Written By Faryal Raza Bhatti, Marketing Manager, Heritage Car Insurance
Expert commentary by Mark Wilkinson, Managing Director. Heritage Car Insurance
Last updated: August 2026
North West is home to 115,269 classic cars. We analysed the latest DVLA data to find the exact postcode districts where the most historic vehicles are registered, and how many are still being driven.
At Heritage Car Insurance, we’ve spent more than 60 years insuring classic and specialist vehicles, so we know how much where you live shapes classic car ownership. To map it properly, we obtained a Freedom of Information response from the DVLA covering every vehicle in its historic tax class, cars 40 years or older, and broke North West down to postcode-district level.
The result is a clear ranking of the classic car hotspots across North West, showing not just where the most classics are kept, but whether they’re taxed and on the road or tucked away off it.
The top spot goes to PR4 (Preston), with 2,573 classic cars, ahead of PR3 (Preston) (2,138) and CH7 (Mold) (1,634).
Which postcode has the most classic cars in North West?
TQ12 (Newton Abbot) leads South West with 2,358 historic vehicles. Of those, 1,204 are taxed and on the road and 1,154 are declared off the road on a SORN. The full top 20 is below.
The top 20 classic car hotspots in North West
| Rank | Postcode district | Taxed | SORN | Total |
| 1 | PR4 (Preston) | 1,379 | 1,194 | 2,573 |
| 2 | PR3 (Preston) | 1,188 | 950 | 2,138 |
| 3 | CH7 (Mold) | 790 | 844 | 1,634 |
| 4 | SK17 (Buxton) | 805 | 759 | 1,564 |
| 5 | CW8 (Northwich) | 558 | 937 | 1,495 |
| 6 | CW5 (Nantwich) | 806 | 664 | 1,470 |
| 7 | BB7 (Clitheroe) | 748 | 584 | 1,332 |
| 8 | PR7 (Chorley) | 598 | 729 | 1,327 |
| 9 | CA7 (Wigton) | 624 | 650 | 1,274 |
| 10 | SK11 (Macclesfield) | 708 | 499 | 1,207 |
| 11 | PR8 | 575 | 621 | 1,196 |
| 12 | CH3 (Chester) | 664 | 512 | 1,176 |
| 13 | PR9 | 588 | 553 | 1,141 |
| 14 | SK10 (Macclesfield) | 601 | 521 | 1,122 |
| 15 | CW11 | 528 | 585 | 1,113 |
| 16 | LA2 | 547 | 510 | 1,057 |
| 17 | CW12 | 594 | 423 | 1,017 |
| 18 | L40 (Ormskirk) | 521 | 487 | 1,008 |
| 19 | PR2 | 521 | 487 | 1,008 |
| 20 | LA12 | 549 | 458 | 1,007 |
Source: DVLA (FOIR13488), Heritage Car Insurance analysis. Figures combine taxed and SORN vehicles per postcode district.
Are North West’s classic cars driven or stored?
Across North West, 49.3% of classic cars are taxed and on the road, while 50.7% are declared off the road on a SORN. That’s a higher off-road rate than the UK average of 47.6%, pointing to a strong local culture of restoration and long-term storage. Nationally, the split between taxed and SORN classics is almost exactly even, and it shifts noticeably from place to place.
