Wealthier motorists are ‘too posh to wash’ their cars, an AA survey reveals today.
They are more willing to drive dirtier vehicles for longer than poorer but prouder owners who prefer to keep their cars clean.
Only one in 17 car owners from professional and managerial backgrounds wash their vehicle once a week, reveals the survey. That compares with one in 12 among lower-income motorists, which includes manual and part-time workers.
Overall, a grubby 3 percent of the 18,080 AA members surveyed admitted to washing their cars just once a year or not at all. Among women drivers, this figure doubled to 6 percent.
The survey showed that drivers in Scotland and North-East England have the cleanest cars, with 11 percent of owners washing them every week. This compares to just 4 percent in London and South-West England.
But the clean-car gap widens even more among those who clean their car twice a week.
Some 1 in 6 of lower-income owners wash their vehicle fortnightly, but only around 1 in 8 (11.5% ) of wealthier owners do so.
The AA report notes: ’Professionals and managers prefer more to wash their cars every couple of months.’
Some 35.5 percent of professionals and 29.5 percent of managers say this is the regular wash cycle for their cars.
Nearly half of all drivers wash their cars every couple of months or every six months.
And across the age bands, young drivers are put to shame by older motorists. Only half as many younger drivers washed their car once a fortnight or weekly (22 percent) compared with those aged over 55 (44 percent).
AA president Edmund King said: ’Many drivers do take pride in their cars and their Sunday morning car wash has become a ritual.
But our study suggests that you don’t need a Rolls Royce to show pride in your car.
‘The Victorian concept of the ‘great unwashed’ perhaps needs to be reversed as richer drivers have dirtier motors.’