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Used car mileage by age: what is normal in the UK

Across live UK stock the median works out at about 6,909 miles a year, close to the 7,100 miles reported by the DfT National Travel Survey, table NTS0901a, all cars, England, 2025 — and then stops being useful, because the rate is not constant and the spread is enormous. Across the range it falls from roughly 7,771 miles a year on the newest cars here to 5,350 on the oldest, but not smoothly: single years move against the trend, because the stock at any one age is a narrow slice of a wide distribution. And at any single age the middle half of cars is spread over tens of thousands of miles — at ten years old, from 51,126 to 88,000. That is why a mileage figure on its own tells you nothing without the age beside it.

What a car of each age has actually covered

Every row is the live stock on this site at that age. The quartile columns are the useful part: a quarter of cars sit below the first figure and a quarter above the second, so anything between them is ordinary.

AgeMedianPer yearMiddle half
2 years15,5427,77110,525 – 30,500
3 years27,5759,19214,813 – 40,653
4 years45,68011,42032,000 – 72,000
5 years45,2079,04131,521 – 63,535
6 years52,0788,68037,444 – 66,050
7 years56,0008,00040,199 – 70,092
8 years62,8197,85247,594 – 82,485
9 years67,8357,53748,270 – 85,299
10 years71,0217,10251,126 – 88,000
11 years76,0006,90956,254 – 92,931
12 years82,0006,83359,543 – 97,000
13 years82,7296,36462,425 – 107,366
14 years82,5005,89362,388 – 99,979
15 years96,3606,42473,448 – 122,000
16 years96,2846,01869,000 – 119,825
17 years100,0005,88276,669 – 125,000
18 years97,0005,38972,000 – 123,000
19 years103,6665,45678,925 – 130,500
20 years107,0005,35084,500 – 139,500

Median mileage of cars advertised on this site at each age, reference year 2026. Medians and quartiles, not averages, so a handful of extreme cars cannot move a row. Ages where we do not hold enough stock to measure are left out rather than shown thin.

National comparison: DfT National Travel Survey, table NTS0901a, all cars, England, 2025, from the DfT National Travel Survey 2025. That survey weights to England, so it is not a UK-wide figure, and it measures how far cars are driven rather than what they have on the clock. The medians above are cars advertised on this site.

Two things the national average hides

The rate falls with age. Newer cars do more miles a year and older ones do fewer, because a car tends to move down a household as it ages — from the main car to the second one to the occasional one. So an eighteen-year-old car showing 7,000 miles a year is running above the rate normal for its age, not below it. Applying one national figure to every age gets this backwards at both ends.

The spread is enormous. At most ages the middle half of cars covers a range of tens of thousands of miles, and that is before you look at the quarter above and the quarter below. Two cars of the same year can differ by more than the average car does in five years, and both be completely unremarkable. This is the real reason “is 80,000 too many?” cannot be answered as asked.

How to use this on a specific car

Divide the odometer by the age and compare that against the per-year column for its age. Close to the median is unremarkable. Well above it is a reason to look harder at the service history rather than to walk away, and well below it is a reason to ask what the car was doing instead of being driven — short cold journeys are harder on an engine than steady longer ones.

Then check the pattern rather than the number. The MOT history on GOV.UK shows the mileage recorded at every test, so you can see whether it accumulated steadily or jumped about, which is how a clocked car gives itself away. Mileage that falls between tests is the clearest signal there is.

For what the figure does to price rather than to condition, what your budget actually buys sets out the median age and mileage at each price band, and petrol or diesel shows how far apart the two fuels sit on mileage at the same age. The short answer to the question itself is in how many miles is too many.

Questions people ask

What is average mileage for a used car by age in the UK?
Across live UK forecourt stock the median works out at roughly 6,909 miles a year, close to the 7,100 miles reported by the DfT National Travel Survey for England, but that single figure hides two things worth knowing. The rate is not constant: it runs from about 7,771 miles a year on the newest cars in the table to 5,350 on the oldest, with the lowest single age at 5,350, and it does not fall smoothly — individual years move against the trend. And the spread at any one age is wide — at ten years old the middle half of cars runs from 51,126 to 88,000 miles, so two cars of the same age can differ by 36,874 and both be entirely ordinary.
Is 80,000 miles a lot for a used car?
It depends entirely on the age, which is why the number alone tells you nothing. On our own live stock, for an eight-year-old 80,000 miles is inside the ordinary middle half, above the median; for a twelve-year-old it is inside the ordinary middle half; and for an eighteen-year-old it is inside the ordinary middle half. The useful test is where the car sits against the table on this page: between the two quartile figures for its age is ordinary, whatever the number looks like.
Is low mileage always better on an older car?
No, and this is where the arithmetic misleads people. A car doing very few miles a year is often doing short, cold journeys, which is harder on an engine, an exhaust after-treatment system and a battery than steady longer runs. Very low mileage on an older car also raises the question of what it was doing instead of being driven. A full service history and a steady pattern of accumulation in the MOT record are worth more than a low number on its own.
How do I check a car’s mileage history?
The MOT record shows the mileage taken at every test, which is the cheapest way to see whether a car has accumulated steadily or jumped about. Mileage that falls between tests, or that jumps implausibly, is the classic sign of a clocked car. Note the record does not go back for ever: results start in 2005 for cars, and for tests done in Northern Ireland only from 2017, so on an older car an empty early record proves nothing.
Does high mileage mean a car is worn out?
Not by itself. A car that has covered a large distance on long runs with documented servicing is frequently in better mechanical condition than a low-mileage one used for short cold trips. What matters is the pattern of use and the evidence for it. Mileage moves the price more than it moves the condition, which is part of why a higher-mileage car with a good history can be the better buy.

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