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Department for Transport · Licensed vehicles at the end of the quarter, UK (DfT VEH0101)

Licensed cars

2026 Q1 Final

34,627,414cars

Licensed cars was 34,627,414 cars in 2026 Q1, up 1.4% (470,212) from 34,157,202 in 2025 Q1.

▲ 1.4% · +470,212 against 2025 Q1 (same quarter previous year)

  1. Department for Transport count
  2. 2026 Q1
  3. published 15 July 2026
  4. VEH0101a
  5. row “2026 Q1 (end March)”
  6. column “Cars”
  7. cell value 34627.414

2026 Q1 is the highest figure in the published series: 34,627,414. Rule: highest of the 47 periods published here (2014 Q3 to 2026 Q1).

2014 Q3 to 2026 Q1

Licensed cars: 2014 Q3 to 2026 Q1CoalitionConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour010m20m30m20142016201820202022202420262014 Q3: 30,647,567 cars · published 15 July 20262014 Q4: 30,330,225 cars · published 15 July 20262015 Q1: 30,567,568 cars · published 15 July 20262015 Q2: 30,796,694 cars · published 15 July 20262015 Q3: 30,981,124 cars · published 15 July 20262015 Q4: 30,987,527 cars · published 15 July 20262016 Q1: 31,285,085 cars · published 15 July 20262016 Q2: 31,474,797 cars · published 15 July 20262016 Q3: 31,636,988 cars · published 15 July 20262016 Q4: 31,792,259 cars · published 15 July 20262017 Q1: 32,023,848 cars · published 15 July 20262017 Q2: 32,170,427 cars · published 15 July 20262017 Q3: 32,302,822 cars · published 15 July 20262017 Q4: 32,159,943 cars · published 15 July 20262018 Q1: 32,313,922 cars · published 15 July 20262018 Q2: 32,471,348 cars · published 15 July 20262018 Q3: 32,578,189 cars · published 15 July 20262018 Q4: 32,493,258 cars · published 15 July 20262019 Q1: 32,669,954 cars · published 15 July 20262019 Q2: 32,833,406 cars · published 15 July 20262019 Q3: 32,973,206 cars · published 15 July 20262019 Q4: 32,884,320 cars · published 15 July 20262020 Q1: 32,653,753 cars · published 15 July 20262020 Q2: 32,608,710 cars · published 15 July 20262020 Q3: 32,869,865 cars · published 15 July 20262020 Q4: 32,697,408 cars · published 15 July 20262021 Q1: 32,730,099 cars · published 15 July 20262021 Q2: 33,047,879 cars · published 15 July 20262021 Q3: 33,018,787 cars · published 15 July 20262021 Q4: 32,889,462 cars · published 15 July 20262022 Q1: 32,937,790 cars · published 15 July 20262022 Q2: 33,101,930 cars · published 15 July 20262022 Q3: 33,154,687 cars · published 15 July 20262022 Q4: 33,187,308 cars · published 15 July 20262023 Q1: 33,265,639 cars · published 15 July 20262023 Q2: 33,488,171 cars · published 15 July 20262023 Q3: 33,582,175 cars · published 15 July 20262023 Q4: 33,579,946 cars · published 15 July 20262024 Q1: 33,734,503 cars · published 15 July 20262024 Q2: 33,935,937 cars · published 15 July 20262024 Q3: 34,025,020 cars · published 15 July 20262024 Q4: 33,966,632 cars · published 15 July 20262025 Q1: 34,157,202 cars · published 15 July 20262025 Q2: 34,353,216 cars · published 15 July 20262025 Q3: 34,486,332 cars · published 15 July 20262025 Q4: 34,485,453 cars · published 15 July 20262026 Q1: 34,627,414 cars · published 15 July 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

Cars licensed with DVLA in the UK at the end of the quarter, from the vehicle register.

What this doesn’t measure

Cars declared off the road (SORN), unlicensed cars, or how much any of them are driven.

Important caveat

Counts come from the DVLA register and depend on keepers licensing vehicles; enforcement changes and the end of the paper tax disc in 2014 affected the count of unlicensed vehicles rather than this series. Before 2007 only end-December figures are published.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
Department for Transport
Publication
Licensed vehicles at the end of the quarter, UK (DfT VEH0101)
Release
2026 Q1, published 15 July 2026
Source file
veh0101.ods
File SHA-256
b2ac3d32e34e665d8916244654c3ea002232c06c7c3b3fef98ca634391361b85
Retrieved
3 September 2026
Sheet
VEH0101a_Lic
Table
VEH0101a
Row
2026 Q1 (end March)
Column
Cars
Cell value
34627.414 (× 1,000 = 34,627,414 cars)
Geography
United Kingdom
Unit
cars
API
/api/metrics/licensed_cars · /series · /vintages

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–33,935,9372024 Q234,627,4142026 Q1↑ 2.0%
Conservative 2019–202432,973,2062019 Q333,935,9372024 Q2↑ 2.9%
Conservative 2017–201932,023,8482017 Q132,973,2062019 Q3↑ 3.0%
Conservative 2015–201730,567,5682015 Q132,023,8482017 Q1↑ 4.8%

Full comparison with chart

Release
2026 Q1 · publication page
Last updated
15 July 2026
Next release expected
Not yet announced (estimated from the usual cadence)