Britons are expected to splash out £108bn on cars during 2017
Britons will spend £108bn on cars this year, according to research by American Express.
The poll found that 19 per cent of adults will spend an average of £11,094 buying a brand new or second hand car.
Londoners spend the most on cars at £14,557 each, followed by the East Midlands (£13,831) and Scotland (£13,191). Welsh and Northern Irish motorists, in contrast, spend an order of magnitude less, at £9,282 and £8,842 respectively.
An average of £1,492 per car this year will be spent on on running costs.
Running costs take pride of place in terms of the most important considerations when it comes to deciding whether to purchase cars. Nearly seven in ten (68 per cent) of those surveyed cite this as the main consideration ahead of efficiency (53 per cent) and comfort (46 per cent).
American Express Director, Jenny Cheung, said:
For many, owning a car means freedom. While this freedom can come at a cost, there are some savvy ways to manage the finances linked to buying and running a car.
According to car insurance company, The AA, a new car will lose some 40 per cent of its value by the end of the first year, although this can be reduced to 10 per cent depending on which car is purchased. The AA advises that drivers undertaking journeys totalling 10,000 miles a year in an average car would lose around 60% of the initial value by the end of its third year.