The Dirty Secrets of the British Motorist

British motorists spend on average 27 days a year behind the wheel – this equates to car owners in the UK collectively spending over 700 million days a year sitting in their cars. In stark contrast to this, researchers found that the average Brit only cleans their car once every 94 days and for a grand total of one hour and 41 minutes per year. This means for every six and a half hours motorists spend driving they only spend one minute cleaning.

The research, conducted by Black & Decker in a bid to study people’s relationships with their cars, found that although the car is the scene for many day to day activities, including eating and working, only 12 per cent of the 1,089 car owners polled were concerned by the levels of dirt, grime and bacteria that build up through daily use.

Dirty motorists were also quick to point the finger of blame, with over half putting the grime down to someone else. Over a third of those questioned blamed their kids for the mess, one in eight accused their spouses of littering but only eight per cent resorted to blaming their pets.

Black & Decker also found that motorist were quite content to sit in their own mess, with 44 per cent admitting to only ever cleaning their cars when they knew they would be having passengers. In fact, for almost 2.5 million Britons, going on a first date is the main incentive for ever cleaning the car.

Worried by the findings, Black & Decker also set about investigating the levels of harmful bacteria that might be lurking.

A spokesperson for the company said: “We were surprised by the dirty secrets of the British motorist and wanted to find out if they were actually putting themselves at any risk of illness. Our team of microbiologists collected swabs in order to record bacteria levels from key areas like the dashboard and the gear sticks.

Although the cars had lots of visual dirt and grime, it became clear that you won’t get ill from driving – apart from being sick of the high fuel prices! In fact, it’s nothing that a bit of elbow grease and perhaps the Black & Decker Auto Pivot Vac won’t get rid of.”

The results highlighted a clear lack of hygiene amongst a large majority of drivers, but this does not mean that Brits don’t love their cars. On the contrary, Britons seem very fond of their cars with 14 per cent of people readily admitting to naming them, meaning there are over 3.5 million named cars on UK roads. Researchers also found that five per cent of drivers actually buy their cars Christmas presents each year.