travelled

• Car (driver and passenger) trips made up 59% of trips and 76% of distance travelled, on average in 2024.
• Average trips remained similar for both car drivers and passengers in 2024 compared to 2023 with 357 trips per person and 189 trips per person respectively, however, these remained below pre-pandemic levels (by -6% and -5%).
• Overall, there has been a gradual decline in car driver and passenger trips since 2002.
• For average miles travelled by car, the trend since 2002 was similar to that for trips.

Chart 21: Car trips per person per year by trip purpose: England, 2019 to 2024 (NTS0409)

Car trips by trip purpose

• The most common purpose for a trip by car was for leisure, with 33% of trips in 2024. This was followed by shopping (19%), commuting (13%) and other escort (12%).
• Despite fluctuations in the number of trips overall, the proportions of those trips taken for different purposes remained similar to the previous five years.

Chart 22: Average car trips and miles travelled, by age and sex: England, 2024 (NTS0601)

Car trips and distance travelled by age and sex

• Overall, females made more car trips than males, however, males made longer car trips. In 2024, females made 558 car trips per person and males made 535 car trips per person. Females travelled 4,314 miles per person by car, however, males travelled 4,940 miles per person by car, 15% more.
• Females aged up to 69 made more car trips on average compared to males, with males aged 70 and over making more car trips than females in the same age bands.
• Males of all ages apart from those aged under 30 made longer car journeys than females.
• The age group with the highest number of car trips and distance travelled on average for males was 50 to 59 with 638 trips per person and 6,712 miles per person.
• For females, the age group with the highest number of car trips on average was 40 to 49 with 709 trips per person and for distance travelled was 50 to 59 with 5,423 miles per person.

Chart 23: Frequency of private car use: England, 2024 (NTS0313)

Around 83% of people reported to have used a private car at least once a week, and 6% less than once a year or never in 2024. These proportions were similar to the previous five years.

Household car availability and adult personal car access by household income quintile

Chart 24: Household car availability by household income quintile: England, 2024 (NTS0703)

Household car availability by household income quintile

• The proportion of households which did not have access to a car decreased as household income increased in 2024. Around 40% of households in the lowest income quintile had no access to a car, compared to 14% in the highest income quintile.
• Having two or more cars is more common when income increases. Just under a half of households within the highest income quintile had two or more cars (46%) compared with 15% of households in the lowest income quintile.

Chart 25: Adult personal car access by household income quintile, aged 17 and over: England, 2024 (NTS0704)

• In 2024, the highest income quintiles had the largest proportion of adults being main car drivers with 67% of adults in households in the second highest income quintile and 66% of adults in households in the highest income quintile. This compares to adults in households in the lowest income quintile where 41% were a main car driver.
• Around 32% of adults in households in the lowest income quintile had no car access, this compares to 12% of adults in adults in the highest income quintile.

Background information

The 2024 National Travel Survey (NTS) is the latest in a series of household surveys of personal travel by residents of England travelling within Great Britain, from data collected via interviews and a seven-day travel diary. The NTS is part of a continuous survey that began in 1988, following ad-hoc surveys from the 1960s, which enables analysis of patterns and trends.

Some key uses of the data include describing patterns, for example how different groups of people travel, monitoring trends in travel, including sustainable modes; assessing the potential equality impacts of different groups; and contributing to the evaluation of policies.

We always welcome feedback to help ensure that the survey meets the needs of users, and any feedback provided will help inform the future design and development of the survey. If you have any feedback, please email National Travel Survey statistics.

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in September 2018. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and are labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’.

Further information is available, including:

• data tables
• notes and definitions
• guidance and quality information
• future developments

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1. Excludes vans and other vehicle types. ↩

2. This question is asked in the NTS every even year. ↩