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Poll: SA rides are 'cleanest'

According to a study by BP Ultimate, South Africa’s cars could be among the cleanest and best-kept in the world, with 96% of SA drivers saying they take great pride in the appearance of their cars.

The survey, which drew almost a thousand responses from male and female drivers across SA, showed that eight in ten respondents said they clean their cars at least once a week.

A grubby 2% confessed to cleaning their cars just once a year. This translates to 164 000 grimy vehicles among the 8.2 million cars on our roads.

A similar study in the USA, found that 16% of drivers never wash their cars, equating to a staggering 73 million dirty cars among the 138 million registered vehicles in the US.

The poll revealed that Northern Cape drivers have the cleanest cars, with nine in ten drivers washing their cars at least once a week compared to only six out of every ten car owners in the Western Cape who wash their cars weekly.

Cleanest cars per province: Respondents who wash their cars at least once a week

1. Northern Cape – 97%
2. Free State – 94%
3. KwaZulu-Natal – 86%
4. Mpumalanga – 85%
5. North West Province – 79%
6. Limpopo – 77%
7. Gauteng – 76%
8. Eastern Cape – 73%
9. Western Cape – 67%

The poll also showed negligible disparity amongst SA’s wealthier and poorer drivers when it comes to vehicles cleanliness. The survey showed that wealthier drivers (over 78% occupying senior managerial posts), said they regularly wash their own rides.

Drivers who are less well-off are just as proud, with 75% of those in lower employment positions saying they are not prepared to drive a dirty vehicle for longer than a week.

Peter Cock, BP’s technical fuels manager, said: “Even when asked about leaving the occasional piece of rubbish in the car, over 83% of respondents said they don’t.

He points out that regular cleaning can help preserve the value of one’s car by getting rid of salt and other corrosive substances.

Do you aggree with the BP Ultimate poll results? Share your thoughts in our Readers comments below or email us and your article could be published on Wheels24.



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