Vehicle licensing statistics data files
Source: gov.uk (2025-10-15)

Detailed information about vehicles in the UK, which would be too large to use as structured tables. They are provided as simple CSV text files.

We welcome any feedback on the structure of our data files, their usability, or any suggestions for improvements; please contact vehicles statistics (#contact-us).

The Department for Transport is committed to continuously improving the quality and transparency of our outputs, in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. In line with this, we have recently concluded a planned review of the processes and methodologies used in the production of Vehicle licensing statistics data. The review sought to seek out and introduce further improvements and efficiencies in the coding technologies we use to produce our data and as part of that, we have identified several historical errors across the published data tables affecting different historical periods. These errors are the result of mistakes in past production processes that we have now identified, corrected and taken steps to eliminate going forward.

Most of the revisions to our published figures are small, typically changing values by less than 1% to 3%. The key revisions are:

Licensed Vehicles (2014 Q3 to 2016 Q3)

We found that some unlicensed vehicles during this period were mistakenly counted as licensed. This caused a slight overstatement, about 0.54% on average, in the number of licensed vehicles during this period.

3.5 - 4.25 tonnes Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEVs) Classification

Since 2023, ZEVs weighing between 3.5 and 4.25 tonnes have been classified as light goods vehicles (LGVs) instead of heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). We have now applied this change to earlier data and corrected an error in table VEH0150. As a result, the number of newly registered HGVs has been reduced by:

3.1% in 2024

2.3% in 2023

1.4% in 2022

Table VEH0156 (2018 to 2023)

Table VEH0156, which reports average CO₂ emissions for newly registered vehicles, has been updated for the years 2018 to 2023. Most changes are minor (under 3%), but the e-NEDC measure saw a larger correction, up to 15.8%, due to a calculation error. Other measures (WLTP and Reported) were less notable, except for April 2020 when COVID-19 led to very few new registrations which led to greater volatility in the resultant percentages.

Neither these specific revisions, nor any of the others introduced, have had a material impact on the statistics overall, the direction of trends nor the key messages that they previously conveyed.

Specific details of each revision made has been included in the relevant data table notes to ensure transparency and clarity. Users are advised to review these notes as part of their regular use of the data to ensure their analysis accounts for these changes accordingly.

If you have questions regarding any of these changes, please contact the Vehicle statistics team (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx).

Data tables containing aggregated information about vehicles in the UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/vehicle-licensing-statistics-data-tables) are also available.

How to use CSV files

CSV files can be used either as a spreadsheet (using Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet packages) or digitally using software packages and languages (for example, R or Python).

When using as a spreadsheet, there will be no formatting, but the file can still be explored like our publication tables. Due to their size, older software might not be able to open the entire file.

Download data files

Make and model by quarter

df_VEH0120_GB: Vehicles at the end of the quarter by licence status, body type, make, generic model and model: Great Britain (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0c52f159f887526bbda6/df_VEH0120_GB.csv) (CSV, 59.8 MB)

Scope: All registered vehicles in Great Britain; from 1994 Quarter 4 (end December)

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

df_VEH0120_UK: Vehicles at the end of the quarter by licence status, body type, make, generic model and model: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0c212adc28a81b4acff0/df_VEH0120_UK.csv) (CSV, 35.9 MB)

Scope: All registered vehicles in the United Kingdom; from 2014 Quarter 3 (end September)

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

df_VEH0160_GB: Vehicles registered for the first time by body type, make, generic model and model: Great Britain (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0a9be7b6794c076bbd9d/df_VEH0160_GB.csv) (CSV, 25.8 MB)

Scope: All vehicles registered for the first time in Great Britain; from 2001 Quarter 1 (January to March)

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

df_VEH0160_UK: Vehicles registered for the first time by body type, make, generic model and model: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed09f08427701993d5dfda/df_VEH0160_UK.csv) (CSV, 8.85 MB)

Scope: All vehicles registered for the first time in the United Kingdom; from 2014 Quarter 3 (July to September)

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

Make and model by age

In order to keep the datafile df_VEH0124 to a reasonable size, it has been split into 2 halves; 1 covering makes starting with A to M, and the other covering makes starting with N to Z.

df_VEH0124_AM: Vehicles at the end of the year by licence status, body type, make (A to M), generic model, model, year of first use and year of manufacture: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0befa8398380cb4acfdb/df_VEH0124_AM.csv) (CSV, 48.9 MB)

Scope: All licensed vehicles in the United Kingdom with Make starting with A to M; annually from 2014

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, YearFirstUsed, YearManufacture, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per year]

df_VEH0124_NZ: Vehicles at the end of the year by licence status, body type, make (N to Z), generic model, model, year of first use and year of manufacture: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0bbc82670806f9d5dfe2/df_VEH0124_NZ.csv) (CSV, 35.4 MB)

Scope: All licensed vehicles in the United Kingdom with Make starting with N to Z; annually from 2014

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, YearFirstUsed, YearManufacture, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per year]

Make and model by engine size

df_VEH0220: Vehicles at the end of the year by licence status, body type, make, generic model, model, fuel type and engine size: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed09a42adc28a81b4acfec/df_VEH0220.csv) (CSV, 38.5 MB)

Scope: All licensed vehicles in the United Kingdom; annually from 2014

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, EngineSizeSimple, EngineSizeDesc, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per year]

df_VEH0270: Vehicles registered for the first time by body type, make, generic model, model, fuel type and engine size: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed09d38427701993d5dfd9/df_VEH0270.csv) (CSV, 8.53 MB)

Scope: All vehicles registered for the first time in the United Kingdom; annually from 2015

Schema: BodyType, Make, GenModel, Model, Fuel, EngineSizeSimple, EngineSizeDesc, [number of vehicles; 1 column per year]

Vehicles by small geography

In order to keep these files to a reasonable size, small areas which have never had 5 or more vehicles in scope are excluded from these datasets, with those vehicles combined into the Miscellaneous row. This means a number of LSOAs will be missing from the file.

df_VEH0125: Vehicles at the end of the quarter by licence status, body type, keepership and lower super output area (LSOA): United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0b7fe7b6794c076bbd9e/df_VEH0125.csv) (CSV, 215 MB)

Scope: All licensed vehicles in the United Kingdom; Great Britain from 2009 Quarter 4 (end December); and United Kingdom from 2014 Quarter 3 (end September)

Schema: LSOA11CD, LSOA11NM, BodyType, Keepership, LicenceStatus, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

df_VEH0135: Licensed ultra low emission vehicles (ULEVs) at the end of the quarter by fuel type, keepership and lower super output area (LSOA): United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0ad7a8398380cb4acfda/df_VEH0135.csv) (CSV, 53.6 MB)

Scope: All licensed ultra low emission vehicles in the United Kingdom; from 2011 Quarter 4 (end December)

Schema: LSOA11CD, LSOA11NM, Fuel, Keepership, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

df_VEH0145: Licensed plug-in vehicles (PiVs) at the end of the quarter by fuel type, keepership and lower super output area (LSOA): United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68ed0a52e7b6794c076bbd9a/df_VEH0145.csv) (CSV, 52.2 MB)

Scope: All licensed plug-in vehicles in the United Kingdom; from 2011 Quarter 4 (end December)

Schema: LSOA11CD, LSOA11NM, Fuel, Keepership, [number of vehicles; 1 column per quarter]

Heavy goods vehicles

This datafile replaces the following withdrawn tables:
- VEH0520
- VEH0521
- VEH0522
- VEH0523
- VEH0524
- VEH0525
- VEH0506
df_VEH0520: Goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes registered at the end of the year by country, tax class, wheelplan, detailed body space type, maximum gross weight band, year of first use and fuel: United Kingdom (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/690b78b3b04a520c50518532/df_VEH0520.csv) (CSV, 27.2 MB)

Scope: All licensed heavy goods vehicles (HGVs), as well as all licensed zero emission light goods vehicles (LGVs) between 3.5 tonnes and 4.25 tonnes in the United Kingdom; annually; Great Britain from 1994; and United Kingdom from 2014

Schema: Geography, TaxClass, WheelPlan, WheelPlanDetailed, BodyTypeDetailed, RoadUsing, MaximumGrossWeightBand, YearFirstUsed, Fuel, [number of vehicles; 1 column per year]

Variables

The same variables are used across the data files to maintain consistency and ease of use.

Table 1: Metadata for general variables within VEH data files

Note 1: Model information is subject to change with subsequent updates but can reasonably be expected to be under 50 characters.

Specific variables

Table 2: Metadata for variables within df_VEH520

Symbols

Symbols can appear in nearly all datafile variables, including integer valued ones, and are the same as those found in publication tables (https://analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/symbols-in-tables-definitions-and-help/).

Table 3: Symbols used within VEH data files

Notes

The units used in data files are always a number of vehicles.

The majority of variables reported are recorded by DVLA for administrative purposes only and any errors can take time to be resolved, especially if they do not impact the taxation or keepership of the vehicle. Common inconsistencies include:
- model and fuel information
- fuel and engine size
Due to the encoding system used for makes and models, data can be missing for a variety of reasons. These include:
- imported vehicles not usually sold in the UK
- older vehicles manufactured before 1972
- rare versions of models
- new vehicles when the code lookup has not yet been updated
Engine sizes are often reported slightly lower than the colloquial value for a vehicle, for example a car with a 1.4 litre engine might have a reported engine size of 1398cc (cubic capacity).

Vehicles are allocated to a lower super output area (LSOA) according to the postcode of the registered keeper. This is the keeper’s address for privately-kept vehicles or the company’s registered address for company-kept vehicles. The address does not necessarily reflect where the vehicle is located. This is especially true for large fleets kept by companies involved with vehicle management, leasing or rentals. Significant changes in the number of vehicles from year to year can often occur when these companies change their registered address.

Other vehicles in BodyType refers to all vehicles not included in the other 5 categories, including rear diggers, lift trucks, rollers, ambulances, Hackney Carriages, 3 wheelers, tricycles and agricultural vehicles.

Miscellaneous in LSOA11CD refers to vehicles between keepers, registered at invalid postcodes, or within a lower super output area (LSOA) that has fewer than 5 individual vehicles in total.

Further information can be found in the notes and definitions (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicles-statistics-guidance).

Contact us

Vehicles statistics

Email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)