Every car owner in the UK needs at least a baseline of car maintenance knowledge. It’s what helps you spot issues early on before they snowball into bigger problems – ones that could cost a lot to fix.
UK car dealer Jardine Motors has investigated the level of knowledge held by drivers in key cities from up and down the country. This was in an effort to discover which city has drivers struggling with their car maintenance knowledge and what areas excelled. Here’s a quick summary which shows which UK city has the lowest level of car maintenance knowledge.
Why is knowing about car maintenance so important?
Car maintenance questions for the basis of the ‘show me, tell me’ portion of a practical driving test – something all UK drivers need to pass. This is because it provides crucial information to drivers about running their cars and preventing maintenance issues.
In a real-world situation, it could be the difference between knowing when to get something fixed ASAP and getting stuck out on the road with a major issue. Checking brake fluid, engine coolant, changing a flat tyre, etc. These are all things a driver should really know how to do.
UK drivers and car maintenance
The city with drivers found to have the least knowledge of car maintenance was Edinburgh. On average, six out of every ten people (60%) questioned answered each question provided incorrectly.
In joint-second place were both Manchester and Birmingham, with 59% of respondents getting their answer to each question wrong.
On the other end of the scale, drivers from Belfast and Bristol scored the best out of all people surveyed. Belfast residents had 37% of drivers answering incorrectly, while Bristolians can in at the lowest level of incorrect answers with only 32% of people getting their answers wrong.
Cities ranked from their car maintenance knowledge (lowest to highest)
- Edinburgh (60%)
- Manchester (59%)
- Birmingham (59%)
- Cardiff (58%)
- Glasgow (57%)
- Newcastle (56%)
- Liverpool (55%)
- Sheffield (52%)
- London (49%)
- Nottingham (49%)
- Leeds (47%)
- Southampton (45%)
- Norwich (41%)
- Belfast (37%)
- Bristol (32%)
Other key findings about UK drivers
The most common questions which was answered incorrectly across the board were around identifying the correct warning light if there was a problem with the anti-lock brakes (ABS) in their vehicle. Four out of five (80%) of all people surveyed answered this wrong.
Changing a flat tyre (58%), checking brake fluid levels (63%), and checking their battery (64%) also proved to be areas of concern within car maintenance.
Getting your car serviced regularly can be a workaround for a lack of vehicle knowledge, putting your trust in someone else’s expertise. Just ensure you choose a garage you trust to perform these essential checks. Everything will also get noted down on your vehicle service history, which can help you if you choose to sell your vehicle later down the line.
