Last year, it was reported by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) that there are over 40 million cars and vans on the roads, which is an all-time high. But how often is the UK cleaning and caring for their cars?

Asda Money surveyed 2,000 UK car owners to better understand if the importance of cleanliness due to the recent pandemic has reached our cars.

Manchester topped the table in the UK for owning the cleanest cars, with almost a quarter (24%) of Mancunians cleaning their cars once a week. Porsche owners are also the cleanliest drivers, with two thirds (67%) making sure they do the same.

Whilst 28 per cent of people living in Manchester pay a professional to clean their car, the majority (68%) choose to do the job themselves. Mancunians spend on average 36 minutes cleaning their car each time, with Ford and Toyota’s the most popular car brands in the city.

Over half (53%) have cleaned their car more thoroughly since the COVID-19 pandemic. When it comes to money though, drivers in Manchester were fairly frugal, spending on average just £11 a month cleaning their car.

25-34 year olds are the most likely to spend big when it comes to cleanliness, with 20% of them spending up to £40 per month on cleaning. And 1 in 10 Mercedes owners admitted spending up to £50 per month to keep their car in top condition.

The research also showed that:

• 37% of the UK only clean their car when they have time
• 26% wait until their car is really dirty before cleaning it
• 19% feel they need to have their car clean and tidy at all times
• 16% would pay extra for good quality cleaning products
• 10% don’t really care how dirty their car is

Alistair Ball, Head of Insurance at Asda Money, commented: “The pandemic has impacted us all in so many ways. Our way of life has been altered in order to stop the spread of the virus, and maintaining a high level of cleanliness is encouraged to help do this. We were interested to see whether people have carried this through to their cars, and if their car cleaning routine has been altered at all due to Covid-19.”