Donegal has Ireland’s most active motor market, with almost one in three drivers buying their car brand new according to a recent report.
The new research, from Carzone’s 2026 Motoring report, showed that Donegal has been buying and changing cars much more often than other parts of Ireland.
Nearly three quarters of drivers saying that owning a car was absolutely essential due to a lack of infrastructure and public transport in the region.
This was much higher than urban areas such as Dublin and Kildare, where fewer than half of motorists said the same.
Conor Faughan, an independent motoring expert for Carzone, described Donegal as a ‘car dependant county’:
