Motorists in Britain may bemoan the high cost of buying and running a vehicle, but new research suggests it is eighth cheapest country to do so compared to typical salary.
New analysis from Scrap Car Comparison has revealed the cheapest countries to own a car – and there are seven countries where it is more affordable than Britain.
The US is the cheapest place to own a motor across the globe. the study revealed – and the UK squeezes into the top 10…
Use the interactive globe below to compare costs – you can zoom in and click on the white dots to see the costs in dozens of different countries.
There’s no question that the cost of car ownership is soaring.
Repair and maintenance bills are set to continue rising in 2024, experts warn, while insurance premiums are at an all-time high and fuel prices remain up on pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the daily necessity of driving a car is getting more and more difficult.
But it’s owners in the US who have it best, according to this latest report.
How does Britain rank in the order of most and least expensive countries to own a car?
The cost of buying and owning a car requires just under half (46 per cent) of the average American yearly salary – the lowest affordability percentage of all countries analysed,’ the study found.
Australia (57 per cent) and Canada (64 per cent) complete the top three most affordable countries to own a car.
So what about the UK?
Our affordability percentage is 87 per cent, placing us eighth overall in the order.
Ireland lands in 10th place with 94 per cent while the rest of the top 10 are also all European countries.
At the opposite end of the table featuring the countries where it is expensive to own a car, it is astronomically expensive to do so.
And it’s worst of all for car owners in Turkey.
Turkey has been ranked the most expensive country in the world to own a car, followed in second place by Colombia.
To ascertain the cheapest and most expensive places to own a car around the world the team at Scrap Car Comparison analysed 98 countries ‘on a range of car ownership cost factors’.
Taking the cost of the car itself as the starting point (using an average across the most popular models in that country), the cost of fuel, insurance and breakdown cover and average repair costs was then taken into account.
The total car cost figures produced were then compared to average salaries in each country to conclude an affordability percentage.
Of the 98 nations reviewed, it could only calculate the full ownership costs for 32 countries due to limited availability of data.
However, Scrap Car Comparison did manage to collate the average price of new cars based on two models sold globally – the Toyota Corolla and Volkswagen Golf.
It pointed out in that factoring in the initial cost of the car is fundamental because of the huge fluctuations in purchase prices around the world, even though this cost is not part of the yearly ownership average.
Turkey is the most expensive country to own a car, costing seven times the average annual salary, the study revealed
The cost of repairs, maintenance, insurance and breakdown (all of which are at all time highs) are all factored into the workings out for the 10 most and least expensive nations
Colombia was the second most expensive country to own a car – four to five times the national average salary
It takes seven times the average Turkish annual salary to buy and run a car – a whopping 697 per cent.
In Colombia it takes 530 per cent and in Bulgaria, which is the third most expensive place, it takes 493 per cent.
The countries where it’s so expensive unsurprisingly have much lower average salaries, so even when the price of new cars is often comparatively cheaper than in the UK or US, household incomes can’t make up for it.
Scrap Car Comparison results highlighted that owning and running a car in South America is particularly difficult. It requires four to five times the national average salary in Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina to manage to comfortably cover the first year of car ownership costs.
In the final rankings Latin America made up seven of the 10 most expensive countries.
The cost of cars in Singapore is incredibly expensive due to taxes and import duties on vehicles
You won’t believe how much cars cost in Singapore…
In some nations, the price of cars is simply astronomical. And this is especially the case in Singapore.
With taxes and import duties, the system has made the city-state the most expensive country in the world to buy a car.
In 1990, the government introduced 10-year certificate of entitlement (COE) in a bid to tackle the country’s congestion issues.
It means that prospective car owners in Singapore must have a COE in order to be able to purchase a vehicle of any kind – including a family car.
They are sold in auctions every two weeks, with the Government controlling the number of certificates for sale to limit how many enter the road.
As a result, the Toyota Corolla and VW Golf used for the analysis cost the same in Singapore as a luxury Mercedes.
The Toyota will set buyers back a staggering £95,260 compared to just £24,000 in Britain. The VW costs £108,000 in Singapore, while Britons can get one for £23,100.
In terms of the cost of fuel, Honk Kong is the most expensive at an equivalent of £2.35 per litre.
This is followed by Finland (£1.85), Greece (£1.78) and the Netherlands (£1.77). At the time the data was collated, the UK was 17th in the standings with a litre of unleaded costing on average £1.55.
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