Nation of Neglected Cars: Survey Reveals Brits Sideline Car Paint Repairs, Citing High Costs

As the cost of living continues to squeeze UK households, a new survey reveals that one in three British car owners are delaying crucial paint repairs, risking long-term damage to their vehicles.

53% of British car owners cite the cost of repairs as too high, leaving their vehicles vulnerable to further damage, according to a comprehensive survey carried out by car touch up paint supplier, Car Paint Colours. 25% say it’s an inconvenience to repair small paintwork imperfections.

The breakdown of age groups may come as a surprise to some with those aged 18-24 and 55+ having fewer scuffs than millennials.

Is your car’s colour a factor?

The survey revealed that British adults who own a blue were most likely to have damaged paintwork with black cars coming in second. Blue cars accounted for 48% of the less than pristine vehicles on our roads with black cars close behind at 43%. While white cars seem to be the safer mainstream colour to drive with only 35% reporting a blemish that needs small car paint repair on their automobile.

51% of those with unrepaired blue cars said they haven’t had their car’s body paint done because it’s too expensive with 24% saying it’s inconvenient. While 49% of blue car owners would take their car to a body shop for repairs if they were going to, 30% said they would do it themselves.

Is your region likely to have more bumps and scrapes?

The survey broke the results down by other factors too such as government region and car brand with the North East having the highest percentage of cars being driven around with imperfections. East Midlands and East of England on the other hand have the joint lowest percentage of damaged cars across England.

Owner of Car Paint Colours, Paul O’Reilly said: “We wanted to understand the reasons fewer people are opting to repair their car’s paintwork when they have scuffs, scrapes or see the inevitable effects of road rash.

“The data collected was slightly surprising for a nation of car lovers, who ranked cost and convenience as one of the key reasons they’ve gone without these repairs in the past 12 months.

“It even boiled down to colour, brands and age groups which were more or less likely to take pride in their car’s paint work.

“What I found interesting was that the data also shows there is an appetite from drivers to do the repairs themselves. 24% of car owners would be willing to make the repairs themselves with 48% saying they would go to a body repair shop for the damage to be fixed.

“As economic pressures continue, the trend of delaying small car maintenance is likely to persist, making long-term car care solutions more important than ever.

“It’s one of the reasons we have introduced Car Paint Colours to the market, and more specifically, our industry leading Smart Chip Pen which allows drivers and car enthusiasts to touch up minor chips or scratches.”

Car Paint Colours commission the YouGov survey in a bid to understand its audience better. The brand launched a platform using DVLA assisted technology that allows consumers to enter their reg number and order a perfect colour matched aerosols or smart chip pen direct to their door. This means small body paint repairs can be done right at home rather than spending significant money in a body shop and avoiding the hassle of leaving their car to have a scratch repaired.

Car Paint Colours also works closely with body shops and dealerships who want to offer the car paint repair kits to their customers, helping them to maintain their car’s body paint aesthetic.

Download our region-by-region breakdown to see where your area stands in car maintenance habits. https://carpaintcolours.co.uk/resources/the-state-of-the-nations-car-paint/