Admiral survey reveals car maintenance gender divide

Admiral commissioned YouGov to survey 3,120 drivers* for its Admiral Survey of UK Motorists and found that around one in six (17%) women don’t know how to change a wheel, check their oil level, their tyre pressure, their tyre tread depths or their coolant levels. That compares to just 1 in 25 men (4%). Men are more than twice as likely as women to know how to change a wheel and one and a half times as likely to know how to check their tyre tread depths.

The full comparison of what car maintenance tasks men and women know how to do is as follows:

Men
Change a wheel: 78%
Check oil level: 91%
Check tyre pressure: 91%
Check tyre tread depths: 83%
Check coolant level: 85%
None of these: 4%

Women
Change a wheel: 34%
Check oil level: 76%
Check tyre pressure: 67%
Check tyre tread depths: 54%
Check coolant level: 59%
None of these: 17%

Women at both ends of the age scale appear to have the least knowledge, whereas for men, knowledge tends to increase the older they get. Almost a quarter (24%) of women aged 18-24 don’t know how to carry out any of the above car maintenance tasks compared to 10% of men the same age. A fifth of women aged 55 and over lack simple car maintenance knowledge compared to just 1% of men the same age.

Admiral car insurancemanaging director, Sue Longthorn, commented, "Making sure your car is in a roadworthy condition is vital to it performing as it should do. It’s worrying to see that such a number of women, particularly young women, don’t know how to carry out simple and essential checks on their vehicles. Tyres without the required level of tread are not only illegal, but also very dangerous, particularly as we move into autumn with leaves falling onto roads."

About Admiral

Admiral, (a trading name of EUI Ltd) launched in 1993, and is part of Admiral Group plc. It was set up to target those motorists who traditionally pay higher than average car insurance premiums, including those under-35, living in cities or driving hot hatches. The Admiral Group now employs almost 5,000 people in the UK and was named the 2nd best large place to work in the UK by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2013. Admiral writes its motor insurance business to a consortium of insurers, these being: Admiral Insurance Company Ltd, Admiral Insurance (Gibraltar) Limited and Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) plc.

Editor’s notes

* Drivers were defined as those who presently hold a valid driving licence and have a car in their household. 

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc.  Total sample size was 4,149 adults of which 3,120 presently hold a valid driving licence and have a car in household. Fieldwork was undertaken between 22nd - 24th May 2013.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

For more information please contact:

PR contact
James Carnduff
Admiral
Capital Tower
Greyfriars Road
Cardiff
CF10 3AZ
029 2043 4333
www.admiral.com