November 19th, 2009
According to a lot of motorists surveyed by motoring magazine Auto Express, the top ten ‘good motor insurers’ (that quote for women drivers too)’ include many that look after affinity groups. In my humble opinion based on experience 
this illustrates that when you get your target market right you can identify their needs and look after them properly… These brand names include well respected NFU Mutual, RIAS, Saga, Liverpool Victoria, Frizzell, M&S and Cooperative (and Swiftcover did well on value-for-money, behind NFU).
Of the mainstream insurance names you will recognise are Prudential (who we don’t hear of much for women drivers by the way) and Royal Sun Alliance (whose advertising brand is More Than and features the lucky dog…). That makes a total of nine and you might be surprised to hear that the missing name is Adrian Flux (in 7th position above M&S, the Pru and Cooperative) which is a great performance.
We know and like Adrian Flux through previous classic car insurance dealings and have watched them grow without hearing the usual criticisms about customer service and claims handling. They were ahead of the game when it came to multiple car policies and they would always quote for unusual vehicles, cherished, classics and vintage. Similar to the affinity team, Adrian Flux got close to a lot of car clubs so they could understand their market and do a good job. This is recognition for these efforts – well done.
In the ‘not very well done’ pile are Tesco, Kwik-Fit, Budget, Endsleigh and Aviva (used to be Norwich Union with that cringe-making Quote Me Happy ad…). Plenty more in the ‘fairly awful heap’ including Cornhill Direct (I don’t know them), AXA, Swinton (I don’t think they should be here), AIG (not surprised…), Diamond (for women drivers and part of Admiral Group), AA and Quinn Direct (Northern Ireland I believe).
Just for the record Tesco is bottom of the breakdown rescue performance chart with the AA (another surprise) performing badly for value-for-money. LV=’s Britannia Rescue comes in at the top of the charts, followed by GEM Motoring Assist, Autonational Rescue, AutoAid (great value for homecover in particular) and Mondial.
The Auto Express car insurance surveys are more reliable for women drivers than many others because their survey samples are usually huge. And I like this information because it pays to shop around for user feedback not just price… which is why members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club compare notes within the Club to help each other I guess.
FOXY Steph
Tags: Adrian Flux Insurance, Auto Express, good and bad car insurers
Posted in women drivers, women's car insurance | No Comments »
November 19th, 2009
Yet another Motor Trade conference with an all male speaker line-up in an industry where the majority of car sales are influenced by females who are also the more likely gender to be organising where to have the family car serviced or repaired…
And who need courting by female friendly car dealerships before they do much more of their new car shopping online, telling their friends where the deals are…
This is what the Motor Trader conference states…
“We’ve lined up the absolute creme de la creme of the industry to share their knowledge and predictions with you…”
Now I am not disputing that the speakers concerned aren’t impressive names but it would be good to hear from some impressive women too; to represent the growing number of senior female dealership staff and on behalf of female car shoppers in future…
How about discussing how dealerships can market to/reach more women online by being seen as more female friendly in future?
Or how to use aftersales as an alternative route into the showroom?
Yes we do need to have a post scrappage debate – it is essential to stop the industry from slumping into a second and more serious trough in 2010 but this does require some imaginative thinking to stimulate otherwise unimaginative businesses that can’t see how to source sustainable sales for themselves…
Please involve more women speakers in future guys… female experts will be there if you look hard enough.
The industry needs to be seen as more female friendly in future and those that get this right ahead of others should reap rich rewards.
FOXY Steph
Posted in buying a new car, car dealerships, female friendly, marketing to women, women drivers | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009
It’s a good excuse to combine a day out in Southam market knowing that your car is in good hands and being looked after by a female friendly garage that is also a Unipart Car Care Centre, A2Z Services, Southam in Warwickshire.
Given a bit of advance planning, women drivers in Leamington Spa and neighbouring Southam can combine their MOT and/or car service at female friendly garage A2Z Services in Southam and, assuming convenient drop off and collection arrangements with the garage, can do their shopping in the weekly Tuesday market in Wood Street car park followed by a spot of lunch even…
This is one of many ways that females occupy themselves whilst their car is being looked after – we hear of women drivers fitting in hair and nail appointments, going to local fitness centres, playing golf even and the lure of a shopping trip and lunch out with friends is often a great excuse for others!
If that doesn’t work out, no problem, because A2Z Services can arrange for a local car collection and delivery service or provide a courtesy car – both these need arranging well in advance of course but knowing that your garage has passed the female friendly FOXY Choice standard is another reassurance that you can trust this business with your car.
FOXY Steph
Tags: A2Z Services Southam, female friendly garage, Leamington Spa, Southam market, women drivers
Posted in female friendly, garage services, women drivers | No Comments »
November 17th, 2009
According to a recent survey carried out by Sainsbury’s Finance, increased insurance and motoring taxes have added 11% to the cost of motoring since 2007; just imagine what could this could have been without a recession…
Thanks to a Club member based in West Sussex sharing some foxy feedback, we now have a useful comparison of tyre prices to help women drivers when shopping in the Worthing/Littlehampton area, including service levels and fitting arrangements.
To begin with the member knew the specific tyre to buy, all these introductions were made via the members area of FOXY Lady Drivers Club website and whilst Black Circles was the cheapest deal by a small margin, it is clear that National Tyres and Autocare in Worthing would have matched this and the choice would then have been down to one of personal convenience ie where to drive to have these fitted.
“Here’s the result of my comparisons for the supply/fit of four tyres – Yokohama S306 205/55 R16 91V. All prices include VAT.
1) Micheldever – based in Winchester. Although they do a mobile service, they won’t come to Worthing.
2) www.etyres.co.uk – £298.80
3) National Tyres (Worthing).
Spoke to Danny and with the FOXY discount the price would be £275. He then offered to price match any figure I got; fitting is in the centre of Worthing.
4) www.blackcircles.co.uk (via the Foxy members affiliate link)
Using the FOXY discount code the total price would be £246.04 and fitted in Littlehampton (by Littlehampton Tyres)
5) I then phoned ‘Corbetts Tyre & Exhaust’ a local business in Rustington
He didn’t have that specific tyre on his pricelist, so called me back in 10 mins with a price. Total price would be £260 – very close to the normal blackcircles price.
Finally I called Littlehampton Tyres direct and quoted the price I was going to get via Black Circles, with them doing the fitting. But they couldn’t do the price for cheaper so I’ll be placing my order via Black Circles soon – and fitting will be in Littlehampton.”
Needless to say we like to keep on top of prices and to be sure that FOXY Lady members get a fair deal so it’s good to have this feedback to post in our ‘members only’ forum.
If anyone knows better than this in terms of price deals (all things being equal) please let us know. We are not called FOXY for nothing and like to live up to the meaning of the word as in being shrewd, canny and astute; clearly you can negotiate on tyre prices so women drivers need to know where and how to go about this to get better motoring deals in future.
It’s good to share local shopping experiences with other women drivers too as clearly female friendly service levels are often equally as important as the price (within reason…)..
FOXY Steph
Posted in cost of motoring, women drivers | No Comments »
November 9th, 2009
We have just been discussing her choice of new cars with a member near Harrow who was looking at a new MiTo Alfa Romeo among other models on her shopping short list. She liked it when we told her that the name was a combination of the two northern Italian cities Milano and Torino, which explains a lot…
If she buys new she will have a warranty of course and we discussed the whys and wherefores of getting this serviced at a manufacturers dealership and we made sure she understood her choices here. Despite the excellent work done by the Right To Repair campaign many women drivers still think they have to have this work done by a main dealer which is not the case.
In reality sometimes the female motorist chooses the dealership because she wants to take it back to the business she bought it from and, rightly or wrongly, she might decide to pay a bit more for this thinking that it might add value to the resale value of her car when she came to sell it. Which it doesn’t but that’s up to her to decide.
This is anathema to the ears of Eddy Mann who runs Alfaman Services in Harrow opposite Rayners Lane Underground station. Alfaman specialises in Alfas (which can be tricky for some) but services and repairs all makes by the way. One thing that Eddy hates is the reputation the motor industry has for being unfriendly and, too often for either of us, for charging women drivers more for doing less. Perhaps offending businesses think we won’t know any better and clearly some women do retire hurt from these garages, suspecting they have been ripped off some way.
But Eddy is well known for putting the motorist first – for saying what needs doing, what doesn’t need doing yet and what can be fixed cheaply but safely. Alfaman Services is in effect an honest garage in Harrow who has signed the female friendly FOXY Promise and is a FOXY Choice subscriber because of this - which is how we know him.
Which is where this blog started because having talked about Alfas and then finding that the member lives in Harrow she happens to have a readymade garage solution on her doorstep which can save her money in the long term if she decides to buy Alfa.
As always, the choice is hers and we don’t try to tell anyone what to do of course. If any woman driver wants to know where the female friendly garages are and what the membership deals are, she can now ask FOXY Lady Drivers Club and visit FOXY Choice, that’s all.
FOXY Steph
Tags: Alfa Romeo, female friendly garage, FOXY Choice, FOXY Lady Drivers Club, Harrow, Right to Repair campaign
Posted in buying a new car, female friendly, garage services, women drivers | 1 Comment »
November 9th, 2009
I know it’s a minefield and I am not an insurance expert but I have just been talking to a women driver who wanted to know her entitlement to a hire car; she was very distressed with the progress of her car insurance accident claim. Very often we find that the policy stated entitlement to a hire car is too short a period whilst a car is either repaired or the woman needs to buy a replacement – clearly this is a way to cut back on operating costs and reduce premiums/increase profits?
In this instance I was talking about an apparent ‘no fault’ situation ie where the motorist had been asked to pay for costs which she thought were unfair.
The legal precedent here is Clark v Ardington (2002) where female motorist Mrs Clark was driving her Vauxhall when it was hit from behind by a vehicle from Ardington Electrical Services. The case was to do with who should pay for the vehicle hire for Mrs Clark when the accident car repair took longer than it should have done, according to the insurance policy wording ie its terms and conditions. Should it be the motorist or the insurer (to then reclaim this from the guilty party). There were added complications because she had asked her husband to sort it all out for her and perhaps one thought the other had done something and so on.
On this occasion the Court of Appeal determined that Mrs Clark had done nothing wrong and that she should be put back in the same financial position as she was before the accident damage took place. The actual wording of the judgment was
“the fundamental principle is that a person whose car has been damaged is entitled to compensation for the loss caused. In a case where such loss includes loss of use and he (she) establishes a need for a replacement, he (she) is entitled to the cost of hiring a replacement car. He (she) can go round to the nearest car hire company and is prima facie entitled to recover the amount charged whether or not the charge is at the top of the range of car hire rates. However the basic principle is qualified by the duty to take reasonable steps to mitigate the loss. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances.”
As I see it, the emphasis as always is on behaviour that is reasonable BUT any innocent female motorist should not be held liable in these circumstances by a motor insurer if delays to the repair of her vehicle take longer than expected for reasons outside her reasonable control.
She should, however, do her best to minimise these costs ie to choose a comparable car to hire, not the top of the range just because it was there.
But the problem is that many insurers will hide behind their policy wording and use junior staff to try to fend off any claims outside the written word no matter their reasonableness. That’s a summary of FOXY’s experience at least…
Whereas car insurance providers for women who go that extra mile can actively demonstrate providing more than the policy states – that surely adds to customer loyalty and is by far the wiser business strategy in the long term…
If you are shopping for female friendly car insurance soon, you can find out more about female feedback about car insurance for women here.
FOXY Steph
Tags: accident car hire, car insurance for women, Clark v Ardington, FOXY Lady Drivers Club, women driver
Posted in women's car insurance | No Comments »
November 8th, 2009
We are often told that women drivers go into a garage expecting to be ripped off or patronised and that this then makes them aggressive and, occasionally, challenging to deal with.
Just imagine how off-putting this can be if you are a female friendly garage already, wanting to do the right thing for women drivers from the word go yet she is treating you with the same suspicion as she might an unscrupulous garage where this attitude might be totally justified.
So I was interested to read the latest US research that people behave less charitably in dirtier environments than in a clean work place which is what they found in a study called The Smell of Virtue, carried out at the Kellogg School of Management at North Western University. Not only do morality and cleanliness go hand in hand it would appear but simply making a room smell fresher is enough to cause a subconscious impulse towards fair play and honesty.
In this study, just a few sprays of a lemon-scented cleaner produced a noticeable improvement in ethical behaviour whereas those who worked in unfragranced areas were less likely to act charitably to others.
May I suggest that the UK motor industry come up with a suitably fragranced range of reception and workshop scents to be used in garages and dealerships? One that masks testosterone perhaps?
I believe in this theory because I know that smell sells all sorts of things; just the smell of freshly roasted coffee can sell the experience of living in the house that is one the market…
In this instance, I imagine that a female associates a clean (neat and tidy) organisation with one she wants to do business with, whereas one whose reception and waiting area are coloured black, and smell of fuel and oils, may well be seen as a dirty business in her mind. This scent association can then transfer to the brand and the garage experience in her head - suggesting that this is a business that will care about her family safety, or not as the case might be.
How interesting to imagine that the right garage scent could reassure suspicious women drivers and surly front of house garage staff to find some common ground with a view to a future business relationship!
I hope one of the leading air freshener companies might give this a whirl and suggest they call such a range ‘FOXY Scents’ for garages that want to make their businesses more female friendly in future . We’d be happy to introduce some female friendly FOXY Choice garage subscribers to act as guinea pigs here!!
FOXY Steph
Tags: female friendly, FOXY Choice, freshener, scent, The Smell of Virtue
Posted in female friendly, garage services, marketing to women, women drivers | No Comments »
November 7th, 2009
You’ll have noticed that when you start to type in a search, Google tries to be helpful listing your choices below so you can see how many searches have been made by others for specific terms.
I think this service started in the summer so I’ve been watching how it copes with ‘female friendly garage’ and, believe me, not so long ago some one million searches were recorded and this has since risen to two million.
If you think about it, this is a very ambitious service to offer and it could be that some of the slow risers (a million here and a million there aren’t rapid risers compared with the likes of Twitter and other trendy websites) simply aren’t on the priority list of Google records, but it’s good to know there is something for us to measure how effectively FOXY Choice is managing to get the ‘female friendly garage’ message out to women drivers, always with limited marketing money to do the job.
Just to illustrate the wackiness of some of the search results Google is trying to compute, amid guffaws, have a look at their collection of some of the strangest…
I think this will be very useful and it has helped me to illustrate that what we are leading towards ie a more female friendly motor industry is where women drivers want to go! I am reassured too…
FOXY Steph
Tags: female friendly, female friendly garage, Google, suggestions
Posted in female friendly, garage services, women drivers | No Comments »
November 3rd, 2009
As you might expect from a female friendly garage that has signed the FOXY Promise to never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell women services they do not need or want, Collison’s garage at Waterlooville, Portsmouth almost bends over backwards to make local women drivers feel at home, recognising that many females dread going to a garage in an industry with a poor reputation for customer service.
In fact Collison Motor Services won the prestigious Motor Trader’s Award in 2006 for Excellence in Customer Care and they continue to do the sort of things that make women feel at home, like employing women for starters, welcoming Mums with children, providing internet access and saving local women time with their convenient car collection and courtesy car services.
One new service with a difference that we’ve just spotted – have a look at their website and the Can-Am bike for hire. Wouldn’t that make a terrific Xmas gift with a difference for the man in your life? And you could be reassured knowing that it was from a local female friendly garage… which is also listed at new website www.femalefriendlyapproved.com.
I never fail to be impressed with the entrepreneurial ideas that our FOXY Choice subscribers come up with.
FOXY Steph
Tags: Can-Am bike, car hire, Collison Motor Services, female friendly garage, FOXY Choice, Portsmouth, Waterlooville
Posted in female friendly, garage services, women drivers | No Comments »
November 3rd, 2009
Female friendly garage Colbert Auto Services of Benfleet in Essex is offering local women drivers the opportunity to book their MOT online for just £45 representing a saving of some £8. Colbert’s Kevin Jones knows that more and more women are responsible for looking after their car’s maintenance and doing their garage shopping online.
‘This is our way to help women save time and money – they can also take advantage of considerably lower prices than at franchised dealers if any work is needed for their car to pass the MOT test’.
Women drivers are reasssured that Colbert Auto Services is one of the best garages because it is a BSI Kitemark licensee and has subscribed to the female friendly FOXY Choice garage network. This also means they have signed the FOXY Promise to ‘never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell their customers services they do not need or want’.
They are now listed at the new femalefriendlyapproved.com website.
FOXY Steph
Tags: Benfleet, BSI Kitemark, Colbert Auto Services, Essex, female friendly garage, FOXY Choice
Posted in female friendly, garage services, women drivers | No Comments »