How car owners in the UK handle maintenance: A look by brand and age
YouGov Profiles data reveals that car owners in the Britain show varied levels of involvement in personal vehicle maintenance, with habits differing by brand and age. This article explores how maintenance habits compare among owners of some of the biggest car brands in Britain and across different age groups.
Car Maintenance Habits by Brand
Many UK car owners perform various types of maintenance activities but the degree to which each activity is performed can vary by the make of the car they own. Interior cleaning is the most popular DIY task, with 47% of all owners managing it personally. Volkswagen and Vauxhall/Opel (56% each) drivers lead in this category. A similar share of all car owners in Britain also clean the exteriors of their own cars (45%), peaking at 59% among Volkswagen drivers.
Routine maintenance tasks like windshield washer fluid replacement are also widely done by owners, with 43% participating. Vauxhall/Opel (50%), Volkswagen (50%) and Toyota (49%) owners are among the most likely to handle this task. Windshield wiper replacement is most common among Nissan drivers, with 45% taking charge of the task, well above the overall average of 36%.
Tyre maintenance is performed by 18% of all owners, with Volkswagen drivers slightly more active at 20%. About 17% of all Brits carry out car battery replacements and oil changes. Specialized tasks like air filter replacement (13%), fuse changes (12%), and spark plug replacement (10%) are performed by fewer owners. Toyota drivers show the lowest involvement in spark plug replacement at just 3%.
Some brands’ owners are significantly less involved in maintenance. Peugeot drivers report the highest non-participation rate, with 40% indicating no involvement in any maintenance tasks. On the other hand, Vauxhall/Opel drivers are the most engaged, with only 21% opting out of all maintenance activities. These insights provide automotive brands and service providers with valuable opportunities to align offerings with owner behavior, tailoring services to meet brand-specific expectations.
Car Maintenance by Age Group
Maintenance habits also differ significantly across age groups, with a seemingly counterintuitive statistical pattern. Older drivers (those aged over 55) are most likely to say they don’t perform any DIY car maintenance (33%) compared to just a quarter of middle aged (35-54) and younger (18-34) car owners, but they over-index on most of listed tasks.
This means that older consumers who do undertake these activities undertake a wider range of them. They are markedly likelier than younger drivers to perform interior or exterior cleaning jobs, and also over-index on wind-shield fluid replacement (50% vs 43% of all Brits).
Middle-aged drivers take the lead on majority of the other tasks. For instance, 23% of them say they personally manage headlight replacements compared to only 15% of the older cohort and 17% of the younger one. Oil change is the one activity that the youngest lot of drivers are most likely to perform, with a quarter of them (24%) indicating so compared to 20% of middle-aged and just 12% of older drivers.
For brands offering third party car-maintenance services, insights like these can help tailor their service offerings and marketing communications to specifically suit certain demographics.
Methodology: YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data is nationally representative and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.
Image Credit: Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko