More motorists are keeping cars for longer, carrying out repairs themselves and buying car parts online says to a new report.

According to Haynes, the publisher of car maintenance manuals, more motorists are learning how to carry out servicing and repairs on their vehicles.

It recently announced that car manual sales have increased as family budgets were squeezed.

Motorists are also choosing to buy more car parts online to save on costs. Motorists will either fit the parts themselves or pay a garage to fit them, according to Carparts-direct.co.uk, who reported a 28% increase on sales of parts against the same period last year.