How, when and why are Australians servicing their car

AutoGuru, Australia’s leading online car service booking website, has the results from a survey commissioned to take a snapshot of Australians’ car ownership and car servicing habits.

The cars

Firstly, how old are the cars that these customers are driving? It’s close to an even split of 40% each for cars that are from new to 4 years old, and cars 5 to 10 years old. And to finish the vehicle overview, over 15% of those surveyed have cars that are over 10 years old.

Whatever the age of their cars, they are being driven quite a lot. Over 70% are daily drivers, and 20% drive 2-3 times a week.

Car servicing

Next, how are these people treating their cars? Quite well as it turns out — 57% put their car in for a service every 6 months, while 35% make it an annual task. That leaves 8% that admit to not having their car serviced regularly at all. Read how often should your car be serviced.

The reason why figures are high could be the result of a large number of vehicles being new to 5 years old, and therefore still under warranty and adhering to logbook servicing. But the truth is considerably more a social concern than warranty fear.

More than 60% of respondents say that their primary reason for servicing their cars regularly was for reasons of safety. Of the other respondents, 26% were motivated by the car warranty, and just over 10% were looking ahead to the resale value of their cars.

Of the different types of services available, 68% of these car owners are booking logbook servicing, with basic servicing at 32%. How reliable are they following the logbook scheduled services? Over 70% have never missed a service, while 30% have missed at least one.

For those who admitted to skipping a logbook service, 23% blamed being busy, and 17% forgot that it was due. For the rest, a whopping 60%, the reason they skipped a service was due to financial concerns. Given that so many opted for safety as the primary reason for servicing their car, missing a service must be a difficult decision to make.

As to how many car owners still followed the logbook service schedule, it was a resounding yes, to the tune of 84%. The remaining 16% are probably those that own older cars, and have slipped past the time or mileage of having to follow the logbook recommendations.

Do they know what’s included?

AutoGuru also asked survey participants if they knew that their car service had a safety check included. Almost 40% said ‘No’, a number telling a story that workshops could perhaps provide more information on what goes on while they have customers’ cars.

Conclusion

All up, the results paint a positive story. Most people are servicing their cars in accordance with the logbook, and they’re doing so out of safety concerns for family and other road users. The dark note in the numbers is the financial pressure on drivers to properly maintain their cars.

Let’s hope the economy, and the social concern, continue to drive people to good, regular, and safe car maintenance.

Now, imagine a seamless segue here…

Right. AutoGuru lets you search, compare and book from over 1600 qualified mechanics across Australia. Boom!

Image credit: Under the hood James