The majority of women feel intimidated taking their car to the garage and many would prefer female only garages, a new poll has revealed. So says Diamond Insurance who asked more than 4,000 women from across the country and found that more than half (52%) find taking their car to the garage daunting and a third (31%) would prefer the comfort and reassurance of women only garages.
The survey also showed that 60% of women find car sales people patronising, and a third would prefer to buy a car from a woman given the choice.
Sian Lewis, managing director of Diamond said, “According to our research over 70% of women know how to check the oil, water and tyre pressure on their car yet garages still seem to be very much men’s domain and can be intimidating for some women. Women only garages could make for a more comfortable experience.”
Unsurprisingly when you think about it 19 to 25 year olds are the least confident when taking their car to a garage as they are fairly new to the experience despite being professional shoppers on the High Street. Whereas the over 55s are the most confident and least likely to put up with being patronised I’d have thought.
57% of the younger women in the survey felt intimidated by garages, compared to only 37% of the over 55s.
Diamond recommends and uses the National Service Network (NSN) for MOTs, car servicing and repairs as part of their car insurance policies for women drivers. NSN acts as an agent for organisations like Diamond and businesses that run vehicle fleets, vetting the big independent garages they sign up, offering a central booking system for motorists then liaising with the garages and expelling those that don’t do it their way.
Motorists pay NSN not the garage and NSN takes a commission for doing this of course. Then Diamond’s policy holders/fleet drivers and so on get discounts on their MOTs and car servicing prices and the central client organisation such as Diamond will want a commission too…. so those garages who want work from NSN have to be prepared to work at very low rates simply to keep business ticking over and to pay their overheads.
It must be difficult for them to get the balance of work right; whether to work flat out for little money, given the demand, or to concentrate on finding more lucrative business for themselves.
So if any NSN garages are feeling a bit fed up, reading Diamond’s survey and wondering if they might now be expected to change sex as well for their customers 
this is an invitation to do a much simpler thing! As well as working for Diamond, why not promote your evidently female friendly services to local women drivers by signing up to the FOXY Choice marketing services website?
We’ll then promote you to members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club where you can show off your best quality and female friendly credentials in a less expensive and less painful way in future .
FOXY Steph
