Lifestyle: Girl power stops outside car bonnet
Girl power has not reached the world of car maintenance, according to a survey released yesterday.
Nineteen out of twenty British women rely on their partners or their local garage to look after their car, the survey for Halfords, the car accessories retailer, found. Most women do not feel confident in doing even the simplest maintenance jobs. Half the women questioned said they never checked tyre pressure, even though there are more than 40,000 successful prosecutions every year for faulty tyres; 46 per cent said they never checked or topped up their oil and water, and 91 per cent had never changed a battery. Five per cent said they did not know how to open the bonnet and 40 per cent claimed they would rather do the washing-up.
Chris Smith, a spokesman for Halfords, said the findings showed a distinct lack of "girl power". "But basic car maintenance is not the complicated job that most women imagine." Lack of confidence and basic knowledge were shown to be the primary reasons for women not looking after their cars, and the store has produced a series of car maintenance manuals to help. They have been hailed as "revolutionary" by the Plain English Campaign.
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