RAC survey finds just 3% of new cars come with back up wheel
The RAC says only 3% of new cars on sale in the UK today come with any form of spare wheel.
It says the lack of a standard ‘spare in the boot’ means drivers will increasingly turn to a breakdown service when they need help in the event of a unrepairable flat tyre.
The motoring organisation reviewed equipment lists for more than 300 car models across 28 brands. They looked at everything from the smallest cars to the largest 4x4s.
It found just eight (2.6%) come with a spare, with half of these only available on specific variants of the same model.
Perhaps, unsurprisingly, with a couple of exceptions, it is predominantly larger, heaver-duty vehicles that come with a spare wheel.
It says patrols attended nearly 200,000 jobs last year where drivers experienced a puncture but found they had no spare wheel – a statistic which is up from around 165,000 four years earlier.
‘Getting a puncture on a journey has to be one of the most irritating breakdowns for drivers, especially if it’s as a result of hitting one of the plethora of potholes that currently characterise so many of our roads,’ says Rod Dennis, RAC Breakdown spokesperson.
‘In the past, a driver could have reached for the spare wheel in the boot but this new analysis shows that these are now pretty much a thing of the past, with a minuscule number of new cars sold in the UK coming with one as standard.’
A ‘wise investment’: buying a spare with a new car
‘It’s understandable therefore that drivers are increasingly calling on us to help them out of a tight spot, and it’s a trend we fully expect to continue as electric vehicles are even less likely to come with a spare.’
The RAC equips all of its iconic orange vans with a multi-fit, five-stud spare wheel which allows its patrols to quickly fit to a stricken vehicle in the event of a puncture.
From this week, the RAC is also rolling out a new version of the spare featuring four studs, as car manufacturers are increasingly fitting four-stud wheels to their models, meaning it can help more drivers than ever.
The organisation says spare wheels have increasingly fallen out of favour with car manufacturers as tougher legislation demanded that they do all they can to reduce emissions.
It says a spare wheel adds up to 20kg to the overall weight of a vehicle and that removing them from the standard list of equipment supplied with a new car ‘has been an easy change for manufacturers to make to increase fuel efficiency.’
‘Interestingly, in many cases drivers ordering a new car can still buy a spare wheel – whether that’s a full-size one or the more common lightweight ‘space saver’ type – as an optional extra.’
‘This might turn out to be a wise investment if you are one of the many drivers who unfortunately suffers a puncture.’
