Women ‘worse’ than men at car maintainance

Women are worse than men in performing basic car maintenance tasks, a survey has suggested.

As many as 12 per cent of women never check their car’s oil level, compared with just under 8 per cent of men, the poll by online used car retailer Autoquake.com found.Twice as many women as men admit to never checking their tyre pressures while almost 20 per cent of women never check the tyre tread-depth.

The poll found that female drivers were also more likely than men to pay someone else to carry out basic maintenance for them. Just over 14 per cent of women pay to have coolant levels checked, compared with 5 per cent of men. Also, 9 per cent of women, but only 3 per cent of men, pay someone else to check their washer fluid level.

Drivers from Northern Ireland take more care of their cars than most, with more than 11 per cent checking their tyre pressures every week, compared with just 1 per cent of drivers in south-east England.

A third of Northern Irish drivers check oil levels weekly, but only 3 per cent of motorists in the South East do.