Should I get a petrol, diesel or electric car?

Key takeaways

• Petrol cars are the cheapest to buy and insure, on average

• Electric cars are generally cheaper to run, maintain, and tax

• The sale of new petrol and diesel cars is due to be banned in the UK in 2030

Which type of car is cheapest to insure: petrol, diesel or electric?

Petrol cars are the cheapest to insure, on average. Electric vehicles (EVs) are the most expensive.

The table below shows the average cost of comprehensive car insurance for the three vehicle engine types.

Diesel and electric cars tend to have higher repair costs than petrol cars, which is why insurers charge more for them.

However, the fuel type of your vehicle is just one factor that influences your premiums. Other factors include your engine size, insurance group, job title, location, and age.

For example, a 60-69-year-old driving an electric car pays an average of £456^{^} for car insurance, while a 17-24-year-old driving a petrol car pays £1220^{^} .

Which type of car is cheapest to run and maintain: petrol, diesel or electric?

Electric cars are usually cheapest to run and maintain, especially if you charge them up overnight.

Data from 2023 suggested petrol cars cost £700 more to run a year than their EV equivalents. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), which conducted the research, calculated that over a car's lifetime an electric car will cost £10,000 less to run than a petrol equivalent.

When it comes to petrol vs diesel, diesel cars are usually slightly more expensive to fuel and maintain than petrol. They have higher repair costs and a tank of diesel costs more.

Diesel can be more efficient than petrol over long distances. But most UK car owners are driving fewer miles than they were a few years ago. Driving a lot of short trips in modern diesel cars can also cause issues with these cars' filters, requiring owners to spend money and time on repairs. For everyone but high-mileage drivers, petrol cars are therefore likely to be more cost-efficient to run than diesel cars.

📣 Did you know? People in the UK travelled 6% fewer miles in 2024 than they did in 2019, according to the National Travel Survey.

Which type of car is cheapest to buy: petrol, diesel or electric?

Petrol cars tend to be the cheapest to buy brand new, and electric or hybrid cars tend to be the most expensive. But of course there are huge variations between different makes and models.

The prices of electric vehicles have been falling in recent years. In 2020 the average EV was 50% more expensive than a petrol or diesel car with similar specifications. That price premium had fallen to 40% by 2023. When it comes to buying a used car, it is now possible to find EVs that are a similar price to their petrol or diesel counterparts.

Which type of car is cheapest to tax: petrol, diesel or electric?

🚩 The law changed in April 2025. Before this, electric cars were exempt from road tax.

How much car tax you pay depends on which year and month your car was first registered and how much it is worth. New cars are taxed based on their emissions for their first year of registration, which means EVs pay a significantly lower rate than petrol or diesel cars.

From the second year onwards, new electric, petrol and diesel cars pay the same standard rate of car tax, with an 'expensive car' supplement for vehicles worth over £40,000.

The table below shows how much car tax a vehicle with the average emissions for its engine type would have paid in 2025.

^{* Data sourced from the RAC Foundation ** Car tax rates for 2025}

Which type of car is best for the environment?

Electric cars are the greenest.

All combustion engine cars, including hybrids, emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NOx). Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, air pollution, smog, and respiratory illnesses.

Diesel cars emit less CO₂ per mile than petrol cars because diesel fuel is more energy-dense and engines are more efficient. However, this CO₂ advantage is offset by their much higher NOx and particulate emissions — pollutants that have serious local air quality and health impacts. Diesel car owners need to regularly top their car up with AdBlue to neutralise some of these pollutants.

Electric cars produce zero tailpipe emissions, so they don’t emit NOx, CO₂, or particulates while driving. However, their total environmental footprint depends on how the electricity is generated and the battery’s lifecycle.

What is the petrol and diesel car ban?

🚩 The ban only applies to new cars. You will still be able to buy second-hand petrol and diesel vehicles.

The UK government has committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars to help combat climate change. It plans to ban the sale of all new vehicles that are not zero-emission.

The date for this ban has been changed multiple times, but is currently set for 2030 for new petrol and diesel cars, and 2035 for hybrid cars.