A new report that has come out of Northern Ireland has revealed that most drivers don’t know how to perform basic maintenance on their cars. Most drivers don’t how to check the oil or even change a tyre.
The survey has been conducted by Open + Direct, a car insurance retailer. The survey also highlighted that women are more likely not know how to perform basic maintenance and often score very poorly when asked simple questions about car maintenance on the driving test.
Nearly 30% of people surveyed admitted that they could not do any tasks that they were asked about. This figure was 8% for men but nearly 5 times higher for women. Only half of the women surveyed knew how to check the oil level of their car and six in every 10 women didn’t know how to change a flat tyre. Nearly 80% did not know how to recharge a battery that has become flat. However, nearly a quarter of women did claim they knew how to check the pressure of the tyres.
Over 1000 adults were surveyed and they were all aged between 16 and 65 years old. Director of operations at the insurer is Colin McEvoy and he has commented about the statistics, “This is quite worrying that as it is very important to know how to keep your car in a condition that is safe to be on the road.
Passing a driving test is more than about just learning how to drive but should involve people learning how to do basic maintenance. We would strongly urge all drivers to make sure they know how to perform these basic tasks.”
