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Motorists in Britain may bemoan the high cost of buying and operating a vehicle, but new research suggests it is the eighth cheapest country in which to do so compared to the typical salary.
New analysis from Scrap Car Comparison has revealed which countries are the cheapest to own a car, and there are seven countries where it is more affordable than Britain.
The United States is the cheapest place in the world to own an engine. reveals the study, and the United Kingdom enters the top 10…
Use the interactive globe below to compare costs – you can zoom in and click on the white dots to see costs in dozens of different countries.
There is no doubt that the cost of car ownership is increasing.
Experts warn that repair and maintenance bills will continue to rise in 2024, while insurance premiums are at record highs and fuel prices remain at pre-pandemic levels.
As a result, the daily need to drive a car is becoming more difficult.
But it’s homeowners in the United States who have it better, according to this latest report.
How does Britain rank among the highest and lowest cost countries to own a car?
The cost of buying and owning a car requires just under half (46 percent) of the average annual American salary – the lowest affordability percentage of all countries analyzed, according to the study.
Australia (57 percent) and Canada (64 percent) round out the three most affordable countries to own a car.
So what about the UK?
Our affordability percentage is 87 percent, ranking us eighth overall.
Ireland comes in 10th at 94 percent, while the rest of the top 10 are also European countries.
At the opposite end of the table showing countries where it is expensive to own a car, it is astronomically expensive to do so.
And the worst of all is for car owners in Türkiye.
Turkey has been ranked as the most expensive country in the world to own a car, followed in second place by Colombia.
To determine the cheapest and most expensive places to own a car around the world, the Scrap Car Comparison team analyzed 98 countries “based on a variety of car ownership cost factors.”
Taking as a starting point the cost of the car itself (using an average of the most popular models in that country), the cost of fuel, insurance and breakdown cover and the average cost repair costs Then it was taken into account.
The total car cost figures were then compared to average salaries in each country to conclude an affordability percentage.
Of the 98 countries analyzed, it was only able to calculate total ownership costs for 32 countries due to limited data availability.
However, Scrap Car Comparison managed to compare the average price of new cars based on two models sold globally: the Toyota Corolla and the Volkswagen Golf.
He noted that taking into account the initial cost of the car is essential due to the huge fluctuations in purchase prices around the world, although this cost is not part of the average annual ownership.
Turkey is the most expensive country to own a car: it costs seven times the average annual salary, study reveals
The cost of repairs, maintenance, insurance and breakdowns (all of which are at record highs) are factored into the calculations for the 10 most and least expensive countries.
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 operate a car – a whopping 697 percent.
In Colombia, 530 percent and in Bulgaria, which is the third most expensive place, 493 percent.
Countries where it is so expensive, unsurprisingly, have much lower average wages, so even when the price of new cars is often comparatively cheaper than in the UK or US, household incomes are not They can make up for it.
The Scrap Car Comparison results highlighted that owning and operating a car in South America is particularly difficult. Four to five times the national average salary in Colombia, Brazil and Argentina are required to comfortably cover the costs of the first year of car ownership.
In the final ranking, Latin America occupied 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 a 10-year certificate of entitlement (COE) in a bid to address the country’s congestion problems.
It means that prospective car owners in Singapore must have a COE to be able to purchase a vehicle of any type, including a family car.
They are sold at auctions every two weeks, and the government controls the number of certificates for sale to limit how many hit 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 Brits can get one for £23,100.
In terms of fuel costs, Honk Kong is the most expensive, equivalent to £2.35 per litre.
They are followed by Finland (£1.85), Greece (£1.78) and the Netherlands (£1.77). At the time the data was collected, the UK was ranked 17th and a liter of unleaded petrol cost an average of £1.55.
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