The classic car dark figure
06/04/2016
When talking about the number of classic cars, the official figures from the authorities are usually used as a basis first. In Germany, for example , 343,958 vehicles with H license plates were registered as of January 1, 2016 . However, this is not the full number of existing old cars (and motorcycles, tractors, trucks/buses, etc.). Because there is a number of unreported cases.
Many classic cars are either not in a condition that would allow them to be registered, or they are in collections or museums. Some owners only use day plates, dealer plates or "red numbers" for occasional trips.
Classic car experts estimate the number of unreported cases to be quite high; according to the VDA in Germany, for example, it can be assumed that there are around twice as many classic cars as the H registration plate statistics indicate. We would therefore be dealing with around 700,000 classic cars. Not bad!
