Global study: Which generation does the world trust under the bonnet?
Car trouble has become social media content with younger drivers filming their roadside struggles, from flat tyres to failed jacks and cars that won't start. Often the comments fill up with older generations calmly explaining what the younger drivers should be doing.
Keeping a car in good condition matters for its value when the time comes to sell your car, and for avoiding issues while on the road. Which raises the question: when something does go wrong, which generation do drivers trust to fix it? And does turning to online tutorials help close the credibility gap?
According to the RAC Report on Motoring, unexpected car repairs cost UK drivers an average of £650 a year, with 65% hit by an unplanned bill in the last twelve months. Knowing how to change a tyre or check oil is useful, and for many drivers, it is also the difference between an inconvenience and a hefty bill.
To find out where public trust sits, we surveyed 3,000 drivers across 15 countries on which generation they trust most, and least, with car maintenance.
The Global Car Fixing Credibility Score
Key findings:
- Gen X (those between 46 and 61-years old) dominates globally: 57% of drivers trust Gen X most to change a tyre in an emergency, and 58% rate them the most competent generation for car maintenance overall.
- In the UK, Gen X is the clear first choice, with 61% of British drivers naming them as the generation they would trust most to change a tyre in an emergency.
- Just 2% of drivers trust Gen Z (those under 29-years old) most for general car maintenance or tyre changing, dropping to zero in the UK, as well as the USA, Portugal and Australia.
- British Baby Boomers (those between 62 and 80-years old) earn the highest credibility scores globally, with 28% of UK drivers rating them the most competent generation for general car maintenance.
- Digital tools are the default, with 89% of UK's Gen Z turning to social media for car advice, while older generations are also embracing AI, with over two-fifths of UK drivers aged 46+ using it for car guidance (41%).
Each country's most and least trusted car fixing generation
| Country | Most Trusted Generation | % Trusting Them | Least Trusted Generation | % Trusting Them |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA | Gen X | 67% | Gen Z | 0% |
| Portugal | Gen X | 64% | Gen Z | 0% |
| Netherlands | Gen X | 63% | Gen Z | 2% |
| Ireland | Gen X | 62% | Silent Generation | 0% |
| Spain | Gen X | 62% | Silent Generation | 0% |
| UK | Gen X | 61% | Gen Z | 0% |
| New Zealand | Gen X | 60% | Silent Generation | 0% |
| Greece | Gen X | 59% | Silent Generation | 0% |
| Australia | Gen X | 58% | Gen Z | 0% |
| Germany | Gen X | 56% | Silent Generation | 2% |
| Italy | Gen X | 56% | Gen Z | 1% |
| Canada | Gen X | 55% | Gen Z | 1% |
| France | Gen X | 53% | Silent Generation | 1% |
| Poland | Gen X | 50% | Silent Generation | 1% |
| South Africa | Millennials | 46% | Silent Generation | 1% |
What UK drivers think
Britain's confidence with car maintenance is cautious, with 51% of UK drivers feeling fairly or very confident about basic car maintenance, while the other half (49%) do not. That near-even divide puts the UK among the most uncertain car-owning nations.
The tasks UK drivers will and won't take on themselves tell a clear story. Topping up screen wash (87%), checking tyre pressure (83%) and checking oil (81%) all sit comfortably in the self-service zone. Changing a tyre does not. Just 44% say they would do it themselves, only slightly below the global average of 50%, and a noticeable gap given that 61% trust Gen X to handle the same job in an emergency. UK drivers know who they want doing it.
That confidence gap maps directly onto breakdown behaviour. The UK's first call when stranded is a breakdown service: 58% say so, nearly double the global average of 30%, and well ahead of calling friends or family (24%). Only one in 20 would attempt a fix on their own (5%), with even less turning to online advice (4%). When UK drivers do attempt a repair, they mostly get away with it: 88% say they did not make the problem worse, and fewer than one in ten say they did (9%).
A nation that trusts experience
The UK sets itself apart from most other countries in two crucial areas.
First, British Baby Boomers receive the highest credibility ratings of any other Baby Boomer nationalities in the study: almost three in ten UK drivers rate Baby Boomers as the most competent generation for general maintenance (28%), and 19% for tyre changing, which is the top Baby Boomer score across all 15 countries. The older-is-wiser instinct runs deep in British motoring culture.
Second, when asked which generation tends to overestimate its car knowledge, 30% of UK drivers point at Gen Z (joint-highest in Europe alongside Ireland) while only 18% say the same of Gen X. The global picture doesn't reach that same consensus, rating Millennials (26%), Gen Z (25%), Gen X (24%) and Baby Boomers (23%) overconfidence roughly equally.
For UK's Gen Z, car fixing is also about the money
For younger UK drivers, the financial cost is at the forefront. The RAC Report on Motoring reports that more than half of under-25s would struggle to afford an unexpected repair bill of up to £500 (57%). In that context, 89% of UK Gen Z saying they would turn to social media for car maintenance advice, and 86% saying they would use AI, is a practical approach.
Whether the learning translates into hands-on confidence is another matter entirely, with less than a third of Britain's young drivers saying they'd feel confident changing a car lightbulb (32%) and little more than one in three saying they'd try to jump start a car by themselves (36%).
Gen X: The generation the world trusts most
Globally, 57% of drivers trust Gen X most to change a tyre in an emergency, and 58% rate them the most competent generation for car maintenance generally.
While Gen X gets the highest amount of car-fixing trust in nearly every country, there is one exception: South Africa, where the majority (46%) points to millennials as the generation most trusted to change a tyre.
But why does Gen Z get seen as less car competent in both South Africa, and across the globe?
Gen Z and the credibility gap
Globally, only 2% of drivers put Gen Z as the generation they trust most to do general car maintenance or change a tyre. In the USA, UK, Portugal and Australia, public trust sits at zero. The only generation that does worse across the map is the Silent Generation (those between 81 and 98-years old), earning an average 0.5% public trust when it comes to changing a tyre or doing car maintenance.
What makes this striking is how Gen Z rates themselves. Across those same countries, a significant portion of drivers under 30-years-old feel confident about their own ability: 43% in the UK, 41% in Portugal, 30% in Australia, 29% in the USA.
So why don't people trust them? It might just come down to experience: the older generations have spent years on the road and earned their car fixing trust, meanwhile the under 29-year-olds haven't had the chance to accumulate knowledge over time, and therefore, aren't seen as nearly as competent as others.
In fact, most Gen Z drivers haven't attempted a car repair. But those who have tried, do reasonably well, with less than one in six saying they have made the issue worse (14%).
South Africa is the exception. There, almost half of Gen Z say they have made a car problem worse (48%), the highest rate of any country. Yet, South Africa is the only country where Gen Z receives meaningful public trust, at 11% for tyre changing and 10% for general car maintenance.
It seems trying, even imperfectly, builds credibility. By avoiding making mistakes, Gen Z gets no credit. However, when they do try to fix car issues themselves, they have a preferred place to get answers.
How the world learns car skills online
Gen Z's first move when facing a car problem is not reaching for the manual. Across almost every country surveyed, Gen Z leads on turning to social media (YouTube, TikTok and similar platforms) for car maintenance advice.
According to our research, a tenth of young UK drivers already use TikTok when searching for a car to buy, and the platform's use for maintenance and repair advice follows the same pattern.
Top Fifteen
Each country's Gen Z use of social media for car advice
| Rank | Country | % Gen Z Using Social Media for Car Advice |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | UK | 89% |
| #2 | Canada | 84% |
| #3 | Poland | 82% |
| #4 | South Africa | 82% |
| #5 | France | 81% |
| #6 | Spain | 80% |
| #7 | Ireland | 77% |
| #8 | New Zealand | 76% |
| #9 | Greece | 74% |
| #10 | Australia | 73% |
| #11 | Netherlands | 72% |
| #12 | USA | 71% |
| #13 | Italy | 69% |
| #14 | Portugal | 61% |
| #15 | Germany | 60% |
The USA and Germany are the only markets where Millennials lead on social media use for car advice (76% and 67% respectively). Everywhere else, Gen Z is at the front.
That being said, digital tools have become the default starting point across generations, not just the youngest ones. In Greece, Italy and the USA, those aged 46 and older lean on AI tools for car guidance more than any other (70%, 68% and 64% respectively).
When something goes wrong
Online tools are aplenty, but when drivers are actively on the side of the road, they don't reach for them nearly as often.
Globally, most drivers call a friend or family member first (39%) when in a breakdown, followed by a breakdown service (30%) and a professional mechanic (19%). Only 6% turn to online advice immediately, and another 6% would attempt a fix alone.
Interestingly, while Canadians might be the least likely to reach out to friends and family (37%) or even breakdown services (35%) when stranded, it's the USA that is home to the most self-reliant drivers across the board. 10% of Americans say that, if they were stranded at the roadside with a car issue, they would try to fix it by themselves without calling anyone, the highest of any country.
| Country | Most Common Response When Stranded | % Doing So |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland | Call breakdown services, or friends or family | 86% |
| Greece | Call friends or family, or a professional mechanic | 64% |
| Italy | Call friends or family | 58% |
| UK | Call breakdown services | 58% |
| Portugal | Call friends or family | 57% |
| Australia | Call breakdown services | 55% |
| Poland | Call friends or family | 54% |
| France | Call friends or family | 47% |
| New Zealand | Call breakdown services | 46% |
| USA | Call friends or family | 43% |
| Germany | Call friends or family | 40% |
| Netherlands | Call breakdown services | 40% |
| South Africa | Call friends or family | 40% |
| Spain | Call a professional mechanic | 39% |
| Canada | Call friends or family | 37% |
Thinking about selling your car?
Whether you are reading this as someone who prefers to leave repairs to more competent folks or prefer to do them yourself, be mindful that your car's maintenance history affects its resale value.
A vehicle with a clear maintenance record holds its value while a patchy one or recurring repair bills can work against you when it is time to sell.
Whether you are looking to upgrade to a more reliable model or want to understand what your current car is worth before the next unexpected bill arrives, Autotrader's free valuation tool shows what buyers are paying for cars like yours right now.
Methodology
Autotrader commissioned a survey via Censuswide of 3,000 drivers across 15 countries: USA, UK, Spain, South Africa, Portugal, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Germany, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Respondents were asked about generational trust in car maintenance, confidence levels, the use of social media and AI for car advice, and behaviour when breaking down. The survey was conducted to represent a balanced sample across age demographics in each country.
Data correct as of May 2026.