Brits value time spent with family and friends on road trips

Squabbles, screaming and stationary traffic are all the traumas of road trips that may come to mind when you’re preparing to embark on a car journey.

The vast majority of Brits have even said they’ve had a day trip ruined before it’s even begun by a terrible car trip – with heavy traffic being the biggest reason why.

81% of people polled for an Automyze survey admit the whole trip has been spoiled by the actual journey, with 52% of them blaming stressful traffic jams.

However, a new survey has disputed this, revealing that many of us don’t mind being cooped up in a car for a while and actually find the journey a great opportunity to spend quality time with friends and family.

There may be the odd argument over directions and suspect music choices, but 62% of people love spending time travelling with friends or family in the car.

Many use the opportunity to have a catch-up, with the most common in-car conversations to do with work and children – both accounting for 34% of journey chats.

Love lives were also found to be a popular subject matter to discuss while behind the wheel, with 16% of respondents to The Hertz Quality Time Report – using figures from YouGov – saying they had either given or received dating advice while on the road.

While others (13%) discussed significant new life events like their desire to get a new pet or telling other passengers about their exciting holiday.

As well as chit-chat, everyone enjoys a good road trip soundtrack.  Pop music is the genre of choice, with 29% of people saying it was their preference.

Only 16% of people claimed to prefer indie and rock music, while just 1% listened to hip-hop.

David Rowland, general manager of Hertz International, said: “Despite our lives being overrun with digital distractions like social media, tablets and smartphones, we’ve found that a huge number of people in the UK still enjoy spending quality time with friends and family in the car.

“Long journeys in the car are a great opportunity to catch up on people’s lives.”