Abstract
This article is based on a study which deals with two partly related elements, namely the changes in the structure of the Dutch car park in the period 1975- 1989 and the differences between car cost estimates and "real" car expenditure. With regard to the structure of the car park it is concluded that the share of old car (6 years and more) has been increasing rapidly, mainly due to the technological improvement of cars. The car park has been stratified by the age, weight and fuel type of the car. For each car category the estimated costs are confronted with the real expend- iture. The main conclusion from the study is that real car expenditure is on average 20- 30 percent less than the car cost estimates.