WeLoveAnyCar.com, the UK’s biggest car review site, calls for a change in the debate about taking older drivers off the road. Most over 80s love their cars, think about their next car purchase, are much safer than younger drivers and are best placed to decide when to hang up their keys.
Nearly 130,000 car owners have now left a review on WeLoveAnyCar.com giving a fascinating insight into almost every type of car owner: young, rich, poor, adventurous and old.
By analysing over 5 million words submitted by all types of car owner, WeLoveAnyCar.com was able to extract comments by age and came to the following conclusions about drivers aged 80 and over and found they:
- Often talk about their next car
- Favourably compare their current car to the many they have had over the years
- Care about performance and economy
- Show loyalty to a particular brand and keep cars for longer
- Choose their car for comfort and ease of access
- Place reliability higher than all other factors
- Value a car for their independence
- Know when it might be time to give up driving
In short, older drivers are similar to any other motorists and they have a lot more experience than most.
There are 1,101,779 drivers over the age of 80 and they have the least number of points on their licences; 3% of over 80s have points compared to 10 % for drivers in their early 40s.
Over 80s have fewer accidents and, by all measures, are safer. A WeLoveAnyCar.com spokesman said, “Every time an elderly lady has a crash in a supermarket car park we see headlines calling for elderly drivers to be taken off the road. This is blatantly unfair. The statistics prove our older drivers are far better than they press they get.”
Motorists over 80 often mention their age in their car reviews submitted to WeLoveAnyCar.com and their words speak volumes about their mindset and it isn’t often about hanging up their keys for good, although it is clear they know when the time has come.
The WeLoveAnyCar.com spokesman said, “Take the age factor away and our car reviews submitted online by drivers over 80 would be similar to any other driver. It is clear that many older drivers don’t think they are too old. They see their car as an important part of their everyday life. Manufacturers and dealers better not ignore them as over 10% of all drivers will be over 80 in just a few years’ time.”
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