The sheen and shine of young people's motors are being put ahead of the hosepipe ban, research from AA Personal Loans has showed.
AA Personal Loans commissioned a YouGov survey of more than 2,000 UK car owners in August, discovering that despite the fact that 13 million people are still affected by the hosepipe ban, 12 per cent are still giving their cars a regular hosepipe-fuelled wash.
Male drivers are most likely to be guilty of this, according to AA Personal Loans, with 18 per cent of them saying they had broken the ban, as opposed to eight per cent of women.
"We're at a peak time for car buying – a time when people want their cars to look their best," said Lloyd East at AA Personal Loans.
"That said, car owners need to take heed of the environment and not pour valuable water literally down the drain by washing their car with a hose. Using a bucket and sponge is the socially-responsible solution."
Almost half (44 per cent) of people in the hosepipe ban-affected south-east did not even know there was a ban, something AA Personal Loans referred to as "alarming".