The study reveals that the average vehicle age has reached or exceeded 12 years, with almost half of respondents (48%) driving cars older than a decade.
Nevertheless, most drivers do not consider their vehicles "old"; 44% state their car is "no longer new, but not old either". This perception contrasts with official EU data, which indicates an average vehicle age of 15.5 years in Romania and 16.2 years in the Czech Republic.
In Romania, only 20% of respondents believe their vehicle is old, even though almost half of them (47%) drive cars older than 10 years.
The study, which surveyed over 1,700 members of the MOL loyalty programme in Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, and Slovenia, also found that nearly half of drivers in the region do not intend to change their car within the next five years. Worryingly, one in ten respondents (10%) reported they currently cannot afford even a minor repair, posing significant road safety risks.
Romanians stand out for their responsible approach: 58% of Romanian drivers feel they do everything they can for car maintenance, 18 percentage points above the average for respondents.
Furthermore, half of Romanian respondents choose premium fuel for at least four out of ten refuels.
