If I told you that British drivers spend over 5.5 million hours per year searching for their cars in parking lots, would it surprise you? Well, thankfully the team at ŠKODA have the answer to your problems.
It has been revealed in a survey of 2,000 drivers that a whopping 52 percent of all motorists in the UK have been temporarily unable to find their parked car, ‘losing’ it on average once every year. Furthermore, 25 percent admitted to doing so twice in the last 12 months, with 14 percent admitted it happens three or more times per year.
With no clear gender bias, it seems that both men and women have suffered from ‘losing’ their car on multiple occasions. Having misplaced their car, men actually take far longer than women to locate the vehicle, taking 6.4 minutes on average compared to 5.6 minutes for female drivers.
The impact of age on ‘losing’ a vehicle may also surprise you; It is the younger generations that are more likely to forget where they have parked, with 18-25-year-olds losing their car on average 2.5 times per year in comparison with 0.82 times per year on average for those over 66! This could be down to younger drivers being more absorbed with technology or balancing numerous things at once, as opposed to older drivers being less absorbed with what’s going on around them.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most commonplace to ‘lose’ a car is in a shopping centre car park, with 58 percent of drivers admitting this is where they had forgotten where they parked. Supermarkets, airports and festival car parks follow closely behind, suggesting that the greater the number of cars, the more confusion there is.
Thankfully, ŠKODA drivers are now safe from experiencing this dilemma, thanks to the ŠKODA Connect App. Alongside numerous other features, the ‘Parking Position’ functionality in the app transmits data at the end of each trip when parked up, which can be used by the driver to locate the exact position of their car via GPS in even the most crowded car park.
Alongside GPS locating systems, the ŠKODA Connect App also has the ‘Honk & Flash’ feature, which will command the car to activate the horn and/or hazard lights remotely at the push of a button, provided the driver is within 500m of their parked car.
The ŠKODA Connect App also houses the ‘Honk & Flash’ feature. At the touch of a button, the car will activate the horn and/or hazard lights remotely as long as the driver is within 500 metres of their parked car.
With more and more cars on the road and parking lots becoming increasingly crowded, a small helping hand from an app such as ŠKODA Connect can save you valuable time, and help reduce everyday stresses such as finding your car in a busy parking lot.
Kieran Bicknell
Motoring writer
Kieran Bicknell offers his fresh take on car reviews by making the most of his dynamic, yet detailed approach to writing. Having graduated from university with a BA (Hons) in Photography and spending a number of years as a freelance automotive photographer. Kieran is now putting his knowledge and writing skills to use, with the ability to supply both written articles and imagery. Kieran feels at home in anything from small superminis to the latest SUVs, and relishes the opportunity to drive, photograph and write about anything with four wheels.
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