It’s becoming increasingly common to see newer cars on UK roads, as prices for newer cars get lower and our technological expectations for cars rise. According to data released by Uswitch, this has had a significant impact on some 80s family drives which are still on our roads, placing a few of our favourite classics into Uswitch’s so-called ‘endangered’ category.

A few classic favourites on the list include the Hyundai Pony, Vauxhall Belmont, and Austin Maestro, all of which show a 99.97% decline in the number on UK roads since 1995. We’ll take a look below at the three car makes which scored at the top of the table.

The top three cars on the endangered list:

The top three most endangered vehicles in the Uswitch data are penned as the Austin Montego, the Fiat Regata and the Lada Samara, all of which have seen a huge 99.98% drop on UK roads since 1995. Considering the popularity of each vehicle in their heyday, this might be a surprising statistic. For some classic car enthusiasts, however, their rarity makes these classics worth protecting all the more!

Austin Montego:

A massively popular car in the 80s and 90s, the Montego was produced by British Leyland from 1984 until 1988, and was then continued by Rover Group until 1995. Over 200,000 models were licensed in the UK in 1995 alone! In 2020, however, only 34 Montegos were recorded on the road, making this car a top contender for the endangered list. So, how did the Montego go from being a popular family vehicle to an almost extinct classic? The massive decline in numbers could be down to the fact that all Montego models produced before 1989 need leaded petrol to run. However, as many classic owners are already aware, leaded fuel stopped being sold in 1999 because of the excessive toxic fumes it produced. And as a result, a number of popular cars like the Montego fell with it.

Fiat Regata:

With only 14,549 Regatas registered on the road in 1995, this car wasn’t as popular as the Montego – although that doesn’t make it any less loved as the 80s family car it was. Produced by Fiat between 1983 to 1990, there were almost 15,000 Regatas on the road by 1995. However, there are only 3 on the roads according to last year’s UK data, making it one of the rarest classics in Britain today.

Lada Samara:

A few classic car enthusiasts might remember this Eastern European car on the roads back in the 90s, with over 45,000 being licensed in the UK in 1995 alone. Produced by Soviet manufacturer AvtoVAZ, the Lada Samara stopped being sold in the UK in 1997, although production continued in Russia until 2013. In 2020, there were only 11 Samaras licensed in the UK; a massive drop from the numbers we used to see on our roads in the 90s.

The list doesn’t end with these three models – Uswitch have released a table of the 20 most endangered cars in the UK today:

Do you have a classic you want to protect? To speak with an expert about your vehicle insurance needs, call a member of the Heritage team on 0121 248 9229.