Motoring

Number of cars and parking spaces in the UK, as well as payment method statistics and costs

Cars and Parking

There are 41.2 million licensed vehicles (33.6 million cars) on the UK’s roads (end 2023).
At the end of December 2023, there were more than 1,015,000 licensed zero emission vehicles on the road, representing 2.5% of all vehicles.
52% of motorists consider the lack of spaces to be the most aggravating aspect of parking.
There's been an increase in dissatisfaction with using an app or website to find how many spaces are available at the parking destination (up two points, to 11%).

Payments (pre-pandemic)

75% of motorists prefer to use cash and pay and display machines to pay for parking
23% are happy to use a credit or debit card to pay for parking
28% of motorists distrust new payment technology
13% say they find apps and websites too confusing
12% worry that parking will cost more than necessary if they used a less traditional method

Payments (Current)

48% of motorists prefer contactless or card payments to using cash when paying for parking.
Card payments have almost doubled since 2019.
Over a third (37%) of the population support the introduction of a system that allows them to pay for parking with the parking app of their choice – like the National Parking Platform.

Cost

Cost isn't the main driver of dissatisfaction when looking for parking, but rather a lack of spaces.

Car parks and on-street spaces

There are an estimated 17,000 – 20,000 car parks in the UK (as of 2015).
Over 4,300 car parks have received the Park Mark award - approximately 1 in 4 of all car parks.

Technology