Car or spouse: which is more important to you?

Amazingly, it would seem that for some, choosing their next set of wheels is the most important decision in their lives.

According to the results of a new survey, some people took longer to decide on their next car than they did choosing who to spend the rest of their lives with.

According to the research on 2,000 car buyers by Netcars.com, one in nine confessed to spending longer deciding their next choice of car than they did choosing a new house.

Just over one in ten said they spent longer picking a new motor than they did deciding on the names of their children, and in the North West, seven per cent of women admitted it had taken them longer to choose their car than it did their wedding dress.

Most worrying of all were the four per cent of car buyers who told researchers they had put more effort into searching for their next car than they had into searching for a wife or husband.

The younger you are, the more indecisive you are likely to be, with four per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds saying it had taken them more than a year to choose which car they wanted.

Scottish drivers were found to be the most decisive, with 76.3% taking less than three months to choose a new car.

The research was carried out by Netcars.com to find out how important car buying was to its customers.

“I have to admit we were very surprised by the results,” said Louis Rix, marketing director at Netcars.com.

“Who would have thought that people would spend more time looking for a new car than they did for a wife?

“Or that buying a car was more important than giving your child a name.

“Buying a car is one of the most important purchases we make and for some people it is clearly the most important.”