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February 2023 - Automotive

A third of drivers holding onto car for longer due to cost of living crisis: Uncertainty and ever-soaring costs has led to more people to hold onto to their current car for a little longer, found the latest survey by What Car?.

The survey polled 1,017 in-market buyers, finding that almost two-thirds of those who have kept their current car for longer have done so for six months more than they had planned to (66%), while around a fifth (21%) have held onto their vehicle for between three and six months longer than intended.

The survey also revealed that due to the cost of buying a new car, 14% of drivers had turned to the used car market.

Looking at other ways to save money during the cost of living crisis, 13% of respondents to the survey said that they were considering carrying out their own car maintenance and servicing.

Speaking about the survey findings, Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: "The UK’s new car market is still below pre-pandemic levels.Buyers holding on to their current vehicles for longer or switching to the used market is slowing down the much-needed recovery.

"The cost-of-living crisis is also threatening to slow down electric vehicle uptake in the country," added Huntingford.

Indeed, the slowdown of EV uptake was highlighted in another survey by What Car?, which polled 40,000 in-market car buyers throughout 2022. 

The research found that while from March until July 2022, EV interest was greater for new, factory orders than for petrol or diesel vehicles, desire for fully electric vehicles began to fall from August due to inflation, soaring energy costs and the overall cost of living.

When asked about their reasons for not going electric, a third of non-EV buyers said they were deterred by rising energy costs. They had been encouraged to buy following the government’s two-year energy price cap scheme, with one in five EV buyers (out of 522) saying this intervention had encouraged them to make the switch. Following the scrapping of the energy price cap and with prices likely to rise as a result from April 2023, almost a quarter of non-EV buyers (23%) said the scrapping of the scheme had influenced their decision not to buy an EV.

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