Outside the big cities, the car is still the only real way to get around, and it has become too expensive to replace. For the first wave of the Nabel Mobility Tracker, we interviewed 258 people who travel by car or public transport every week, all of them in a voice interview with the Nabel agent.
TRACKER
Can’t Afford It, Can’t Do Without It Transport & automotive · France
Sept 2026 fieldwork · 258 respondents · 13 min median interview
They need the car, and it costs too much.
82%
find owning a car too expensive, 42% much too expensive. So do 75% of those who call their travel budget perfectly manageable.
65%
won’t change cars in the next two years, 44% certainly not. 59% of their main cars were bought second-hand.
53%
rule out an electric car next time, first because of the price, then charging; range only comes third. All 20 EV drivers we spoke to would choose electric again.
41%
trust none of the twelve carmakers and operators we named. SNCF is both the most trusted (21%) and the most distrusted (14%).
Rising fuel prices in France are a disaster. The price is far too high. It’s a disgrace. It’s a second tax, and far too heavy.
Woman, 55+, lives in a big city in northern France, talking to the Nabel agent · quote translated from French, audio shortened
Methodology
Mainland France · 11–16 Sept 2026
258
respondents who make at least one motorised trip a week and have a say in their household’s transport choices
202
complete voice interviews with the Nabel agent, plus 56 partial ones kept question by question
13 min
median length of a complete interview
4 days
of fieldwork, respondents recruited from the PureSpectrum panel
Why they keep the old car, and what would make them go electric
The full report goes further. 29 pages, in French:
- 4 findings on car dependence, running costs, the switch to electric and trust in brands and data
- Three respondents’ stories, and their own words transcribed word for word
- 3 opportunities for carmakers and dealers, charging providers and transport operators
- The interview guide and the full methodology