12.5m UK motorists may have skipped car service due to Covid-19

A third of UK motorists (32%) have put off getting their car serviced because of financial restraints caused by the pandemic, according to British comparison site, BookMyGarage.com.

It would be interesting to see what the percentages would look like here in Ireland, if a similar survey was conducted.

BookMyGarage.com surveyed 10,000 of its subscribers and found that, in addition, a similar number (29%) of drivers delayed servicing procedures simply because their car had covered far fewer miles during lockdown.

While more than half (56%) used the UK government’s MOT exemption to delay the legally required DVSA certification, the number of drivers who have also put off servicing equates to around 12.5 million cars across the UK’s total of 38.2 million registered vehicles.

Further research by BookMyGarage reveals that the amount of additional repair work required by cars booked in for an MOT in July nearly doubled from 25 per cent to 48 per cent over the same period last year, prompting concern over the health of vehicles on the road.

Nearly 80 per cent of drivers said they would normally get their car serviced annually even though more than 60 per cent said they had been adversely impacted either financially or personally by the pandemic.

Despite nearly half (47%) claiming that they were concerned about the safety of their vehicle, 38 per cent were comfortable doing maintenance work on their car themselves.