The love of driving isn’t just about getting from A to B
Key Points:
- New research released by Volkswagen Financial Services UK reveals that nearly half of motorists in the UK prefer driving by themselves
- Cars being used as a refuge from work, a meditation space and even a music studio
- Motorists admit they long to spend time behind the wheel alone because it gives them the opportunity to sing along to the radio without being heard!
For a lot of people, the love of driving is alive and motoring on and during lockdown we’ve missed the freedom and the feeling it gives us.
There are those who have learned to love it, and those who have always had a love for it.
It’s one of the very few places we can take some time out from our busy everyday lives, find some simplicity in a complex world, relax and clear our minds, and just focus on the road ahead.
To find out more we asked 2,000 adults about the UK’s love affair with driving and what we’ve missed about it in the past year.
More than eight in 10 motorists (83 per cent) admitted they have always had a love for driving and more than a third (34 per cent) reckon that love has “grown with age”.
We even found that for many getting in the car has become so much more than getting from A to B.
If not for travel, why do we love driving?
Driving is a refuge from work, a meditation space … and a music studio.
But it’s bad news for passengers and back-seat drivers – as people prefer to be on their own at the wheel compared to having company (44 per cent compared to 19 per cent).
This is perhaps unsurprising, given that we’re all itching to sing at the top of our voices.
Despite not currently being able to drive as much, half of respondents would use car journeys to escape from everyday life while a quarter would enjoy the quiet time it gives them.
It also emerged that 56 per cent consider alone time in the car to be just as good as enjoying some quality me-time.
A long-lasting love of driving
The fact is that we are a nation that has become used to driving around at our leisure being part of our lives. More than half of us start to miss driving if we haven’t been able to get behind the wheel for a long time and we will have all cut the miles we drive this year significantly.
As a result, 26 per cent have missed being able to travel somewhere new, 25 per cent the sense of freedom and 19 per cent simply having the time to themselves.
However, despite the falling mileage this love affair with driving is unlikely to end any time soon with 52 per cent saying they generally love driving and 71 per cent saying they can’t ever see themselves falling out of love with driving.
But despite the overall love of driving, our study conducted via OnePoll revealed traffic jams are the top bugbear, followed by potholes, driving in the dark and getting lost.
Driving is undoubtedly something we’re all looking forward to when restrictions are eased, and the future will hold a different relationship with our car driving less miles and maybe even switching to EV, but we’ll always love the alone time, the way to unwind and, of course, being able to sing while no one is listening to our favourite songs.
At VWFS we make it as simple as possible for people to have access to driving, however and wherever they need it, to keep the love affair for driving alive.
