The rising cost of petrol and diesel has impacted upon most motorists’ choices, with nine out of ten drivers saying that they would actively take steps to saving fuel to save on costs.
Women and over-65-year-old drivers favour changing their driving styles and adopting more eco-friendly practices, whereas younger male drivers think that a scheme to scrap older gas-guzzling vehicles and avoiding short trips would be their choices for saving cash. Retired people would not welcome losing their vehicle, even if it attracted penalties for its CO2 emissions.
Edmund King, AA president, said: "Drivers are often portrayed as Mr Toad but our panel results show that the vast majority of motorists do care about the environment and will consider taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of their cars.
"The motor industry has done much to improve the environmental performance of new cars over the last few years and our poll shows that drivers put ‘buying a more fuel efficient car’ top of their green priorities. The government should take note of these green intentions and scrap retrospective VED plans which would penalise drivers for the car they already own."
A third of drivers said they would consider buying another vehicle if it used hybrid technology or other fuels. After that, they still favour reliability (36 per cent) over fuel economy (28 per cent) or safety (16 per cent) when choosing to replace their current car.
The AA Populus panel has more than 30,000 motorists signed up to take part in motoring questionnaires.
