More than 80,000 vehicles sent to scrappers

A total of 80,445 cars and vans were scrapped for refunds last year in Norway. Vehicle owners in Aust-Agder sent the most vehicles to the scrappers in proportion to car stocks, while the fewest were junked in Finnmark.

Vehicle owners from Aust-Agder brought in 2,929 vehicles, corresponding to five per cent of car and van stocks. In Finnmark, only 823 cars and vans were scrapped, equivalent to 2.9 per cent of stocks. The national average was four per cent.

Altogether 76,221 cars were scrapped for a refund last year. This corresponded to 4.3 per cent of stocks, against 2.4 per cent the year before. The number of scrapped vans was 4,224, accounting for two per cent of stocks, against 1.5 per cent in 1997.

Ladas top the list
Calculated as a percentage of stocks, Ladas accounted for the largest share of cars scrapped in 1998, with 17.3 per cent. Fiat came in second, with 15.9 per cent. By comparison, Mercedes accounted for only 1.2 per cent of stocks.

The average age of scrapped vehicles has changed little in recent years. In 1998 it was 17.3 years for cars and 14.2 for vans. Among cars, Mercedes were still the oldest at scrapping, at 21.1 years. Skodas had the shortest average age, with 12.8 years. Among vans, Volvos had the longest lifetime, 18.3 years.

Cars stocks remain old
The average age of a car in Norway has dropped from 10.4 years in 1995 to 9.9 years at the end of 1998. From 1997 to 1998 the average age dropped by 0.1 year. The decline is due to high scrapping in both 1996 and 1998, and relatively high sales of new cars over the past three years. Although the average age of vans went down from 7.4 to 7.3 years during the same period, Norway still has one of the oldest car fleets in Europe.
br>Cars in Oslo had the lowest average age, with 8.3 years. The highest was in Oppland, with 11.3 years. The age of vans was also the lowest in Oslo, with 5.6 years, and highest in Oppland and Nord-Trøndelag, with nine years.

New Statistics
Vehicles discarded against refund, 1998.
The statistics are published in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics and Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Transport and Communications Statistics. Regional figures will be published in (NOS) Regional Statistics. For more information contact: Asbjorn.Willy.Wethal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 15, or Jan.Monsrud@ssb.no, tel.+47 62 88 54 07.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 17, 1999