BMW Drivers Are Most Likely to be Psychopaths, According to Study
According to a study done by ScrapCarComparison (SCC), BMW drivers are most likely to be psychopaths. That doesn’t indicate all BMW drivers are psychopaths; it just means more are than any other car brand. Drivers of BMW models already have a negative reputation, between failure to use turn signals and much worse offenses. SCC noted that a Google search of the phrase “why are BMW drivers…” is followed up with words like “arrogant,” “idiots,” and “so hated.”
How does the study determine who is a psychopath?
Since people tend to give other drivers reputations on the road, SCC decided to figure out which car brand drivers were the most likely to be psychopathic. Whether it’s a car brand, an out-of-state license plate, or some other reason, people make things up about consistently bad drivers all the time. The result is the spread of a (usually) unwarranted negative reputation, but it seems true with BMW drivers.
The test consisted of 2,000 drivers taking a psychopathy test. It consists of questions based on lack of remorse or guilt, immense self-esteem, and more. These traits come together to create the tester’s final score of a certain number out of 36. The higher the score, the closer to being psychopathic the driver is, and in this case, the highest went to BMW.
BMW drivers are most likely to be psychopaths
You’ll be happy to know that the highest-scoring tests averaged 12.1/36. Although that does make BMW drivers more likely to be psychopaths than any other brand owners, it isn’t excessively high. It’s barely higher than opposing luxury brand Audi, whose drivers averaged 11.7/36. From there, the test scores drop significantly and are so close together there’s not much variance.
| Car brand | Average psychopathy score (/36) |
| BMW | 12.1 |
| Audi | 11.7 |
| Fiat | 7.0 |
| Mazda | 6.4 |
| Honda | 6.3 |
| Ford | 6.1 |
| Mercedes-Benz | 5.9 |
| Citroen | 5.8 |
| Volkswagen | 5.4 |
| Hyundai | 5.3 |
| Renault | 5.3 |
| Other | 5.3 |
| Volvo | 5.2 |
| Nissan | 5.0 |
| Peugeot | 4.8 |
| Toyota | 4.7 |
| Vauxhall | 4.7 |
| SEAT | 4.3 |
| Kia | 4.2 |
| Skoda | 3.2 |
Are there any patterns alongside BMW drivers in the results?
Overall, the most noticeable is the top two brands being high-end luxury ones. However, the pattern dies out because a brand like Mercedes-Benz appears further down the list than some others. Additionally, no other well-known luxury brands like Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln, etc., appear on the list at all. Part of this could be that these brands aren’t quite as popular as BMW, Audi, and Mercedes. The likelihood of multiple drivers in this study being owners is low, considering there were only 2,000 testers.
It is worth noting that SCC only did the study with 2,000 people, which is a minimal sample size in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, don’t take the results of this test too seriously. While it does give us an idea of who is the most psychopathic driver, it certainly isn’t foolproof or a diagnosis.
Vehicle types, car colors, and license plates
SCC also recorded other pieces of data about the test-takers. For instance, electric vehicle drivers are more psychopathic than hybrid, diesel, or standard gas engine owners. Gold and brown colored-car owners are by far more psychopathic than any other color. Lastly, drivers with personalized license plates scored significantly higher than those without one.
Overall, it is more likely that drivers of a gold electric BMW are the most psychopathic people on the road. The next time you’re getting cut off or someone doesn’t use a turn signal; you can check if they fall into these categories. If they don’t, well, maybe they just borrowed someone else’s car that day.
