Populus Poll

Holidays

• Three-in-ten (27%) Saga respondents have booked a non-package short break in the UK in the last three months. 11% have arranged package holidays in the UK, whereas only 7% and 3% have booked non-package and package short breaks outside the UK respectively. Over half (58%) have not booked any short breaks since January.

Driverless cars and autonomous features

• Over half of Saga respondents would not trust driverless cars (57%), and a similar proportion (59%) think they could negatively impact on some types of employment. 18% say they have previously been sceptical about driverless cars but are now coming round to the idea, and 21% of respondents would be happy to be a passenger in a driverless car.Just under half (48%) of respondents think that driverless cars will enable further mobility for the elderly.
• Only 13% of Saga respondents intend to buy a car in the next year. The majority (74%) do not intend to purchase a car. Of those respondents intending to purchase a car, 70% are planning to buy a petrol engine. Far fewer intend to buy diesel (14%) or Hybrid Electric Vehicles (8%), with only 1% intending to purchase an electric powered car.
• Of those intending to buy a car this year, the majority (80%) cite parking sensors as important to their decision. Other features respondents regard as important are breaking assistance (72%), blind spot warning system (67%), parking assist/camera (65%), and real time traffic information (61%).

Home and Garden

• One fifth of respondents with grandchildren play with them in their garden or outside area more often than once a month but less than once a week (19%), and 20% play more than once every six months but less than once a month. One in ten (9%) never play with their grandchildren in their outdoor space.
• The most common children’s play item that Saga respondents have in their garden is a paddling pool (6%), followed by a summerhouse (5%), and swing-ball (5%). The majority (73%) do not have any of the listed items in their garden.
• The vast majority of Saga respondents own garden furniture (82%) and a similar proportion (78%) own a washing line.

Attitudes to debt

• Seven-in-ten Saga respondents (72%) would choose to borrow money that allowed them to overpay, a similar proportion (70%) would pay back the balance over as short a term as possible. Only 4% would choose to borrow money in a way which would allow them to pay off as little as possible each month regardless of the timescale.
• 69% of respondents would choose to use their savings before they borrowed money with older respondents more likely choose to rely on their savings than younger respondents (78% of 80-89 year olds vs 61% of 50-59 year olds respectively).
• 44% say that they would never borrow money. Over half (57%), however, agree that debt is a part of modern life, and 31% would consider borrowing money for a big expense in order to keep their cash free for emergencies. Only one-in-ten (10%) Saga respondents agree that taking on credit helps them to live the type of life they want to achieve.
• A third of respondents (35%) would consider borrowing money in order to buy a car, and 31% to pay for home improvements. Only 5% would consider borrowing money to pay for a holiday, and fewer (3%) would borrow money to buy new electrical goods.

Investing

• Two thirds (64%) of Saga respondents have money invested in something other than cash savings.
• For those without non-cash investments two fifths are wary of the risk involved (45%), and 43% do not have enough money to invest. The least common reasons given by respondents for why they have not invested their money are uncertainty of the cost (5%), never having thought about it (3%) and their spouse doing it for them (1%).

Pensioner benefits

• 28% of Saga respondents say they would be willing to give up their free bus pass, TV license or winter fuel allowance. Fewer would be willing to give up free prescriptions (16%) or free eye tests (13%).
• Two fifths of respondents would be willing to give up their free bus pass (42%), TV license (42%) or winter fuel allowance (40%) if they knew the money was going towards better care for the elderly. Three-in-ten (30%) willing to give up free eye tests, and 22% say they would be willing to give up free prescriptions.

High street banks

• A fifth (21%) of Saga respondents visit their local bank branch more than once every three months but less than once a month.
• Seven in ten (68%) respondents conduct the majority of their banking activities online, while a quarter (25%) use their local branch.
• Half of Saga respondents (50%) believe that banks should not be allowed to close local branches. 37% say that the closure of their local bank would prevent them carrying out many financial transactions. A quarter (25%) say they would have to change banks if their local branch closed, and 21% say their local branch is important to them as they do not bank online. 41%, however, say they would not be affected by a local branch closure as they don’t really use it.

Populus interviewed 9,482 Saga respondents, all aged 50+ online between 18 and 24 April 2017. Data was weighted to be nationally representative. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules; for more information www.populus.co.uk