Though car technology is improving, and now there's even cars that drive themselves, people still break down. The number of call outs for new cars, between 0 and 3 years old have risen by 43% compared to the previous year.
So our roadside assistance patrols are always on call to come to the rescue - and this past year was no different. Take a look at some of the insights we uncovered when we broke down breakdowns.
Are cars aging gracefully?
Cars between the ages of 11 and 20 had the highest amount of breakdowns in 2017 with 505,879, followed closely by cars aged 4-10 years old with 442,441.
Even spritely, new cars put up some big numbers with 103,262 cars aged between 0 and 3 years old needing help, that's an increase from last years 58,499 breakdowns.
Toyotas a popular call out
This past year we helped more Toyota drivers than any other car with 260,554 recorded breakdowns.
This doesn't mean Toyotas are unreliable, it probably means there's a whole lot more Toyota vehicles in general and therefore more breakdowns than other makes.
Aussie icon Holden came in second with 176,012 breakdowns. And on the higher end of the price spectrum, we helped Aston Martins 89 times, and Maseratis 219 times.
Also, in 2007 we recorded 20,292 callouts for Daihatsu models, but last year we only helped them 3,915 times.
Audis accounted for 6,653 breakdowns in 2007, but this past year made up 10,568 of 1,242,533 total breakdowns. This increase could be due to the popularity growth of Audi in Australia.
The places people need help
In 2017 Port Macquarie took first place as the area with the most breakdowns with 8,101. That's less than last year when they only had 8,117.
In Sydney, Blacktown took the lead with 7,736 breakdowns compared to last year where Sydney CBD reigned with 8,381. This year Sydney CBD only accounted for 6,928 breakdowns, which could be because the city is becoming less and less accessible with a car.
What stops us in our tracks?
Unsurprisingly, the heart of our cars accounted for the most amount of breakdowns - car batteries contributed 315,388 of 1,242,553 total breakdowns in the last reporting year.
One of the lesser known problems motorists face is vehicle suspension according to our 1,552 callouts for suspension issues. And even though cars are getting smarter, we still helped with 62,838 lockouts because at the end of the day we're all human.
What statistic is the most surprising to you?
