Clueless car owners

Do you know what it means when those ominous lights suddenly flash up on your dashboard? Can you reliably change a tyre? Do you even know where your car’s spare tyre is, or even if you have one? 

From jumpstarting a dodgy battery to changing your engine oil, it’s safe to say that knowing a thing or two about basic car maintenance could save you a lot of unwanted hassle and headaches down the line – not to mention sparing your wallet the indignity of being hammered by hefty vehicle recovery bills and cheek-blowing garage repair fees! 

And don’t get us wrong, there are absolutely plenty of drivers out there with enough car knowledge to see them through hard times on the road and sudden engine trouble. However, there’s also plenty of other drivers out there who are a little, well, clueless. 

Naturally, this got the team at car insurance comparison website iSelect thinking: Which cities in the world are home to the most clueless drivers, and what are some of the most common questions said drivers ask when they experience car trouble? 

To find out, we analysed a selection of the largest cities across Australia, the US, and the UK to see which areas had the highest rates of car problem questions, focusing specifically on car cost-related searches, dashboard issues, everyday car functionality queries, and so on. 

Take a look at what we discovered for each country below: 

Which Australian city has the most clueless drivers? 

Starting in our own backyard, you’d think that any drivers travelling across the length and breadth of Australia would have their head in the game when it comes to car know-how – especially given the huge stretches of open plains and dense outback patches that span between cities. 

And yet, despite this, our top five most clueless Australian cities were exclusively made up of smaller, out-of-the-way locations where you’d assume having basic car knowledge would be a huge advantage! 

Just take our first-place city, Albury, which somehow got a car cluelessness score of 95.28 out of 100! Placing first for car cost-related searches per 100,000 at 140, as well as first for dashboard warning lights (175), car functionality questions (60), and basic car maintenance searches (107), it seems that drivers here really need to clue themselves up on how their cars work. 

Of course, Albury isn’t alone in its high score; cities like Ballarat and Toowoomba follow close behind. Scoring 86.47 and 85.76 respectively, both Ballarat and Toowoomba place higher than Albury for oil and fluid check searches at 67 and 68 per 100,00 searches, while also alternating between second and third for car cost and car maintenance searches. 

Then, in fourth, we have the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns, with its slightly better score of 78.51. Interestingly, Cairns also came out ahead of Albury in oil and fluid checks (61), while placing second for everyday car functionality queries. However, its mid-table results for car costs questions help it here, keeping this city’s drivers out of our top three. 

And finally, in fifth, we cruise into Bendigo. Earning a more reasonable score of 71.87, Bendigo avoids ranking in the top three for every factor except for dashboard warning light searches, where it placed third with 126 searches per 100,000. But with that said, Bendigo still scored highly across all our factors, which is why it takes our fifth spot. 

Which US city has the most clueless drivers?

Moving on to the US, anyone who’s ever driven in a big American city won’t be surprised to see the urban metropolises that made our top five. Though you might raise an eyebrow at their score differences. 

Again, starting from the top, Atlanta has the infamous position of ranking first for our American cities, and for having the highest cluelessness score out of all the cities we looked at, clocking in at a shocking 98.63 out of 100. 

Coming in first for dashboard warnings (399), car functionality (78), oil and fluid checks (1,048), and basic car maintenance searches (115), Atlanta’s numbers are far higher in these areas than any other US city. While Atlanta might fall into second for cost-related queries (131), it’s still only 10 searches behind Chicago’s 141. Or, to put it another way, Atlanta locals really need to brush up on their car knowledge. 

Baltimore is our second-most clueless American city, with a cluelessness score of 61.29 – 30 points lower than Atlanta. Placing third for car functionality questions (53) and second for dashboard queries (283), Baltimore comes second for a reason. But the fact that it avoids the top five for in other factors speaks volumes about the car know-how its average drivers have. 

And to further back up this trend, our third-place city, Cincinnati, had a similarly low score of 59.48, matching Baltimore for high searches around dashboard lights (third with 228) and car functionality (second with 54). On top of this, Cincinnati also placed second in oil and fluid checks (777), but again, its lower rankings for our other factors help put its score far lower than Atlanta’s. 

Finally, to round out our US top five, we have Denver and Pittsburgh. Totalling individual scores of 55.50 and 55.34, Denver snuck into fourth for cost-related searches (84). Atthe same time, Pittsburgh came fifth for dashboard warnings (188) and oil fluid checks (656), once more showing a relative degree of cluelessness in these specific areas, but substantially less than drivers in Atlanta or our Australian top five. 

Which UK city has the most clueless drivers?

Lastly, let’s take a look at the highest-ranking UK cities. If you’re a Leeds resident, we have some bad news for you. Earning itself a cluelessness score of 94.54 out of 100, Leeds had the highest UK search rate for dashboard warning questions (460), car functionality (62), and basic maintenance (85), while placing second for our other two factors – neither of which will do much to help dispel Leeds’ reputation for being a nightmare to drive in. 

Then, following on from Leeds, we move further north to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. Scoring 81.09, Edinburgh essentially switches places with Leeds in the rankings for each factor, taking first for car costs (123) and oil/fluid checks (98), and second in everything else. As for what this says about Edinburgh’s drivers, it certainly implies a lack of car knowledge. But with the kind of weather Scotland gets, some of these searches are definitely down to bad luck. 

As for where we go next, readers are in for yet another surprise as we pivot to London. However, this isn’t because the capital made it onto our top five list, but because it only scored 40.70 – that’s over 40 points less than Edinburgh and Leeds. 

Indeed, London placed third for every factor bar car functionality. But even then, its numbers are basically half of those of our top two locations, leaving London in third overall, with drivers here not necessarily earning their cluelessness distinction. 

Finally, to wrap up the UK side of things, we have Bradford and Birmingham, and their similarly low scores of 30.95 and 29.87. Much like London, Bradford and Birmingham’s search rates are far lower than those of Leeds and Edinburgh, with Bradford only appearing in the top five for car functionality and maintenance queries. Birmingham, meanwhile, sits consistently in fourth or lower, again earning it these spots by default.  

What are drivers Googling to fix their car troubles?

While average search counts can certainly show us where the most common car care confusion is found, when it comes to actual search queries, what are drivers asking and in which countries are these questions appearing most often? 

When it comes to car warning lights, the UK struggles most in this area, with nine out of the top 10 most confused cities for this search term coming from this country. Leeds, in particular, ranked highest here, with 772.58 searches per 100,000 drivers for the term ‘car warning lights’. 

In contrast, US drivers are more likely to be befuddled by dashboard lights specifically, with a similar eight out of 10 of the most confused cities coming from the land of the free. As you’d expect, Atlanta ranked as the most confused, with 420.88 searches per 100,000 people for the term ‘dashboard lights meaning’. 

Meanwhile, Aussies are seemingly scratching their heads at how to change their tyres, with every single city in the top ten for the term ‘how to change a tyre’ being an Australian from down under. Ballarat, however, stands out as the most ill-informed, with 140.62 searches on the topic per 100,000 drivers. 

As for more niche terms, residents in Townsville, Australia, appear most confused about how to fix their cars in the first place, with 54 searches for the term, while Toowoomba drivers need assistance switching on their fog lights (62.98 per 100,000). 

Still, it could be worse: Atlanta drivers have more trouble turning on basic car functions like their standard lights (53.32) and even their windshield wipers (62.84), which, even we have to admit, is a touch embarrassing. 

Why is it important to know about basic car maintenance? 

All joking aside, we wouldn’t be doing our job if we didn’t take a moment to acknowledge how important having basic car knowledge can be, especially for new drivers who might have only just passed their test. 

Simply put, knowing what to do when your car breaks down could be the difference between saving you money and spending a fortune on repairs.