Research by the Bovag shows that roughly half a million cars in the Netherlands are currently still driving on winter tires. There are, of course, various drawbacks.
Last weekend, the Bovag investigated at various locations in the country what kind of tires were under cars. In the 1,658 cars, 5.3 percent of the cases were found to be still on winter tires. In the entire fleet in the Netherlands, such a percentage is about 500,000 cars. Two years ago, the percentage in such a study was 5.7 percent, so there is little improvement.
According to the trade association, winter tires were found remarkably often with smaller cars and it was also regularly the case that, for example, summer tires were present at the front, but winter rubber at the rear. In addition, the percentage of winter tires in Amsterdam and Utrecht was clearly above average, at 7 percent.
De Bovag emphasizes that driving on winter tires under summer conditions is ‘downright unwise’ and entails various disadvantages. The braking distance is longer, the fuel consumption is higher, they have less grip and they wear out faster. Finally, it is also simply less comfortable, since winter tires provide more rolling noise.