The cheapest and most expensive universities in England to take your car

If you're thinking of taking your car to university then you might want to check out where the cost of keeping a car is more than half of your maintenance loan

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Student life

Seeta Bhardwa

Editor, THE Student

September 13 2017

The cheapest places to own a car at university

Owning a car is pretty pricey full stop, but even more so if you are at university and are paying for it through your student loan. If you are thinking of taking your car to university in England, take a look at which universities are the cheapest and which are the most expensive for taking and keeping your car.

This is based on analysis into parking, petrol and insurance costs in the largest cities in the UK, based on this list.

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The most expensive universities for taking your car

University	Percentage of student loan spent on parking	Percentage of student loan spent on petrol	Percentage of student loan spent on insurance	Percentage of student loan spent on overall costs (rounded to nearest whole number)
Imperial College London	41 per cent	6.55 per cent	27 per cent	75 per cent
University of Oxford	45 per cent	8.47 per cent	21 per cent	74 per cent
Sheffield Hallam University	29 per cent	8.40 per cent	29 per cent	67 per cent
University of Cambridge	53 per cent	8.47 per cent	22 per cent	64 per cent
Norwich University of the Arts	32 per cent	8.33 per cent	22 per cent	62 per cent

Imperial College London is the most expensive university for taking your car, despite the fact that students in London receive higher maintenance loans than students in the rest of the UK. Universities in Oxford, Sheffield, Cambridge and Norwich make up the rest of the top five.

The cheapest universities for taking your car

University	Percentage of student loan spent on parking	Percentage of student loan spent on petrol	Percentage of student loan spent on insurance	Percentage of student loan spent on overall costs (rounded to nearest whole number)
Southampton Solent University	9 per cent	8.47 per cent	22 per cent	40 per cent
University of Sussex	10 per cent	8.40 per cent	23 per cent	41 per cent
University of Brighton	10 per cent	8.47 per cent	23 per cent	41 per cent
University of Exeter	14 per cent	8.40 per cent	19 per cent	42 per cent
University of Leicester	9 per cent	8.40 per cent	25 per cent	42 per cent

The five cheapest universities are either in the South or the Midlands, with Southampton Solent University being the cheapest university to own a car.

The research was carried out by Car Parts 4 Less, an online retailer of car parts, accessories and tools.