Global: What car maintenance do drivers personally perform?

Global: What car maintenance actions do drivers personally perform?

Like a flawlessly executed parallel park – or keeping your head in a situation that might otherwise induce road rage – changing a tyre is considered a fundamental skill for drivers. But in Germany, the US, Great Britain, and France most haven’t done it themselves. Just two in five German drivers (41%), a fifth of US drivers (21%), and less than one in five British (16%) or French drivers (14%) have ever changed a tyre themselves.

Beyond tyres, most drivers haven’t replaced their windshield washer fluid in Britain (39%), the US (34%), Germany (46%) or France (37%). It’s a similar story with windshield wipers (GB 32%; US 36%; Germany 45%; France 36%) and headlights (GB 19%; US 21%; Germany 17%; France 12%).

Britons are especially likely to have never changed their car battery (15%) compared to Americans (27%), French drivers (21%) and Germans (25%), and it’s the same deal with changing their oil (GB: 15%; US 28%; Germany 23%; France 18%). Germans are most likely to have changed a fuse (20%), compared to 14% of both American and British drivers and 15% of French drivers. When it comes to air filters, just one in nine Britons have ever switched them out personally (11%) compared to a quarter of US drivers (26%), 16% of French drivers and 17% of Germans. Britons are, however most likely to have replaced their car mirror (11% vs. 6% of US drivers, 6% of French drivers and 9% of Germans).

Methodology

YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Data is from July 2021 datasets. Profiles data is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.

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