As more Czechs rely on driving, their cars are getting older
Czechia hosts the fourth highest number of cars per capita, according to Eurostat — however, the country also has the second oldest car fleet. As Czechs have gotten increasingly reliant on personal cars over the past 15 years, those vehicles have also gotten older and older.
The Ministry of Transport recently reported that over 6.5 million passenger cars were registered in Czechia at the end of last year, equating to three cars for every four adults in the country. More than 60% of Czechs also said in the 2021 census that they drive a personal car to get to work, representing a substantial jump from the census ten years ago.
As expected, Prague boasts the lowest share of car journeys in the country, credited to its extensive public transportation network. Driving is far more common in other regions of Czechia — particularly the western and southern parts, and most of all in the Karlovy Vary region — where up to 75% of people may drive to work each day.
The average car in Czechia was over 16 years old last year — double that of Luxembourg in 2023, which has the youngest cars in the EU on average — and 14 years old in 2014. Although people are slowly replacing their passenger cars each year, the Ministry of Transport found that the number of new cars registered is comparable to the number of cars deregistered. At this rate, it would take 29 years to replace all of them.
