With excitement revving up for the release of ‘17’ number plates on 1 March, buying a car is a significant purchase. A new study from American Express has found that 19 per cent of adults will spend an average of £11,094 buying a brand new or second hand car this year, equating to a bumper £1081 billion across the UK as a whole.
Britons pick up so many bad habits that the majority believe they would not pass their driving test again, if they had to re-take it, according to new research; as many confess to driving single-handedly and using gadgets.
A survey by IAM RoadSmart shows road users want the law to be far stricter on those who cause death and serious injury when driving. The survey of nearly 2,000 road users found nearly 80 per cent agreed there should be a new offence of causing serious injury by careless driving.
Some 56 per cent of those who agreed said the maximum penalty should be between one and five years in prison; 44 per cent went further and felt the maximum penalty should be more than five years.
A global survey from LeasePlan – one of the world’s largest vehicle management groups – reveals that nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of drivers admit to using their mobile phone behind the wheel, one-fifth (20 per cent) claim to send text messages and almost one-in-ten (9 per cent) admit to using social media.
A new study by Hankook Tyres has revealed that 1 in 10 UK car drivers have never checked their tyre pressure and almost half of drivers surveyed are unaware of the legal limits for tyre tread on their vehicle. Furthermore, 1 in 5 drivers in the UK are only checking their tyre pressure every 6 months, despite it being recommended to check every week.
Sigmavision has announced the findings of a recent survey conducted in collaboration with Bridgestone and First Stop at the recent Sky Sports British Masters golf event. The company’s technicians surveyed 2,400 cars over two days away from the fairways and greens at The Grove, measuring tyre tread depths with Sigmavision’s TreadReader handheld scanners. The results of the survey back up Bridgestone’s hypothesis that motorists currently do not make the regular checks necessary to ensure their tyres are safe.
Blocking the road (42 per cent), verbal aggression (34 per cent) and aggressive gestures (56 per cent) are among the top threatening behaviours motorists around the world experience while driving, according to 2016’s MobilityMonitor Survey from LeasePlan.
The National Motorcycle Dealers Association (NMDA) has revealed the results of its Autumn 2016 Dealer Attitude Survey. Stephen Latham, head of the NMDA said that he was “pleased to see that this year’s survey received a response rate of 33 per cent. Over the last few years there has been a view that brands with a low percentage of dealer responses have not necessarily been representative of the views of that network, and could skew the results either way. Therefore, in this survey, we have decided to suppress the results of three brands that had less than 15 per cent of their dealers completing the survey.”
Over two thirds of respondents (71 per cent) described franchised dealers as professional, in the latest National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) Consumer Attitude Survey, while 67 per cent viewed them as knowledgeable. Positively, 63 per cent of surveyed consumers also considered franchised dealers reputable and the same percentage described franchised dealerships as a place with good customer service.
The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) has revealed the results of its Winter 2016 Dealer Attitude Survey, with a high level of dissatisfaction with profit returns one of the most notable results. “It is concerning that dealers seem very dissatisfied with their current profit return, although they are more optimistic about their future profit potential,” said Sue Robinson, NFDA director. Despite the averages showing that dissatisfaction is increasing, Mercedes, Land Rover, and Kia franchises returned strong results, while others improved their scores considerably since the summer survey.
This year’s National Franchised Dealers Association Summer 2016 survey, published today, had 1,746 respondents from a total participating dealer network of 4,090, which equates to a response rate of 43 per cent. This is the highest return ever, surpassing last winter’s high of 39 per cent. There were 28 franchise networks in the survey which represent a range of dealer sizes and ownership type from across the UK.
In a poll of British drivers, Birmingham has been voted the worst city to drive around in the UK, closely followed by London, with Bristol coming in third.
The team at offer and discount website www.VoucherCodesPro.co.uk conducted the research as part of an ongoing study into Britons on the road. 2,240 British drivers and 18 and over, all of whom stated that they had been driving on UK roads for a minimum of two years, were quizzed about their driving habits and what they liked and disliked about driving.
A new poll suggests that more than two-thirds of British motorists do not know what some road signs mean. The study also indicated that 86 per cent of Britons will not try to learn anything about foreign road signs before they rent a car abroad. The UK-based website VoucherCodesPro.co.uk polled 2,109 British adults, all of whom were aged 25 or over and revealed to researchers that they had been driving for at least five years. Respondents also revealed that they had rented a car abroad in the last two years. The survey was conducted as part of research into the attitudes of Britons while driving and how seriously they take road rules.
The vast majority of vehicles subject to recall have not yet gone in for repair, which means there are millions of potentially dangerous cars on the road.
A survey of over 500 MyCarCheck.com customers (355 men and 190 women) in July 2016 has revealed some intriguing differences in male and female perspectives on motoring.
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