You're Doing it Wrong: UK survey shows favorite summer driving song is... Sweet Home Alabama?!

UK firm HPI has some of the most intriguing customers in the business. The firm, akin to CarFax, provides a vetted history of a used car so buyers know what they're really getting. It has just concluded a survey of its customers to find out what they like most for road trip jams, and out of all the classic rock tracks being laid down in 1974, Lynyrd Skynyrd's distinctly non-British Sweet Home Alabama took the top spot.

Right behind Skynyrd came hometown favorite Katrina and the Waves with Walking on Sunshine, one of only three English acts on a list that zooms through genres and has only one song from the last twenty years: The Killers' Mr. Brightsides. Follow the jump for the rest of the songs, and if you take a trip with an HPI user, get ready for anything...

[Source: HPI | Image: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty]
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SWEET HOME ALABAMA
Top of the summer driving pops, reveals HPI

The latest survey by vehicle information experts HPI's reveals that when the sun comes out to play, drivers reach for Lynard Skynard's 'Sweet Home Alabama'. Voted as the UK's favourite summer driving song by HPI's customers, it apparently has us rolling down the windows and enjoying a good old fashioned summer holiday sing along.

"It seems like summer is a time for the good old classics, rather than whatever ray of sunshine the charts may be producing. Our top 10 is dominated by songs from the 60s, 70s and 80s," saysNicola Johnson, Consumer Services Manager for HPI. "Seventies classic, Sweet Home Alabama was a clear favourite with 52% of the respondents putting the song in their top ten, followed closely by Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves with 48% of people placing this in amongst their top summer songs.

"However, 1966 song, Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys, that classic sound of summer, came in at a very respectable fifth place, proving that many drivers really do wish they all could be Californian. Surprisingly, the only song made in the last 10 years that makes it onto the chart is the less than summery 'Mr Brightside' by The Killers. Coming in at number four with 40% people selecting it as part of their summer playlist, it's the perfect sing-along track for drivers on those unpredictable, British summer days.

"Whatever songs they play this summer, used car buyers need to make sure they protect themselves from unscrupulous sellers disguising a banger as a bargain. And the best way to do this is with an HPI Check."

The HPI Check can help protect consumers from falling victim to buying a clone as it is the only vehicle check that includes a stolen V5 document check as standard, confirming it is not one from the batch stolen in 2006. The HPI Check will also reveal whether the car is registered as stolen with the police, has been written-off by an insurance company, or has outstanding finance against it, and it protects buyers with the HPI Guarantee*. The HPI Guarantee provides up to £30,000 financial reimbursement in the event of the car not being everything it seems or the data held by HPI being inaccurate, including a clone – the only vehicle history check to do so.

HPI'S TOP TEN SUMMER DRIVING SONGS
1. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard: 52%
2. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves: 48%
3. Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams: 43%
4. Mr Brightside - The Killers: 40%
5. Club Tropicana - Wham!: 36%
6. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys: 33%
7. Love Shack - The B52s: 33%
8. Rio - Duran Duran: 30%
9. Lovely Day - Bill Whithers - 27%
10. Sun is Shining - Bob Marley: 19% of people surveyed

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