Average Car Journeys in the UK

Ever wonder how long the typical car journey is in the UK? Or how many times a day Brits drive their cars? We've analysed data from the Department for Transport to find out. Here's what we found.

• Average Car Journey Distance
• Average Car Journey Time
• Average Number of Car Journeys per Day

Average Car Journey Distance UK

Using ata from 2024 (the latest-available when we updated this article in September 2025), the average car journey distance in the UK is 8.2 miles (up from 8.1 miles in our previous update). Trips where there are passengers in the car tend to be longer (8.9 miles) than trips where the driver is travelling alone (7.4 miles).

These results are not surprising. Quick trips to the shops are more likely to involve a driver only, reducing the trip lengths for drivers travelling alone. Similarly, those going on a long journey (say a UK-based holiday, long weekend away or day trip) are more likely to travel with friends or family than alone.

Note, those figures reflect 2024 data. Below we also display data for 2020. What's interesting here is that driving patterns are not that different now than they were during the pandemic.

Car Trip Lengths By Region

The region of the UK where people travel the longest distances on each car ride is the South West, where the average car ride was 8.8 miles long in 2024. At the other end of the spectrum, car rides were shortest in London, where the average car journey was 7.1 miles long in 2024.

Average Car Trip Journey Time in the UK

The average car journey time in the UK is 21.6 minutes. Trips using public transportation are around 1.6X to 2.4X as long, depending on your mode of transport. For example, trips using a local bus takes around 38.5 minutes (36.2 minutes in London), while the average London Underground trip takes 48.5 minutes. This data reflects a person's main mode of transportation and uses 2024 figures.

People spend 18 minutes walking on average when they complete a trip mostly on foot. Those heading on longer walks tend to stay out for 33.1 minutes.

Average Number of Car Journeys

In a year, the average person drives solo 168 times and travels in a car where there are multiple people (as either driver or passenger) 189 times. This means that the typical Brit takes a car ride alone where they're the driver every other day, and a car ride with other people slightly less frequently.

On average then, each person takes 1 car ride a day (roughly split evenly between them being a solo driver and driving with other people).

Number of Car Trips Per Person, Per Year (by region)

Drivers in the South West take the most car rides per year—in 2024, South West drivers got behind the wheel 419 times per year (1.15 times per day on average). In contrast, Londoners only drove 155 times per year (0.4 times per day, or around once every other day).