Two-thirds of van drivers have had their wing mirrors clipped

Almost two-thirds of van drivers have had their wing mirrors clipped when driving along narrow streets or while parked, according to new research.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has calculated that damage to wing mirrors has cost UK van drivers £655 million in repair costs in their lifetime.

According to the research, a total of 62 per cent of van drivers have had their wing mirrors damaged with over a third admitting it has happened multiple times.

The figures also reveal the most common cause of wing mirror damage is driving down a narrow street (62 per cent), followed by on-street parking (21 per cent), and public car parks (15 per cent).

Replacement wing mirrors are the single most common repair that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles technicians handle each year, with glass and mirrors accounting for ten times more repairs than any other part.

James Allitt, head of aftersales for Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, said: “As one of the most common repair jobs, we know that a broken wing mirror is all too common for van drivers and leads to frustrating downtime.

“The impact of wing mirror damage on finances and business operations shows how important it is to manually fold in wing mirrors, and how cost-effective automatic folding mirrors can be to van drivers and fleet managers – that’s why they’re fitted as standard on our latest models, including Transporter 6.1 and Caddy Cargo.”