Behind the curve? Report reveals what age most Irish motorists learn to drive

This makes for an interesting read…

The good folk over at Carzone.ie have unveiled the findings of their fifth Motoring Report and it makes for some interesting reading if you’re a fan of all things car related. According to the report, 303,750 used cars changed hands in Ireland during the first three months of 2015, an increase of 11 per cent on the same period in 2014. The report is a bi-annual index which tracks trends in both the new and used car markets in Ireland. Data has been compiled using the 100 million searches carried out on Carzone.ie during the past year, vehicle transactions listed on Cartell.ie and an in-depth survey of over 1,404 motorists nationwide. Once again, the results reveal that German cars remain most popular among Irish car buyers, with the Volkswagen Golf topping the list as most searched for used car model on the market. The BMW 5 Series ranks in second place, followed by the BMW 3 Series, the Ford Focus and the Audi A4. However, the latest report has revealed that Volkswagen is now the most searched for marque, overtaking BMW following a significant two million VW searches on Carzone.ie on 2014 alone. The report shows that the average age of a car is between eight and nine years old. However searches carried out on Carzone.ie indicate that 2008 is still the most searched for model year. There is no change in the colour preference of Irish motorists when searching for a car, almost a quarter of buyers (24 per cent) choose black as their colour preference, followed by white, silver and blue. Turning to driver testing, the Carzone.ie Motoring Report revealed that 89 per cent of Irish drivers learned to drive by age of 24, though 43 per cent claim to have learned by the age of 18. The report shows that most learner drivers are taught by a qualified driving instructor (41 per cent), while parents are responsible for teaching 29 per cent. Interestingly, a considerable portion of almost 13 per cent said they taught themselves how to drive. So there you have it. To find out more about Carzone.ie’s findings, check out their motoring report over here.