Rising Fuel Prices Reduce Driving for 9 out of 10 People

Fuel prices have risen by more than 120 percent this year, causing 9 out of 10 people to turn off the ignition. Ipsos, a multinational market research and consultancy company based in France, examined the behavior of people going to work, shopping and sightseeing by car.

In the research, an online survey was conducted with 800 representative individuals over the age of 18. It was revealed that 9 out of every 10 car owners are afraid of turning the ignition and use their vehicles less than in previous periods. Only 8% drove as usual Record hikes in fuel prices have pushed people to drive less. Today, 91% of car owners say they use their vehicles less, while only 8% say they continue to use them as usual. 87% of car owners say that they used to use their car whenever they wanted to, but now they try not to use it unless necessary. The rate of car owners who say that they no longer take their cars for weekend trips is 76%, while the rate of those who do not go shopping with their cars is 69%. Employees leave their personal cars at home and prefer buses and metrobuses 71% of car-owning employees started to prefer public transportation rather than driving their own vehicles to work. Another way to save money is to carpool to work with friends who live in the neighborhood and share the costs. Sidar Gedik, CEO of Ipsos Turkey, made the following statements about the data: "The 12-month inflation rate announced by TurkStat for the transportation expenditure group is 123.4%. Undoubtedly, one of the important reasons behind this is the increase in fuel prices. By the way, it should be noted that the increase in fuel prices has also negatively affected other categories by increasing transportation costs. But of course, transportation expenditures are directly affected. We tried to look at how this situation is reflected on vehicle owners. Half of the vehicle owners state that they used to fill their tanks completely when buying fuel, but now they have given up this practice due to the rising fuel prices. The new price level has led nine out of every ten car owners to use their vehicles less. In particular, car use has fallen for non-essential reasons, for example, three in four car owners say they no longer take family car trips, and seven in 10 say they no longer go shopping by car. Nine out of ten car owners say that they used to use their car whenever they wanted to, but no longer do so unless necessary. Friends who live close to each other share fuel expenditures Noting that the number of people who use their cars to go to work has decreased, Gedik continued as follows: "Seven out of every 10 car owners state that they used to go to work by car, but have now given up. As a remedy to this situation, we see that coworkers who live close to each other have started to share their vehicles for commuting. More than half of car owners say that they share fuel costs by resorting to this method. These changes in vehicle usage patterns may create a significant movement in the used car market in the coming period, as three out of every 10 car owners state that they are thinking of selling their vehicles without buying a new one. When we also consider the global oil price problem fueled by the Ukraine-Russia war, we can predict that difficult times will continue in terms of transportation costs."