Drivers Keeping Away From Expensive Winter Tyres

With winters getting colder, icier and certainly wetter in the last few years, it is evident to see the benefits of fitting winter tires to your vehicle. Not to mention the added safety benefits such as providing more grip and ensuring your car stays on the road rather than a nearby ditch – however new research undertaken by Falken Tyres show that a quarter of all motorists that it surveyed actually refuse to spend out their money on winter tyres. The reason? It is simply the cost associated with these tyres.

20% of those surveyed believe the UK simply doesn’t get cold enough to warrant purchasing them.

The interesting statistic out of this research is that 19% of consumers just cannot be bothered with the hassle of changing them over come winter time.

The issue is that winter tyres actually cost upwards of £100 each as a general rule, which is a large shell-out of cash come the winter time, not good especially with Christmas around the corner. Surveyed drivers actually stated that they would prefer another set of wheels if that is the kind of cost that they can be expected to pay out.

When interviewed, Matt Smith, Falken’s UK director (not to be confused with the previous Doctor Who) stated that the most common car on British roads, the Ford Fiesta would cost upwards of over £500 to fit winter tyres. Then you have to store your other wheels somewhere. Simply not practical or viable from a cost perspective for many of the British public. If it costs that much on just a Fiesta, imagine the cost on a family saloon.

Falken found that worryingly 1 in 10 people questioned had never even heard of winter tyres. In some parts of Europe it is actually a legal requirement. A good work around that would benefit drivers would be to fit all season tyres. Matt Smith went on to say that these tyres offer a good trade off from having to switch your tyres come the winter months and remove the issue of storage space for an extra set of tyres for drivers. If you do a lot of mileage all year round then it makes sense to protect yourself as much as you can, may car traders fit winter tyres now to car demonstration models, clearly to keep down any motor trade insurance claims from their customers test driving their vehicles.

Falken published this infographic to highlight the key findings in thier conducted survey

Falken Winter Tyre Infographic