“There was a time before cell phones when you had to know how to do these things. Even now, knowing how to change a tire rather than call emergency road service could keep you from making an auto insurance claim.”
Foster City, Calif. (PRWEB) June 16, 2014
Half of female drivers in the U.S. have never changed a tire, and a third say they do not know how, according to new Insurance.com survey.
Insurance.com, an auto insurance comparison-shopping website, asked 2,000 men and women, all married homeowners with children, about their abilities to deal with car-related maintenance and problems. Some coping techniques were universal: 63 percent of all respondents said they had purposely ignored a dashboard warning light, and 60 percent said they had imitated car noises for a mechanic.
“Female drivers were slightly less likely to ignore a warning light or try engine karaoke at the repair shop,” said Insurance.com Managing Editor Des Toups.
The bigger differences between the sexes involved hands-on experience, the survey found.
- 93% of men have checked their car’s oil; 78% of women have
- 93% of men have checked tire pressures; 76% of women have
- 88% of men have jump-started a car; 65% of women have
- 88% of men have changed a tire; 47% of women have
And more women admitted they don’t know how to:
- Check oil: Men 4%; women 13%
- Check tire pressures: Men 4%; women 15%
- Jump-start a car: Men 7%; women 26%
- Change a tire: Men 6%; women 33%
“There was a time before cell phones when you had to know how to do these things,” Toups said. “Even now, knowing how to change a tire rather than call emergency road service could keep you from making an auto insurance claim.”
Indeed, the percentage of drivers who said they had changed a tire or jump-started a car was much higher among older drivers. Eighty percent of drivers 55 or older had changed a tire, compared with 60 percent of younger drivers. And 85 percent of older drivers had jump-started a car, compared with 75 percent of the younger set.
When a roadside crisis hits, men call AAA, and women call their husbands, the survey finds. Fifty-eight percent of women say they would call their spouses; 31 percent of men would. But 38 percent of men would call roadside assistance; 27 percent of women would.
For complete survey results, see http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/claims/survey-women-dont-change-tires.html
Methodology
Insurance.com commissioned a survey of 2,000 licensed drivers, half men and half women, in April 2014.
About Insurance.com
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Twitter: @InsuranceDotCom
Press contact:
Des Toups
(510) 879-7840
dtoups (at) quinstreet.com