text: It used to be as much a part of a Sunday routine as eating a roast dinner or reading the papers. But new figures show that the art of washing your own car appears to be dying out in Britain with a thrid of men admitting they have never picked up a bucket or chamois leather to clean their own motor. The study also reveals that three-quarters of women never wash their own car with drivers more likely to take it to a car wash on a local forecourt. A new study has revealed that a third of men have never picked up a bucket and a chamois leather to wash their own car (file pic) The survey of 1,100 adults by vehicle leasing firm OSV, found that 31 per cent of men have never washed their own car, with only 12 per cent of those that do saying they do it regularly. Meanwhile only five per cent of those surveyed said that had ever asked their children to wash the car, as a way for them to earn extra pocket money. Factors behind the decline vary from shops now opening on a Sunday and more live football on TV, meaning more people put off the chore at the weekend. The rise of hand car washes has been blamed for a decrease in drivers washing their own cars (file pic) Other reasons given for not washing cars include the rise of hand car washes and the fact that 4x4 and off-road vehicles are too large to clean. Brits are more likely to wash their own car during the holidays as the recent Easter break saw an estimated 15 million cars cleaned by their owners. However, one in four said they only did it as an excuse to get out of the house. Cars are most likely to be washed by their owners every week in Birmingham, Chelmsford and Sheffield and least likely in Oxford, Bath and Edinburgh. Audis, Toyotas and BMWs are most likely to be washed by their owners and Range Rovers, Peugeots and Mercedes least often. OSV spokesman Andrew Kirkley said: 'A lot of us remember seeing our streets full of men cleaning their cars every Sunday. It was a national tradition. 'But let's face it, we don't have as much time any more, the cars are bigger and even the kids don't seem to want to earn a bit of extra money doing it for us either. 'On top of that, there is now plenty of choice out there if you want to put the car through an automated machine or get a gang of enthusiastic guys to do it for you fairly cheaply.'
target: 31 per cent of British men say they have never washed their own car .
  Only 12 per cent that have cleaned their own car say they do it regularly .
  Rise in hand car washes on local forecourts blamed for art dying out .