There are several factors that influence the choice of a good garage. These are the quality of the garage workmanship (first and foremost because of the safety implications) then comes value for money (a good independent garage is likely to be much cheaper but a good franchised dealership might offer more services and facilities to suit) and of course the location of a garage.
Many female (and male) motorists think that choosing a garage is much like popping into the supermarket – you go to the nearest one and chances are you’ll get much the same service whether it’s a MOT, servicing or repair you need. Few realise that the UK garage industry is is an unregulated industry where garages do not have to be licensed to start trading, where any garage can pay to be listed in a good garage guide regardless and where the majority of mechanics are not qualified but are still allowed to repair our cars. Mystery shopping surveys always reveal that industry standards are not high enough… whether it’s a garage, fastfit or dealership.
To find out more about this subject (not the sexiest read going, I admit…) you can read FOXY’s Good Garage Guide.
To find a good and female friendly garage near you, you can check out the FOXY Choice website, entering your postcode to see what your local choice is. In addition to highlighting quality logos such as ATA, BSI, any Trading Standard’s Motor Trade Partnerships and the OFT’s fully approved Service and Repair Code of Practice (these are the best in our industry today…) individual garage entries will often tell you when they are near to shops and/or leisure facilities and which ones will collect your car and/or offer you a courtesy car service at servicing or repair times.
Very soon we’ll be adding online testimonials from females and highlighting those garages and dealerships that employ females. To a certain degree this might sound like mollycoddling women drivers to the detriment of some fantastically female friendly garages that are staffed by all male teams but the reality is that many women drivers worry about being patronised or even intimidated in a male dominated environment and the presence of a female to talk to, where necessary, can be very reassuring. I’d add that all FOXY Choice subscribers have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need or want’ which is a strong indication that a business is female friendly and heading in the right direction’.
Such is the poor image of the UK motor industry in the mind of many female customers that it needs a complete female friendly marketing makeover to win their hearts and minds in future…
And come that day 
, there are many leading UK garages, fastfits and dealerships that can demonstrate much higher standards for women drivers in terms of workmanship, value, cleanliness and customer service that will stand out in the crowd…
FOXY Steph
