Cars Make Up and Brake Up Relationships: Conversations Behind the Wheel are Steering our Love Lives

LONDON, September 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

• 1.9 million motorists have been proposed to behind the wheel
• One in five people offer relationship advice in the car

It's been 45 years since Herbie the love bug hit the big screens and today research from Allianz Your Cover Insurance's Secret Lives of Cars Report, reveals the role cars are still playing in steering the nation's love lives.

Love is most definitely in the alpine freshened air with 1.9million UK motorists being proposed to behind the wheel. Despite this romanticism, it's not all about happy endings on the nation's highways with 2.3million motorists having the brakes put on their relationships and being dumped in the car.

The report also discovered that motorists are more likely to talk about their love lives and difficult topics in the car with 45% of those questioned revealing that the lack of eye contact makes these conversations easier to approach. Conversations most likely to cause couple tension in the car include holidays (58%), bills (27%) and living arrangements (26%).

Not only do motorists like to discuss their own love lives in cars but men and women are keen to talk about other relationship topics too. The research found that 3.7million male drivers talk about sex and nearly one in five (18%) women admitted they are likely to discuss the relationships of friends' and family in the car. In addition, a third of women (32%) just enjoy a good gossip in the car.

Of those questioned, 31% people revealed that they use the time they spend in the car with their loved ones chatting about the future, with key topics including:

1. Relationships / friendships (37%)
2. Family concerns (34%)
3. Finances (30%)

Allianz Your Cover Insurance ( http://www.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk/ )found that there are many reasons as to why motorists are getting in their cars to have open and honest conversations about their love lives. Neil Brettell of Allianz Your Cover Insurance said: "Our report found that one in four believes that the time they spend in cars with others brings them closer together. These findings mean that the conversations drivers have in the car really do steer the direction of their love lives. Drivers like to make use of the time they have when driving to catch-up with their nearest and dearest and talk about future plans.

"40% of motorists feel confident when holding conversations in the car which may be why so many decisions and important plans are discussed behind the wheel. However, we'd always encourage drivers to put safety first and not let their in-car conversations distract them from driving safely."

The habit of holding conversations about love lives is not limited to motorists themselves as the car provides an opportunity for teenagers to come forward and seek advice about their crushes. Mums are more likely to offer guidance on adolescent heartache compared to their male counterparts with three million providing relationship advice for teenagers.

Allianz Your Cover Insurance is holding a web chat with Dr. Simon Moore from 1-2pm on Friday 28 September to answer people's questions on the report and how they can best approach conversations in cars. To take part follow Allianz Your Cover Insurance @YourCoverUK on Twitter. Or to find out more visit the Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/YourCoverUK.

To download a copy of the Secret Lives of Cars family factsheet please visit: http://blog.yourcoverinsurance.co.uk/2012/09/13/familyfactsheet/

Notes to Editors

A research report was undertaken by Dr, Simon Moore, CPsychol AFBPsS of London Metropolitan University in September 2012. The research team spoke to 45 families from across the UK about their attitudes to conversations in the car. This was incorporated into the report with a survey of 1000 UK car drivers was carried out in August 2012 by 72 Point on behalf of Allianz Your Cover Insurance.

Dr Simon Moore is a Chartered Psychologist who is an official media spokesperson for the British Psychological Society. Dr Moore has over 15 years applied research experience and has worked with such companies as Bupa, Sony, Universal Film Studios etc. He specialises in personality, emotion and human communication and has published books and journal articles as well as presented at International Psychology conferences.

The statistics were calculated using figures from the DVLA in July 2012. There are 37,420,530 drivers in the UK with a full GB driving licence. This figure includes 20,454,939 male drivers and 16,965,591 drivers.

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