The family car is home to 12 dents, 36 arguments and 216 tantrums over its lifetime, according to research by car finance specialist Car Loan 4U.
A family car travels for 59,814 miles and is kept for six years, over which it endures 702 school run trips, 18 holidays and mini-breaks, 66 day trips and a whopping 360 renditions of ‘are we nearly there yet?’, according to a survey of 2,000 drivers.
Not only that, the family car will completely break down twice, suffer 12 faults, 12 drink spillages and cost £248.51 in garage repairs every year, equating to £1,491 over its lifetime.
The average family car will, somewhat depressingly, spend 9 days stuck in traffic for 23 minutes each time and get lost twice. Adding salt to the wound is the fact it will be used to make 30 trips to visit the dentist, doctor and hospital and, worse still, 48 trips every year to see relatives.
It will also be home to one break-up and will be used as a bed by 22 per cent of drivers. On the flip side, at least you are likely to find an average of £3.54 in loose change left by family members every year.
The average Brit is said to take six weeks to decide what family car to get once the current one has died a death, during which three test drives are undertaken. Respondents said the Ford Focus, Ford Mondeo and Audi A4 were their first, second and third choice for family car duties, respectively.
Unsurprisingly for a finance company that would ideally like you to upgrade early, Car Loan 4U CEO James Wilkinson said: “There’s only so much you can do to keep your car at its best and worryingly, it seems a large number of us keep our car limping on long after it needs fixing or replacing. While it may seem like it’s saving you money, it may end up costing you more in the long run.”
Check out the lengthy infographic below these very words for all of the findings.
The Average Life of a Family Car infographic
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