Surge in sales of Haynes manuals as drivers DIY during coronavirus lockdown
Tinkerers are locking themselves away in home garages
CAR MANUAL publisher Haynes has seen a week-on-week increase in sales of car DIY manuals of 54%, which it attributes at least partially to people committing to learn how to take care of their own cars during the coronavirus lockdown.
Compared with last week’s sales, the publisher saw a rise this week (March 19-25) of 22.5% in sales of print manuals, and of 31.6% in online manuals.
The Covid-19 pandemic means people should stay at home except for four specific reasons, meaning many Brits are finding themselves with extra time on their hands to carry out odd-jobs around the house and, if they have a beloved car to work on, venture into the garage.
Jeremy Yates-Round, Managing Director of Haynes Consumer, told Driving.co.uk: “Where people have started to self-isolate in the last couple of weeks, and have now entered into lockdown due to the pandemic, our sales figures reflect that people want to use their new-found spare time to learn something new whilst being confined to their homes.”
Announcements made by the government yesterday may also increase demand for car DIY manuals. Even though drivers are now exempt from MOT for six months in order to further combat the spread of coronavirus, the government has stressed that this is not an excuse to let your car deteriorate into disrepair. Drivers must still keep their cars in roadworthy condition, and Yates-Round said Haynes expects sales to rise even further because of this.
https://www.driving.co.uk/car-clinic/car-due-mot-coronavirus-lockdown/
“We have recently seen a week-on-week uplift in sales of 54% on Haynes.com and expect this to continue as people start to seek professional advice from their homes on how to repair and maintain their cars and motorcycles,” he said.
It’s not just people wanting to learn how to tinker with their cars. Haynes publishes manuals on everything from pets to potatoes, and it’s seen sales increase across the board.
Yates-Round said: “We are seeing an overall uplift in people seeking ways to learn something new at home through our lifestyle manuals, too, from fixing up bicycles to make them roadworthy, learning how to code, cook or play guitar, through to even how to keep chickens.”
Another reason Haynes thinks that people are flocking to its website is for instant access to online car maintenance guides. Postal delivery services are having to cope with demand as well as reduced staffing levels — Amazon, for example, has been forced to delay deliveries on some items in order to prioritise items that are deemed high priority, especially delivering food to those who may not be able to leave the house.
Digital copies of Haynes Manuals are available, if you don’t want to put any strain on delivery services, and they are also cheaper than the printed versions. A few universal Haynes guides to things such as oil changes and checking tyre pressures can be found on Driving.co.uk here.
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