After conducting some probing research, car insurance comparison site Confused.com can reveal that Brits like driving. Oh yes they do. It’s fair to say that Brits like driving a lot. In fact, it is estimated that the average British motorist will drive over 507,000 miles in their lifetime*. Which I’m sure you’ll agree is a whole load of miles.
Driving to work, trips to the supermarket and holidaying within the UK add up to 8,756 miles every year – or a whopping 507,833 miles between the ages of 17 and 75. Crikey!
To quantify exactly how far that is, it’s the equivalent of driving around the world over 20 times. Over 20! It is also enough miles to take you to the moon and back quite comfortably – even at its apogee. That is, of course, assuming that there was a road to the moon, and that such a journey would be possible. Which – of course – it isn’t. But still…
The Confused.com poll of 2,000 Britons revealed that commuting to work takes up the biggest chunk – just over 66 miles a week, or 3,442 miles every year. However, even visits to the supermarket twice a week add up to almost 10 miles, or 473 miles a year.
Brits drive just over 16 miles a week on the school run, and a further 32 miles a week running errands and visiting friends in the evenings. Even on the weekend, when most people like to kick back and relax, we still manage to drive 33 miles – a total of 1,733 miles a year. Weekends away and holidays in the UK account for 556 miles a year on average too.
According to Debra Williams, managing director of Confused.com: “We all have to get from A to B, but it’s amazing to see how many miles we clock up in our lifetimes. The survey shows just how much we all rely on our cars for transport and demonstrates how integral cars have become in our day-to-day lives.
“Contrary to popular belief, the more miles you drive, typically the lower your car insurance. Those clocking up over 25,000 miles a year will save around £80 on their insurance premium compared to those driving only 12,000 per year**.”
So hang on… How far do we drive again?
Over 507,000 miles. Let’s try and give that some perspective, shall we? If you were to drive around the coastline of mainland Great Britain, sticking as close to the sea as you can, you will drive 11,072 miles. Assuming you average about 45mph, it will take you 246 hours to drive around it (and you’ll get through about 55 sandwiches). According to the new research, the amount we drive in our lifetime means we could make this journey 45 times. And that’s well over a year’s worth of solid driving. Best make sure you’ve got plenty of music for the trip…
