Survey: Men and women equally clueless about car maintenance

Just under three quarters of South East drivers are not embarrassed that they don’t know more about how to look after their own car.

The poll revealed that over a third of adults from the South East avoid garages to resolve any car problems as they feel intimidated because of their lack of car knowledge. A further 69.75 per cent feel at risk of getting ripped-off by mechanics who blind them with jargon.

But the nationwide poll revealed that millions of men feel exactly the same and also feel susceptible to being conned as their understanding of cars is so poor.

It also emerged that one in ten men never bother to get their car serviced and a further 12 per cent only get their car serviced when they can afford to.

Over half claim they can manage the basics themselves but it emerged that after popping the bonnet South Eastern drivers fail to fathom essential car maintenance including how to correctly change the oil, recharge the car battery and check the engine coolant.

Staggeringly men and women from the South East are not confident in identifying what the warning lights on their dashboard represent – as the study found 43.21 per cent do not know the difference between an oil, brake and coolant warning light.

Unipart Automotive, which polled 2000 men and women across the UK, in conjunction with National Car Care Week, revealed that South East drivers can competently release the bonnet, locate the dipstick and check the oil on their cars.

Just under 20 per cent said an MOT and servicing was the same thing.

A third said the first thing they would do if they broke down was to ring their partner while over 20 per cent would ring their dad for help.

Stuart Sims of Unipart Automotive, says: “These results are worrying as they suggest many drivers are not checking the roadworthiness of their vehicles. The more advanced cars have become the less adept consumers have been at maintaining them.

‘’Modern vehicles are computerised and many motorists don’t tend to tinker with their cars like they did say twenty or thirty years ago.

‘’Having said that, every car has an engine, brakes and tyres so there are plenty of simple checks that need to be carried out to ensure cars are safe and run efficiently.

‘’It’s important both men and women know the basics when it comes to their cars and keep on top of regular servicing and repairs.”

Just under a quarter of those polled said they never give their car the ‘once over’ claiming they’re too busy, totally inept or the car is new so it doesn’t need it.

A quarter of South East drivers have driven with a chipped windscreen, a third regularly drive with no screen wash and 16.05 per cent have even driven knowing they had an expired or overdue service.