Car Maintenance - Do I Know Enough?

I’ve been driving now for 19 years (gasp!). Where that time has gone, I have no idea, it certainly does fly by. I dread to think how much I have spent on car maintenance over the years and this week having just paid for my annual service, is no exception. Thankfully, I have managed to go most of these years with minimal break downs, but it got me thinking about how much I actually know about car maintenance being a lone driver for the majority of the time. Do I know enough?

Tyre Pros recently published an article, Male vs Female Drivers – Who Knows More About Car Maintenance? It makes for a very interesting read. Society would have us all assume that it would be men. I know for one that I don’t know a great deal.

The article discusses various vehicle aspects from jump-starting a car to checking your tyre tread. I have to admit, on reading the article it made me wonder why on earth I haven’t learned more about these things over the last couple of decades. But if the truth were told, they are always the kind of thing I go to my Dad or Husband for (guilty as charged!). I don’t even have a breakdown cover – the last time I got a flat tyre my good old Dad was on hand to put my spare on for me. But what would I do if I was miles away from home?

The statistics

For the purpose of the article, Tyre Pros carried out a survey and they discovered that 77 per cent of women know how to jump-start a vehicle, whereas only 58 per cent of men have this knowledge. Could you jump start a car? I wouldn’t have a clue how to!

Another poll revealed that my female counterparts know more than men when it comes to changing a tyre – 77 per cent of women say that they are able to do this job. In contrast to only 57 per cent of men. This kind of blew my mind!

The last statistic I’m going to mention is about changing car light bulbs. Less than half of male drivers (48 per cent) possess the knowledge needed to change a car light. In contrast, 65 per cent of female survey respondents say they know how to undertake this job.

I need to up my game

It’s a very good job that I wasn’t one of the females questioned in the poll because I would have seriously let the side down. It’s only by reading this article that I have realised how little I know and in this day and age, I really should know more, especially when I travel quite a bit with my seven-year-old son. We live in the 21st century and equality is a huge thing these days, so why wouldn’t women know just as much, and clearly more than men?

I’ve decided I need to up my game and increase my knowledge of car maintenance because I’m quite obviously in the minority when it comes to all things mechanical. If you are like me I would highly recommend reading the article that I’ve linked above – it’s quite the eye-opener!