Let’s do this together

I’m often found under my bonnet – rather than in a bonnet.

But that’s because I don’t keep a man around for lawn care, car maintenance or to explain the joys of Formula 1 racing.

Forced to know one end of a big end from another, I like to think I keep on top of my car’s needs for longer journeys – tyre check, windscreen fluid, engine oil, and the essentials such as salted caramel frappé and a family pack of Jelly Babies.

But just recently I ran out of windscreen fluid on the M3, and nipped into a fuel station near home to clean my very salt-smeared screen and get it topped up.

Parking up in a bay and opening the bonnet to peer at my fluid reservoir and check my oil while I was there, I was interrupted several times by kind blokes asking if they could help.

But only one man getting out of his big luxury car was honest enough to say: “Actually I don’t know why I’m asking, I don’t know anything about cars!”

Which is what I always suspected, and now a study by Gulf Oil has confirmed.

When the oil giant surveyed 10,000 drivers of all different ages, the controversial results showed women knew more about their cars than the blokes.

Only 21% of men could correctly identify how to check tyre pressure compared to 28% of women. Similarly, only 82% of men could correctly describe how to check their oil, compared to 89% of women.

And most shockingly of all, only 83% of men could identify what a grinding sound when driving indicated, compared to 87% of women.

I imagine it’s the sound of blokes dragging their deflated egos along behind them.

Email me at siobhan.mcnally@mirror.co.uk if you think men are the dipsticks when it comes to car maintenance. Or write to Community Corner, PO Box 791, Winchester SO23 3RP.

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