# The cars that don't leave

Eight in ten cars registered in Romania are more than 10 years old. For every new car sold here, three more arrive second-hand — mostly diesel, brought in from the West, where they would otherwise have been scrapped.

Text and graphics: Marius Comper. Sources: Romania's National Institute of Statistics, the 2Celsius Association, ACEA, Transport & Environment. Full interactive edition: https://mariuscomper.uk/masinile-care-nu-pleaca/en/

## 1. The convoy keeps aging even as new cars arrive

From 2008 to 2025, the share of cars over 10 years old rose from 45.2% to 80.3% of the whole registered fleet (INS, matrix TJX0923). The total fleet grew 16% between 2020 and 2024 alone, but for every new car, three more get registered second-hand, already old.

| Age band | 2008 | 2025 |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Up to 2 years | 15.4% | 3.4% |
| 2–5 years | 18.3% | 4.9% |
| 5–10 years | 21.1% | 11.3% |
| Over 10 years | 45.2% | 80.3% |

Since 2018, INS has split "over 10 years" into "10–20 years" (41.2% in 2025) and "over 20 years" (39.1% in 2025).

- 8.77 million passenger cars registered in Romania at the end of 2025 (INS).
- 16.5 years — average fleet age per the 2Celsius Association (2026), the EU's second-highest. ACEA put the same figure at 15.6 years at the end of 2024, three years above the EU average of 12.7; the gap is methodological.
- 3 to 1 — ratio of imported second-hand cars to new cars bought each year.

## 2. Why the flow doesn't stop

The flow runs strictly west to east, inside the EU's single market. Research cited by the 2Celsius Association shows cars exported this way emit, in real driving, 53% more NOx and use at least 9% more fuel than the cars they replace; 83% of exported diesels would fail Euro 6's CO₂ standard.

### Map: cars per public-transport vehicle, by county (2025, own calculation from TRN103B ÷ GOS112B)

The most lopsided counties: Teleorman (8,545 cars per transit vehicle), Giurgiu (7,882), Olt (7,358). Closest to big-city levels: Bucharest (558), Cluj (789) — the only two with tram or trolleybus networks large enough to matter.

### The air in the cities with the oldest fleet

At all 42 urban background stations INS monitors (matrix TMP1173), the latest available annual PM2.5 average exceeds the WHO's 5 µg/m³ guideline; the average across all 42 is 13.8 µg/m³. Most polluted: Sighetu Marmației (23.7 µg/m³), Galați (21.2), Codlea (20.8), Bistrița (18.7), Sfântu Gheorghe (17.4).

### Diesel, the majority fuel

Diesel reached 50.7% of the fleet in 2025 (4.45 million cars), up 22% between 2020 and 2024 alone (INS, matrix TRN103D). Electric cars grew more than eightfold but stay under 1% of the fleet (61,453 units).

> "Romania's rural and peri-urban population has no access to affordable public transport, and this situation remains largely unaddressed by central and local authorities." — 2Celsius Association, 2026

The Dieselgate scandal (2015) has left Romanian car owners with an estimated €1.4 billion in extra fuel costs since 2000 (T&E, cited by 2Celsius). Neither the scandal nor the bill has stopped the flow of diesel cars from the West.

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Full method and source list: see the interactive edition. Ediția în română: https://mariuscomper.uk/masinile-care-nu-pleaca/