Vehicles statistics
Data and statistics about the number of licensed vehicles and new vehicle registrations, including zero emission vehicles, and vehicle excise duty evasion.
Latest vehicle licensing statistics
Vehicle licensing data tables
Data are updated on an annual basis in May, with a subset of key tables published quarterly in July, September and December.
The tables index document provides an overview of the structure of the statistical tables published in this collection. The Transport Statistics Finder provides an overview of all statistical tables published by the department.
Changes to LGV and HGV definitions – “heavy” vans
Due to the additional weight of the powertrain (for example, the battery), typically, zero emission vehicles have an increased mass compared to their petrol and diesel equivalents. Despite this extra weight, 4.25 tonne zero emission vans are equivalent in function and appearance to large petrol and diesel vans (3.5 tonne). As such, we have updated all our statistics for the 2023 annual release to include zero emission vehicles between 3.5 tonne and 4.25 tonne in the LGV category, and not the HGV category they were in previously.
For more details on body type definitions used in these statistics, please see our notes and definitions. In order to identify this group of vehicles, our goods vehicles over 3.5 tonne data file, df_VEH0520, provides details about the current fleet of HGVs as well as zero emission LGVs in the 3.5 tonne to 4.25 tonne category.
Vehicle licensing statistics
Statistics on the number of licensed vehicles and new vehicle registrations derived from data held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), which administers vehicle registration and licensing records in the United Kingdom. The information is broken down by the type of vehicle, the characteristics of vehicles and a geographic breakdown.
Vehicle licensing information on current and previous vehicle licensing statistics are available.
Vehicle excise duty evasion statistics
Statistics on the number of unlicensed vehicles ‘in traffic’ and ‘in active stock’, as well as their characteristics and the potential lost revenues through vehicle excise duty evasion. Based on a roadside survey, which since 2011 has been carried out every 2 years.
Vehicle excise duty information on current and previous vehicle excise duty evasion statistics are available.
Change to the Vehicle excise duty evasion statistics: 2023
The Vehicle excise duty evasion statistics: 2023, published in December 2023, do not feature an estimate of the value of potential revenue loss from vehicle excise duty (VED) evasion.
As the guidance used to assign VED rates for vehicles has evolved and become more intricate, the challenge of reflecting this into the calculations and methodology used to estimate the value of VED evasion from a large sample of vehicles has greatly increased. As part of our on-going efforts to ensure quality in our statistics we have identified a risk that the existing methodology, used to estimate this, is no longer capable of producing an estimate we consider to be sufficiently robust and compliant with its designation as an accredited National Statistic.
We have continued to produce statistics on the estimated incidence of VED evasion as part of this release including the number of unlicensed vehicles ‘in traffic’ and ‘in active stock’, as well as their characteristics.
We are working with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to explore new methodologies to resume producing this value estimate for future publications. If you would like further information, please email us.
Accessibility of tables
The department is currently working to make our tables accessible for our users. The data tables for these statistics are now accessible.
We would welcome any feedback on the accessibility of our tables, please email vehicle statistics.
About the vehicle statistics data and reports
All of the statistics published are accredited official statistics. The vehicle statistics were assessed by the UK Statistics Authority and confirmed as accredited official statistics in April 2012.
Last updated 15 May 2024 + show all updates
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Vehicle licensing statistics for the year ending 2023 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics for July to September 2023 added.
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Vehicle excise duty excise duty evasion statistics for 2023 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics for April to June 2023 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics for January to March 2023 report added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics for the year 2022 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics report for July to September 2022 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, April to June 2022 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics for January to March 2022 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics latest annual report and new vehicles statistical dataset pages added.
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A note explaining the delay to the Vehicle Licensing Statistics 2021 publication, from 12 May to 24 May 2022, has been added to the page.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, July to September 2021 added.
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Vehicle excise duty evasion statistics for the year 2021 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, April to June 2021 added.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, January to March 2021 added to collection.
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Vehicle licensing statistics 2020 added to collection.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, July to September 2020 publication added to collection.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, April to June 2020 publication added to collection.
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Vehicle licensing statistics, January to March 2020 report added to collection page.
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Vehicle licensing statistics 2019 report added to collection page.
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Collection page updated for vehicle licensing statistics, July to September 2019.
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Vehicle excise duty evasion statistics 2019 report published.
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Updated collection page for 'Vehicle licensing statistics: April to June 2019'
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New release published - Vehicle licensing statistics: January to March 2019.
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New annual release published.
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New vehicle licensing quarterly release published for July to September 2018.
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New release published and page updated.
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New release published.
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New release published.
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New release published.
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New release published.
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New release published.
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New release published and text updated.
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New release published.
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Note about Table 0209 added to vehicle licensing section.
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New release published.
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New release published.
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New release published and update to page.
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First published.