Drivers in the UK have shared the top 10 most annoying things that passengers do in their cars - are you guilty of any?

From commenting on how you're driving to leaving litter in the car, motorists often have as much to contend with inside as out of the car. 

Car maintenance & protection fluids brand Prestone has taken it to the drivers by conducting a survey of British motorists on the things their passengers do that grind their gears.

Prestone also quizzed drivers on the people who wind them up while they're in the driving seat - do you agree with them?

What are the most annoying things that passengers do in cars?

Smoking, littering and backseat driving are all top of our list of most-annoying passenger traits with 29.3%, 17% and 16.7% of the vote respectively.

8.8% of participants reported that passengers being sick were among one of the most annoying things they could do (and we can understand why).

Meanwhile, giving the wrong directions rounds up the top five biggest bugbears.

Prestone also asked what passengers have done in their car at least once as part of the survey.

The Northern Echo: Prestone also asked what passengers have done in their car at least once as part of the survey. (Prestone)Prestone also asked what passengers have done in their car at least once as part of the survey. (Prestone) (Image: Prestone)

Over 50% said they’ve been a victim of backseat driving, while others claimed they’ve had passengers slamming their doors, littering and changing the music without asking.

The survey also revealed that a third of drivers think that their partners are the most annoying car passengers which could be because they are the people that we travel with most often.


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Children ranked in a solid second place which Prestone says is probably due to the fact that they’re most likely to flout passenger rules.

In third place came parents and then around 7% of people said they were actually their own most annoying passenger.

Prestone theorists said that this might be because of road rage or other weird driving habits.