9:00 am, May 10, 2025
More than a quarter of British drivers consider car servicing and repairs to be an ‘inconvenience’.
That is according to a new survey by the RAC, which has found that motorists find the drive to and from the garage to be the biggest bugbear of all.
The breakdown service provider asked 1,050 motorists in February of this year about their experiences of vehicle maintenance and the results will not make for happy reading for garages up and down the country.
The study revealed that 27% of those aged between 17 and 44 found car servicing and repairs an inconvenience, while 38 per cent described it as a ‘hassle’.
By comparison, just 15% of drivers aged between 65 and 74 saw vehicle maintenance in the same way.
Elsewhere, the study found that 68% of drivers’ biggest bugbear is the journey to and from the garage, while 47% got the most frustrated with the amount of time the garage worked on their car.
Meanwhile, 42% said that not knowing how long they will be without a car is the biggest challenge.
In response to the findings, Paul Coward, RAC chief executive of mobile servicing and repairs, said: ‘Simply put, keeping on top of servicing and repairing a vehicle is the best way to avoid it breaking down in the future.
‘But it’s clear there are some common factors that conspire against us getting our cars looked at as soon as we should.”
‘Whether it’s the difficulty of finding a slot at a garage, a lack of courtesy cars, or the time we have to take out of our days to get to and from a garage, there’s certainly a degree of repairs rigmarole involved that drivers would probably like to do without.
‘And it’s those drivers who are short of time – the working population and those with families – as well as people who live in more rural areas who appear to be most affected.’
The study also revealed that 35% of drivers get frustrated because they have to travel more than five miles to a garage, and that rises to 48% for those who live in rural areas.
