Thinking of relocating to get more out of your classic car, or looking for a new road trip destination? In-depth analysis from automotive art connoisseurs, Limited100, investigates the best countries in Europe to buy, own, maintain and enjoy classic cars. Here they are ranked by road safety, affordability and availability of classic cars, along with the quality and fun factor of the countries’ roads.
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Highlights:
- In 1st place – Germany – despite high classic car ownership costs, this nation came out on top thanks to its combination of high driving enjoyment and excellent road safety.
- In 3rd place – despite very high running costs, Switzerland’s road quality and safety record helped it reach a podium position.
- High scorers from Eastern and Central Europe were Montenegro (5th) and Slovenia (7th), thanks to their combination of high affordability and driving enjoyment.
- Luxembourg is the most expensive place in Europe to run a classic car, followed by Denmark, Norway, then Switzerland (4th).
- Poland is the cheapest place in Europe to run and maintain a classic car, followed by Hungary, Slovakia, then Czechia (4th).
- Norway is the safest place in Europe for driving, with 20 road traffic deaths per million inhabitants.
- Bulgaria is the most dangerous place in Europe for driving, with 84 road traffic deaths per million inhabitants.
- In terms of driving fun, scenery and road quality, Switzerland is the best country in Europe, followed by Italy then Germany.
- Caveat 1: Out of 44 European countries, there was complete data available for 29. Omitted countries include Andorra, Cyprus, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, North Macedonia, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Turkey, and finally The Vatican.
- Caveat 2: Many countries achieved low rankings due to poor road safety, despite excellent ownership and driving enjoyment prospects. Ultimately it comes down to how much importance one places on road safety; for this study we gave an equal weighting to each of the three metrics.
Simon Wright, founder of Limited100, added: "What I found interesting about this data is its variance; at one end of the spectrum you have Romania, which has a poor road safety record but ranks high for value for money and driving fun, whereas at the other end you have Denmark and Luxembourg with their excellent road safety, but low levels of value for money and driving enjoyment. Germany and Spain achieved the top positions thanks to a strong combination of all three road safety/value for money/driving fun metrics."
Data sources:
- Road safety was ranked using European Transport Safety Council data from Ranking EU Progress on Road Safety, June 2024 (Page 56).
- Affordability and availability of classic cars data was based on publicly available data: taxes, insurance, fuel prices, labour costs, parts availability and classic car market availability, along with insights from Credence Research’s Europe Classic Cars Market report.
- Driving enjoyment was ranked using data amalgamated from automotive associations, road trip travel guides and blogs, tourist board recommendations, motorist forums and car enthusiast feedback.
- Request raw data from simon.wright@limited100.co.uk (Founder, Limited100)
About Limited100:
Luxury automotive artwork. Handcrafted in Nottingham. Delivered worldwide.
With customers throughout the UK, USA, Australia and beyond, Limited100 is the world’s premier destination for exclusive, handcrafted automotive wall art. We offer car enthusiasts a choice of limited edition prints from a group of award-winning photographers, celebrating everything from vintage racers, to classic supercars and modern hypercars. Love cars? Make your house your home at Limited100.co.uk
Contact Limited100:
Simon Wright, Founder:
+44 (0)7511 954 995
https://www.instagram.com/limited100hq/