DO MORE FOR MOTORISTS? DO ME A FAVOUR

The mood of motorists appears to reflect the wider sense of apathy among the electorate, so suggests an Auto Trader survey revealed today. A representative sample of 1,000 UK motorists,whose views were pooled during the last three months, shows that the vast majority don't think things will improve on the motoring front whichever party takes power after the election.

Perhaps reflecting the relatively low position of motoring on the political radar, more than seven in ten felt ambivalent about forthcoming changes. Nearly as many of those surveyed felt the Tories would do as little as a Labour government to improve the motorists' lot. Even fewer felt things would improve under a coalition. Overall, more than twice as many respondents felt things were likely to get worse for the motorist, rather than better.

What will the next government do for the motorist?

The survey also asked what issues a new government should focus on to help the motorist. Top of the list came cutting fuel prices. That's despite the fact that diesel and unleaded are actually lower in price now than during the last election in 2010. According to the AA's fuel price report, the cost of a litre of unleaded in May 2010 was 121.5 on average, compared with 113.3 in April 2015. Over the same period diesel prices dropped from 122.9 to 118.81.

What issues should a new government focus on to help the motorist?

"We haven't heard too much about the plight of the motorist from any political party in the run up to the election," commented Nick King, Auto Trader's Market Research Director. "So perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that most of those surveyed seemed quite pessimistic, at least when it comes to a focus on motoring issues.

"Perhaps what is more surprising however is that fuel costs remain motorists' number one concern and area of focus for the next government.That finding comes despite a drop in prices over the last 18 months and the fact that a litre of unleaded today is 6.7% lower at the petrol pump than it was during the last general election in 2010."

Note to editors:

1. : Source: AA Fuel Price reports, May 2010 and April 2015
http://www.theaa.com/onlinenews/allaboutcars/fuel/2010/may2010.pdf
http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/motoring-advice/fuel-reports/april2015.pdf

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