More cars scrapped, Dutch car fleet still older

Nearly one quarter more cars were scrapped in the Netherlands in 2009 than in 2008. Although older cars were traded in for newer ones, the total car fleet in the Netherlands still grew older. The total number of cars with a Dutch registration number was slightly higher in 2009 than one year previously.

More 10-20 year-old cars in particular scrapped

Around 247 thousand cars were scrapped in the Netherlands last year. This is just over 48 thousand more than in 2008. On 29 May 2009 the government introduced a scrapping regulation which offered car owners a subsidy to trade in old cars for newer cleaner models. The Hague and Amsterdam operated their own scrapping schemes alongside this national regulation.

In 2009, 27 percent  more cars aged between 10 and 20 years were scrapped than in 2008. The increase was much smaller for cars older than 20 years, while the number of cars younger than 10 years scrapped decreased slightly

Cars scrapped, by age

Total car fleet aged further

The substantial increase in the number of cars scrapped did not result in a rejuvenation of the Dutch car fleet. The average age of a car with a Dutch registration even rose slightly. On 1 January 2009 it was 8.4 years, one year later it was 8.6 years. The overall care fleet has been ageing steadily since 2000.

Average age of scrapped cars with a Dutch registration, 1 January

Total number of cars slightly up

More than 7.6 million cars were registered in the Netherlands on  1 January 2010. This is 80 thousand more than in 2008. Although sales of new cars were substantially down in 2009 than in 2008, they still amounted to some 390 thousand. In addition, 68 thousand used cars came onto Dutch roads as a result of imports, and another 51 thousand came out of stocks of car traders. On the other hand, 430 thousand cars went out of circulation as a result of scrapping and exports of used cars. 

Increase and decrease in total Dutch car fleet, 1 January 2009--1 January 2010

Hermine Molnár