According to new research from Auto Trader Compare, the motor insurance comparison service from the UK’s largest motoring website, BMW owners are deemed to be the worst drivers on the UK’s roads according to a massive 59% of respondents, followed by:
- Subaru drivers (42%)
- Porsche drivers (39%)
- Audi drivers (30%)
- Mercedes-Benz drivers (27%).
BMW drivers are most associated with bad or inefficient driving according to the survey, with 68% of respondents claiming that bad drivers of these vehicles drive too fast, overtake in dangerous situations (66%), intimidate other road users (66%) and drive too close to the car in front (64%).
Ford Tops The Claims Table:
Despite BMW drivers being seen as the worst on our roads, the drivers making the most insurance claims are Ford owners. Insurance claims data from online car insurer swiftcover.com looked at claims made during April 08 to April 09.
Fig One: swiftcover.com Claims Data April 2008 – 2009
The claims data shows that perceptions of other motorists do not reflect the reality of those drivers that make the most claims.
Van Drivers Are Worst On The Roads:
The survey, conducted amongst more than 1,500 UK motorists nationwide, shows that outdated driving myths are still prevalent, with 37% still believing that men are generally better drivers than women and that van drivers are the worst on the road (100%), followed by young drivers (98%), old drivers (90%), taxi drivers (78%) and ‘school run mums’ (78%). Bus and HGV drivers were considered to be the best road users.
When asked about other road users, over a third (34%) said that Londoners were the worst drivers in the UK, followed by motorists from the South East (10%) and the West Midlands (4%). ‘Sunday drivers’ were classed as the worst type of driver (53%), followed by ‘rush-hour drivers’ (43%).
Motorists Want To Save Money:
It seems that UK motorists are happy to find fault in other road users, but not in themselves as the survey results also show that 22% of motorists rating their own driving as ‘excellent’ and 63% as ‘good’.
In fact, 77% of motorists claim to now drive ‘green’ by not revving the engine and braking smoothly, with 53% agreeing that their driving style has changed recently to help reduce fuel consumption. Now, nearly three quarters (73%) claim to make sure their tyre pressures are correct, accelerate smoother (66%), brake gently (65%) and use their air con less (47%) in order to save money on motoring.
Toyota Tops Green Poll:
In terms of certain drivers that are associated with this type of economical, green driving, 38% of respondents said Toyota drivers were the greenest, followed by Honda drivers (37%), Volkswagen drivers (23%), Volvo drivers (23%) and Citroen drivers (19%).
Matt Thompson, Marketing Director at AutoTrader.co.uk, comments: “It’s good that most motorists recognise bad driving habits, both in themselves and other road users. However, the important thing is that motorists change these bad driving habits because with the rising cost of motoring, it is well worth driving responsibly to stay safe and ensure your insurance premiums stay low. Remember that you must report all points on your licence to your insurance company, otherwise your policy could be invalidated.”
Tina Shortle, marketing director for Swiftcover says: “Comparing car insurance quotes is one of the best ways of reducing your insurance costs, but driving safely is crucial to keeping your premiums as low as possible. Dangerous driving can obviously leads to accidents, which could wipe out your no claims bonus and increase your premiums, whilst getting a traffic conviction is also likely to push up the cost of your motor insurance and could even result in some companies refusing to insure you.”
