CR Poll Finds that 40% of U.S. Car Owners Delay Maintenance Due to Financial Reasons

The state of the economy is affecting every aspect of our everyday lives – including cars. And it’s not just the gas prices that affect motorists: a new poll from Consumer Reports shows that almost one in two car owners delay their car’s servicing or repairs.
Lower-income households are more likely to delay necessary work, and younger drivers (18-34 years of age) tend to postpone work on wear items like tires or brake pads – with 21 percent of them admitting that they don’t even pay attention to these items.
 
The necessary work most commonly postponed was minor manufacturer-recommended scheduled service (22 percent), followed by replacing wear items (17 percent) and repairing body or other exterior damage (15 percent).
For most car owners that took part in the poll, a repair bill of about $2,000 is currently a serious financial burden – agreeing with a previous AAA survey, which stated that 25 percent of Americans can’t afford such a repair bill.
Forty-four percent of car owners who delayed having their vehicle serviced on time admit that they feel the value, safety and reliability of their neglected car is suffering as a consequence.
“The family car is the second largest purchase a consumer can make”, notes Jeff Bartlett, deputy automotive editor of CR. “We expect our car to work even in the harshest conditions. So protecting that investment should be a priority, especially when it becomes a safety issue.”
Apart from compromising reliability and security, motorists who fail to fix small problems on time are also more likely to cause their vehicles much more serious, and much more expensive, problems later.
Moreover, 83 percent of those interviewed replied they were confident that their repair shop of choice would do the work properly, and for the right price.
Dealers lose out to independent repair shops (30 vs 37 percent) when servicing or repair is due, and repair chains are chosen by 11 percent of car owners.