Modern cars ‘are too wide for rural roads’

COUNTRY road scrapes are on the rise because modern cars are becoming too wide, according to insurers.

The UK’S best selling cars are getting broader and have increased in width by 17 per cent over the last 20 years, Direct Line research has found.

It means narrow country roads are becoming more difficult to navigate, as drivers are struggling to squeeze past each other without scraping or going off the side of the road. The insurer compared the 20 top selling vehicles of 2018 and the top 20 most sold vehicles from 1998.

Among 2018’s top 20 most popular vehicles were the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus, Mini Cooper and Fiat 500, with an average width totalling 1.94m (6ft 4in) excluding wing mirrors.

The average width of the most popular vehicles in 1998 (including the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Cavalier, Rover 214 and the Nissan Micra) came in at 1.66m (5ft 5in), meaning they were 28cm (11in) narrower. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: “There’s no doubt that we have noticed that on narrower roads we are getting more cars that hit the curb, and this is adding to breakdown claims. In the Seventies two Minis would easily fit down a country lane, but if you put two modern-style Minis down there now, they won’t fit.

Rob Miles, director of car insurance at Direct Line, said: “The research shows that car shapes have changed dramatically over the past 20 years, though roads remain the same width.”