An overweight couple who wrecked their Mini's suspension by regularly having sex in it were among some of worst car abusers in Britain. A survey of garage owners showed that bizarre and sometimes downright stupid habits can knock nearly a third off an average car's value.
The most costly form of abuse was using petrol instead of diesel, or the other way round - this can take 31 per cent off the resale value.
One dealer told how the owner of a VW Golf left the car infested with maggots after a fishing trip before trying to sell it. Another said a driver had wrecked a high-performance Audi TT by using it to tow a boat, leaving it with belt failure and rotting ignition wires.
A Cliff Richard fan stuck pictures of him all over her car windows using superglue. A Fiat Uno was covered in dents after the owner's children jumped up and down on the roof.
The poll of 250 dealers for an online car search service identified 10 main categories of car abusers. The most common - mentioned by 64 per cent of dealers - were drivers who lose up to a quarter of the value of their car by leaving it full of rubbish, smells and stains.
Drivers who run the car with flat tyres were next on 45 per cent, followed by those who fail to use the right fuel (41 per cent), and people who who drive carelessly off the beaten track (39 per cent) .
Constantly revving the engine, putting it under unnecessary strain, made up 25 per cent, while those who respray their vehicles with the wrong paint and drivers who sit on the clutch made up 18 per cent.(PA)