Motorists in the UK spend more than five-and-a-half million hours each year looking for the parked car they cannot find according to a new survey.
In launching their new SKODA Connect App, the Czech company has asked 2,000 drivers about their experiences in looking for their car. The Connect App can help drivers find their Skoda in a crowded car park by activating the hazard lights and horn at the touch of a button on a smartphone.
The survey found that 52 per cent of motorists admitted to being temporarily unable to find their car at least once a year, 25 per cent admit losing it twice a year and a confused 14 per cent have lost their three or more times!
Females are more likely to lose their car more often, with 16 per cent, compared to 12 per cent of males, however, women are quicker at finding their lost car than men. Skoda’s survey also found that younger drivers are most likely to lose their car, with five per cent of the 18-25 bracket revealing they had lost their car more than 10 times.
Some of the testimonials from those surveyed by Skoda will hit home with possibly thousands of drivers.
“I was shopping for a dress for my hen night in a large shopping centre,” said one respondent. “I couldn’t find my car when I returned to the car park. I searched for half an hour for it. Then I asked a security guard to help. In total, six security guards were looking for my car. They couldn’t find it. I had to report it as stolen. I rang my brother to give me a lift home. Guess what? As we drove out of the car park, there was my car parked where I’d left it.”
Another said: “Many years ago some friends and I went to a football match and arrived late; we all got out of the car and ran to the ground. At the end of the game it took two hours to find the car which we had parked in a terraced street – the problem was all the local streets looked the same.”
Shopping centre car parks are the most popular places to lose your car with 58 per cent of those surveyed admitting that was the location of their lost car.