UK Vehicle Transport

UK Car Transport & Vehicle Market Statistics 2026

UK Vehicle Market Data

How big is the UK vehicle market?

Department for Transport vehicle licensing statistics report 42.3 million licensed vehicles in the UK at the end of 2025. Of the road-using vehicle stock, about 34.5 million were cars. During 2025, 2.617 million vehicles were registered for the first time, including 2.071 million cars.

Source: Department for Transport — Vehicle licensing statistics 2025.

Used cars drive a huge share of vehicle movement

SMMT reported 7,807,872 used car transactions in 2025, up 2.2% year on year. That volume matters for vehicle transport because many second-hand purchases involve movement between private sellers, dealers, auctions and buyers in different parts of the country.

Battery-electric used-car transactions also grew strongly in 2025, reaching 274,815 units. Electrified used cars collectively accounted for almost one in ten used-car purchases.

Source: SMMT — 2025 used car market.

Why this matters for vehicle transport

Not every vehicle purchase creates a transport booking, but a large and active used-car market creates recurring movement between regions. Transport demand is particularly relevant when a vehicle is bought remotely, cannot be driven, has no MOT or tax, comes from an auction site, or needs specialist handling.

MotorMova covers these use cases through auction collection, dealer vehicle transport, non-runner transport and eBay vehicle collection.

Zero-emission vehicles are becoming a larger part of the fleet

At the end of 2025, the UK had just over 2.0 million licensed zero-emission vehicles, including about 1.74 million zero-emission cars. As electric vehicles become more common in both new and used markets, transporters increasingly need to account for vehicle weight, state of charge, recovery requirements and safe loading procedures.

Source: Department for Transport — UK vehicle licensing 2025.

About these figures

This page uses external industry and government data. It does not present these numbers as MotorMova customer volumes, booking volumes or completed transport jobs. MotorMova marketplace statistics will only be published once there is enough genuine platform activity to make them meaningful.

DVSA also publishes regularly updated MOT testing data, which can help explain the scale of the wider UK vehicle maintenance and compliance market. See MOT testing data for Great Britain.

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