What is the average age of the car fleet in Romania and how do we compare with other EU countries

In the European Union there are 255 million cars, of which 8.5 million in Romania and 49 million in Germany. The average age of the EU car fleet is 12.7 years and varies between 8 and 18 years depending on the country.

Romania, three years above the EU average

ACEA (Association of European Automobile Manufacturers) has published the latest report on the car market in Europe, and a chapter refers to the average age of the car fleet.

The EU average is 12.7 years for passenger cars, the German fleet has an average age of 10.6 years, and that of France, 11.5 years. The car fleet in Romania had an average age of 15.6 years at the end of 2024, and 82% of the cars on the roads are more than ten years old.

Which country fits best? Luxembourg's car fleet has an average age of only 8.2 years, but we are talking about only 450,000 cars. Two countries have car fleets newer than ten years: Austria (9.2) and Denmark (9.8 years). If in Romania, eight out of ten cars are older than ten years, in Austria the share of these cars is only 46%.

And Belgium has a young car fleet, with an average age of 10.1 years and only 28% of cars older than 2014.

From an age with a neighboring country

Romania is three years below the average, but it is not the worst in terms of the age of the car fleet. In Greece, the average age is 17.8 years and 4.5 million vehicles are over a decade old.

In Estonia, the average age is 17.5 years.

Malta also has a very old car fleet: average of 16.1 years, but we are talking about a total fleet 25 times smaller than that of Romania.

How do we compare to the surrounding countries? There are no data for Bulgaria, but in Hungary the average age is like ours, 15.6 years, while Poland has a slightly younger park: average 15.2 years.

ACEA data shows the average age for several non-EU countries as well. in Iceland the average is 8.9 years and in the United Kingdom 10.8 years.