A Ladies Garage evening in Leeds

Nightingale Service Centre in Horsham and Motor Marque garage in North Leeds are both organising free and timely Ladies Evenings in November to give women drivers cold weather motoring tips and foxy advice about caring for your car during what may well be a harsh winter.

When we recruit garages to FOXY Choice’s female friendly network we expect subscribers to sign our FOXY Promise (to never overcharge, patronise or sell women anything they don’t need or want to buy) and a minimum commitment to quality, value, cleanliness and a genuinely friendly customer welcome. But for non-compulsory ‘female friendly’ brownie points FOXY Choice particularly likes to see garages that employ women in customer facing roles and organise ladies evenings to help women run their cars

Two such FOXY Choice subscribers are organising special Ladies* Evenings this November in Horsham, West Sussex and Leeds in West Yorkshire.

*men welcome too of course (but few think they need this ); FOXY recommends these evenings to ALL novice drivers regardless of gender.

HORSHAM 29 November 2011 from 6-8pm
Nightingale Service Centre tel: 01403 253068 (ask for Shelly or Austin)
Free of charge but including a cuppa and a very merry mince pie in between practical tips on winter driving and hands on oil and wheel changing advice.

NORTH LEEDS 16 November 2011 from 6.30 to 8.30pm
Motor Marque tel: 0113 288 8899 (ask for Louise or Mark)
Free of charge but including refreshments, practical winter driving tips and associated seasonal motoring matters that women want to know about!

Please note that all women attending these sessions will receive a gift membership to FOXY Lady Drivers Club worth £23 so it also makes financial sense to sign up whilst there are still spaces.

FOXY Steph

PS Any men attending can nominate a foxy lady to receive their Club membership gift of course!

How can you tell if a garage is female friendly or not?

A good start is to look for the foxy logo because FOXY Choice is the UK’s only female friendly garage network to identify, approve and monitor female friendly garages, promoting them to women drivers.

No other website lists or checks a range of quality credentials such as ATA, BSI Kitemark and OFT logos. Such is the importance of measurable quality workmanship to fussy FOXY that we even give garage holders with these a discount on our subscription rates!

So if you see a FOXY branded (2011-2012) Female Friendly Garage Code on reception walls you know you can trust that garage, dealership or accident repair body shop to have made a commitment to

• Industry accredited staff
• Ethical behaviour
• A fixed price menu
• Local car collection or courtesy car
• Jargon free explanations
• No hidden costs
• A warm welcome
• A drink made available
• A comfortable waiting area
• A clean washroom
• Current magazines for females
• Books or toys to entertain the children

Whereas if a garage claims to be female friendly but there’s no sign of the fox logo in evidence you can’t know what their service levels are going to be.

And in case they don’t know of FOXY Choice and our services, please introduce us!

We’re always looking for good garage feedback from females so please tell us what you think and we’ll thank you for taking the time, with a free subscription to FOXY Lady Drivers Club that’s worth £23.  While this promotion lasts…

Yet another female friendly gesture to share important feedback so other lady drivers can be foxy (as in shrewd, canny and astute) in future and look forward to better customer services in future…

FOXY Steph

Readers of my blog will know that I have firm views about garage quality standards and that even I find the industry’s competing schemes to be confusing from a motorists point of view.

But in an industry with such a poor reputation in so many female minds FOXY Choice’s criteria for female friendly garages includes identifying all evidence of quality wherever we find it because otherwise bad garages line up all too easily alongside good garages without any easy way for women (our target audience) to see which garages they can trust and then recommend to their family and friends.

We then promote female friendly garages to women via FOXY Choice and FOXY Lady Drivers Club websites and in blog mentions like this one as well as at Facebook and Twitter, where applicable.

And to complete the process, we encourage good garage feedback which we share online with other local women drivers.

So, when I meet a garage proprietor with equally strong views as mine, who agrees with me about garage regulation being the holy grail, and who is clearly ploughing his own quality furrow, I have a great deal of respect for his opinions about quality standards in the garage industry.

I am talking about Brunswick Garage in New Southgate, London N11  which is owned and run by Andy Savva. Who tells me he doesn’t join any of the industry badged schemes because his training regime is better than them all…

And I was reminded about this conversation by reading a feature about Brunswick Garage in a motor industry magazine this week so I thought it was about time that we looked at how Andy and his female friendly garage are doing things, for local women drivers in the Friern Barnet, New Southgate and Barns Green areas of North London.

For starters, female customers are in for a very pleasant surprise walking into Brunswick Garage’s spacious and stylish reception area with designer sofas, flatscreen TVs, homemade cakes, free WiFi and a coffee machine.

The business says it specialises in BMW, Audi, VW and Mini makes of cars but the staff are sufficiently well trained, with the latest diagnostic equipment to handle most makes of vehicles imaginable. Their expertise is down to Andy’s commitment to the best staff training; he doesn’t believe that a technician can ever be fully qualified ‘because there’s always more to be learned in an industry where technology marches forward regardless’. Very true.

Both Andy and I agree that the people who know cars better than anyone else are likely to include the manufacturers so that’s where Andy chooses to send his staff for training, who are then trained alongside franchised dealership staff.

Finally I’d like to make a few observations about the efficiency of the garage business so you can see how well thought through the whole operation has been. For starters, Andy’s garage building includes a part which is occupied by a Motor Parts supplier he gets his parts from. So when your car needs replacement car parts the purchasing staff just nip next door rather than wait for a distributor to put the part on their next delivery. And very soon they won’t need to do that because the part will be automatically ordered via a computer link and brought to the guy doing the job.

The size of the workshop area means a better than normal choice of car tyres to hand and no fewer than 8 of the latest vehicle lifts, each with essential equipment such as airguns and ratchets to hand of course, so that the business is as efficient as it can be coping with high volume and offering speedy repair slots.

But you won’t find trade membership or industry scheme certificates up on the wall remember, other than the FOXY Choice Female Friendly approved one that is, and I hope you now understand why. And you can be reassured that Brunswick Garage is one of the best and most female friendly garages in North London.

Quality, value for money, cleanliness and a genuine warm welcome. We think it ticks all the boxes that women like to see before they start to trust a garage, look forward to visiting it and refer it to their friends. Which is why Female Friendly garages are so successful of course.

FOXY Steph

The first Top Ten UK dealership group to sign up to the FOXY Choice approved FEMALE FRIENDLY garage network scheme is Vertu Motors plc.

If you don’t recognise that name, chances are you’ll know them better by their trading names Bristol Street Motors, Macklin Motors, Vertu Honda and Motor Nation.

This dealership group is clearly committed to getting things right for women customers.  They employ an impressive number of female staff in customer facing roles which reassures wary women in what many perceive to be male dominated environments.

Women feel more at ease seeing ‘women like them’ that they can talk to if they wish. I think this traces back to our deep-rooted concerns after hearing so many stories about women being overcharged, patronised and baffled by unnecessary jargon in other garages.

Vertu Motors is also keen to employ women in a wide range of exciting careers in the UK motor industry.  That’s another indication of their FEMALE FRIENDLY commitment  because it’s surely easier to recruit men who are more likely to have industry experience (thus perpetuating the 80:20 male:female gender ratio of motor industry staff) and it must be tempting for men to recruit in their own likeness.

So it has been refreshing to meet Vertu’s Group Aftersales Manager, Cath Thompson, and to see a high percentage of the participating dealerships nominate a Female Business Ambassador to act as the eyes and ears of their women customers in future. We all agree that women want to be treated like women, not men, and have different needs and expectations in many instances.

For example, women like to see genuine signs of quality (the more the merrier in this industry), we don’t like fog-factor jargon, we expect clean washrooms and, if we decide to wait for our car, we want to know we can have a drink and read some female friendly magazines whilst we do… And because Vertu Motors dealerships tick these boxes and more, this goes a long way towards making them FEMALE FRIENDLY businesses in FOXY Choice’s UK network.

Needless to say all motorists benefit from courtesy car and car collection services but I am confident that women will be reassured by Bristol Street Motors and Macklin Motors  promise of a ‘free and no obligation inspection of any car that is causing concern’. This is part of the evidence FOXY Choice looks for that the business in question is going that extra mile for its local customers. And that they are prepared to stand up and be counted by our independent monitoring services that encourage garage feedback via the FOXY Choice website.

Nobody’s perfect of course, and this is a big Group with lots of employees, but it’s good to sense a business that not only wants to get it right for its women customers and staff but also grasps the business imperative that being FEMALE FRIENDLY is all about customer loyalty and future referrals at the end of the day.

FOXY Steph

The UK motoring industry celebrates yet another accolade earned by Sue Brownson, one of its most inspirational female leaders.

Blue Bell BMW Group Managing Director, Sue Brownson OBE, was elected ‘Master of the Coach & Coach Harness Makers’ on 1st September 2011, becoming the first ever female to hold this highly acclaimed position with The Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers of London.

The Coachmakers’ Company is a charitable association whose roots go back to the heady days of coach and coach harness making and which now promotes excellence in today’s automotive, aerospace and rail industries.

Together with husband Christopher, Sue heads up the Blue Bell Group, which includes four BMW and MINI dealerships plus an accident repair centre in Cheshire. She was awarded an OBE in 1998 and last year was honoured with the title ‘Modern Muse’ by Everywoman which is designed to inspire the next generation of female business leaders.

As part of her ‘Master of the Coachmakers’ Award, Sue will oversee The Coachmakers’ Company’s charitable work concerning the allocation of donations made towards training in the automotive and aerospace industries as well as educational bursaries for lucky students studying Motor Vehicle Design at the Royal College of Art.

I was lucky enough to discuss my FOXY business plans with Sue a couple of years ago. I called her out of the blue, to ask her advice, and she kindly called me back. She spent her valuable time advising me for free and shared her BMW perspective during an extremely busy time of the motoring calendar. This was tremendously helpful insight whilst I was launching the FOXY Choice approved female friendly garage marketing services.

The important thing to remember is that women who make it to the top in the motor industry aren’t just exceptional women, they are usually considerably more dedicated, talented and ambitious than men because the journey to the top is such a tough one.

Sadly, this is likely to deter many women who don’t see the UK motor industry as the exciting career it can be; simply because 80%+ of industry employees are male and you can FEEL this in too many garages and showrooms today.

Fortunately the industry is starting to realised that it makes business sense to be more female friendly at all levels; starting at the top where Sue wields her influence most.

Research tells us that female staff can add serious profit to the bottom line for several reasons. Not only are wary women customers more likely to trust businesses that employ women (we can sense the female friendly difference) but businesses that get service levels right for women (by treating us like women not men) also know that we’re more loyal, refer more customers and are ever ready brand ambassadors whenever the time is right.

Congratulations Sue for all your efforts to make it easier for talented others to rise to the top in future. We need more women in senior management where we are as talented as men; I for one do not subscribe to the theory that women need to be encouraged into mechanical or technical roles with so many other people-oriented jobs to be done where we are more naturally gifted.

FOXY Steph

Research conducted by tyre retailer ATS Euromaster reveals that 23% of motorists confess to turning to their fathers for everyday advice about their cars.

Whereas a surprisingly low number (just one in five) ask their local garage or service centre for advice.

Unsurprisingly ATS Euromaster found that women drivers are more likely to turn to their Dads, with one in three (37%) asking them for help with their cars. The most common reason was for advice on how to change a tyre (40%) followed closely by how to check tyre pressure (35%).

This supports previous industry surveys confirming that women drivers will often go to extreme lengths to postpone and avoid garage visits because they find them too blokey and unfriendly places where they are likely to be patronised or ripped off.

Not only is this worrying from a safety point of view but this image is not very helpful in an unregulated industry with so many quality players in it, like ATS Euromaster of course. Few Dads are as knowledgeable as garage professionals (so longer terms problems are less likely to be detected), they aren’t always the safe pair of hands we might imagine and few have the right diagnostic equipment or the capability to get at key maintenance areas in modern cars. But Dads are cheaper than garages, you don’t have to go to unfriendly garages if he can do it for you and many Dads often seem to care more about their daughter’s motoring welfare than some mechanics!

The sad thing is that the female market is a HUGE sales opportunity for the best garages to get their act together and adopt challenging FOXY Choice approved FEMALE FRIENDLY standards where we promote measurable quality standards, garages with women in customer facing roles and are actively working hard to restore female trust levels in garages. It is quite simple – women have very reasonable service expectations of garages – they simply expect MORE for their money, want to be treated with RESPECT and AS WOMEN NOT MEN.

So I am surprised to see that ATS Euromaster is asking us to nominate Dads to be included in their ‘expert’ panel. I would have thought they would have had plenty of experts on hand already and perhaps some of them might be female?

Anita Ellis, Online Marketing Manager at ATS Euromaster explains their reasoning that: “With one in six people admitting they ask their Dads about absolutely everything to do with their cars, our research shows that there are thousands of Dads offering motoring advice to their loved ones and not receiving the praise and recognition they deserve. We want to reward these unsung heroes, so we’re launching a nationwide search to find the Dads who are in pole-position when it comes to motoring advice.”

Up to five Dads will be chosen to be part of ATS Euromaster’s expert panel and will each win up to £250 to spend on their cars. All entries must be received by Sunday 2nd October 2011.

Alternatively by all means check for a FOXY Choice approved FEMALE FRIENDLY garage that has signed the FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need’ and where you can see ones that employ females and comparative signs of measurable garage quality near you.

We’d also welcome any recent female garage feedback HERE.

FOXY Steph

Here’s a great explanation of why your MOT REALLY matters written by Simon Ross of Hove MOT.com. He also explains what happens when it’s taken to a FOXY Choice approved and highly stylish FEMALE FRIENDLY GARAGE like his in Hove of course….

OK it’s a bit technical but hang in there so when someone asks you whether you agree with the EU that MoTs would be OK every other year, you’ll know why the UK model of a MoT safety check every year is best for road safety reasons and can save us lives.

Here’s what Simon has to say about all this…

“Not everybody has a natural affinity with the mechanics of a car, just because you can drive one. Without sounding condescending I have tried to map out a simplified view of what and why a component failure can be dangerous to help a driver identify what might be wrong with their car.

There are a vast number of components on any car that can fail to do what they were meant to and make a car dangerous and it’s almost impossible to predict which component might fail and when.

However, the MOT test has been designed to put a car under various stresses that can replicate road use in order to allow a trained tester to see if vital moving parts are doing what they’re meant to do.

Brakes

The brakes on a car are probably the most important but are also the easiest parts to test, the visual inspection carried out by the MOT tester will tell him if the brake pads & discs are in good serviceable order and the rolling road will test the cars braking ability and how evenly distributed this is.

The part marked “Rotor” is otherwise known as the brake disc, it is the part that rotates with the wheel, it is compressed by the brake shoes to create friction in order to slow or stop the wheel from turning when the driver depresses the brake pedal.

The parts marked “Pads” are the brake pads, they are made of a steel backing plate and a man made fibrous bloke that is designed to press against the disc to create friction, obviously, over time, both the pads and disc will wear away.

Part of the visual inspection of the car braking system is to see how much of the man made block is still in serviceable condition, if a driver allows the block to wear too thin it will lose braking ability and severely damage the disc, eventually the brakes will fail completely.

There are clear guidelines set out by VOSA (the governing body of MOT testing) that give a specific minimum depth for the brake pad so that, with regular servicing and annual MOT testing, it should be almost impossible for a motorist to find themselves driving with pads that are likely to fail or damage the disc.

This is one of the simple aspects of motor car maintenance and MOT testing.

Ball Joints

Ball joints, much like the human body, are the mechanical version of a hip joint; a ball sits inside a cup (trapped) in order to allow the joint to move in numerous directions without becoming detached.

Also like the human version, a ball joint can become worn through use and can develop flat spots or become loose, the joints are often protected by grease filled rubber socks that can deteriorate or split allowing the lubricating grease to escape, therefore, the joint will become dry, possibly rust and fail to move correctly or become very noise or break.

During the MOT test, depending on whether a manual or an automated test is being carried out, all of these joints are tested. On an automated test lane the car is placed on a machine that puts the front wheels through a variety of different stress tests, this shows any excessive movement within the various joints.

On a manual MOT test, a similar process is carried out by two men with an iron bar that is used to apply pressure on the individual joints.

Clunking noises are the most common tell-tale signs of a worn ball joint, another common fault being a broken coil spring in the suspension assembly.

Suspension

The two most common components in a suspension assembly are the shock absorber suspension struts and the coil springs that wrap around them.

With continued deterioration of our road surfaces and an extremely noticeable increase in potholes, the suspension assemblies on our cars are coming under constant attack, this combined with rust causes coil springs to break quite easily.

One of the MOT test physical/visual checks is for the tester to run his/her hand over the length of the spring, quite often it can be found to have broken inside the retaining cup at the bottom of the spring, however, they can also fracture in more obvious places in the midway area.

Loud clunking and banging when driving over speed humps (a further cause of broken springs) is clearly evident.

The potential loss of control with suspension failure is enough to know that it is a repair that must be carried out IMMEDIATELY, especially if it is the front suspension. Sadly there is little one can do regarding maintaining springs, like so many parts on the modern car they are considered to be “consumables” they have a relatively short life expectancy.

Exhaust Pipe

The exhaust pipe is not simply a metal tube to transport the exhaust gases of a car away from the engine; it has evolved quite dramatically over the years and is now a far more important component to the way in which your car operates.

A normal internal combustion engine fueled by either diesel or petrol will produce poisonous gases; in the early years of motoring these gases were not recognised as poisonous and very little attention was drawn to them. However, over many years and the production of millions of cars, it became apparent that the poisonous gases and increasing levels of engine noise needed to be controlled. We would live in a very different world if the exhaust system had not been introduced as a necessary automotive component.

The exhaust pipe ensures that the poisonous and noxious gases are kept away from the occupants of the car and, ideally, from pedestrians. It is fitted with mufflers or silencers to ensure that the engine noise is within allowable decibel levels and the catalytic converter removes most of the poisons from the exhaust gases.

All in all, the exhaust system does rather a lot.

With regard to MOT testing and maintaining a car properly, the areas of concern are:

1)   Exhaust gas leaks that could poison occupants.
2)   Open joints or broken exhaust sections that would allow a distinct increase in engine noise.
3)   The security of fixings ensuring that the exhaust system, like any other component, cannot fall off of the car and, potentially, cause damage to the car behind which; could cause an accident.
4)   That the catalytic converter is absorbing sufficient poisons, this would become clear during the engine emission test.

Tyres

The only point of contact that your car should have with the ground is through your tyres so they are absolutely critical to your safety and should be maintained regularly and replaced before they become a time bomb.

Tyres can wear in different ways under different circumstances:

All of these types of tyre wear are very common, a tyre being over or under inflated is the most common but also the easiest to resolve, all modern cars (normally inside the fuel filler flap or in the drivers door shut) are marked with the correct tyre pressures, these should always be checked regularly and especially before long trips.

Alignment problems can often be resolved easily by a trained mechanic or tyre fitter with the help of a laser alignment tool, the fact that a wheel is out of alignment may well be the result of a pot hole or kerb impact.

The wear caused by a failing suspension strut or shock absorber can also be easily resolved by a trained mechanic.

None of these wear patterns should ever be allowed to occur and with regular servicing, maintenance and annual MOT testing, the root cause would normally be resolved before costly repairs are required.

The kind of damage that cannot be avoided is the type of thing caused by pot holes:

Lights

I think lights pretty much speak for themselves but it still astonishes me how often cars are presented for an MOT test with either lights not working at all or with wiring faults that make the wrong lights illuminate, also very common.

One of the most common MOT fails is light alignment, this only applies to the headlights, it’s when the angle of the headlight unit is set incorrectly so that it looks as if you’re either driving with full beam on all of the time or they are pointing too far to the left or right or they are so low that the driver cannot see far enough ahead.

All MOT test centres are equipped with a calibrated light alignment system which determines acceptable tolerances for both high and low beam settings.

Indicator lights must be yellow/orange, this used to mean that the actual lense was coloured but these days they are generally fitted with a coloured bulb, this certainly makes replacing the unit cheaper but the coloured paint on the bulb often flakes off leaving white light so the bulb needs replacing more often.

Many modern cars are now fitted with two low level brake lights and one high level central brake light. Current VOSA legislation states that only two of the three need to be working to pass an MOT test, however, if three are fitted then common sense says they should all be working.”
________________

Thank you very much Simon. Click here to find out about his MOT garage in Hove and what makes it different from so many others.

FOXY Steph

PG Mitchell Motor Engineers is a privately owned and female friendly garage in the west end of Lincoln, within walking distance of the city centre and easily accessed from the Lincoln bypass.

A member of the FOXY Choice approved FEMALE FRIENDLY garage network, PG Mitchell also provides specialist services for members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club and their families. In addition to the usual MoTs, car servicing and general repairs, these include time saving maintenance services such as a free tyre pressure check and free levels check (meaning oils, coolant and brake fluids) to members producing their membership card on arrival.

And during September they have an even better offer for women drivers in Lincoln – pop in and they’ll offer you a gift membership of the Club, worth £23, for free.

This comes with all sorts of reassuring and handholding support services so that women can save time, money and stress levels when it comes to every aspect of their everyday motoring.

You could say we’re the equivalent of a girl’s best motoring friend because we’re totally independent, put women’s best interests first and we know who the good guys are because of the female feedback we receive about cars, garage services, dealerships, road accident services, insurance and finance matters.

If you live in Lincoln and you’d like to try a FEMALE FRIENDLY independent garage in Lincoln, why not call 01522 539137 and speak to Mr Mitchell about this now.

FOXY Steph

How much is it going to be guys?

Some companies clearly think you can buy customer loyalty but that’s often a very short term marketing strategy. It is grossly unfair that she who haggles hardest gets a better deal than she who doesn’t know to haggle or what her choices are…

But should we need to haggle to get a price we should all be offered in the first place? It’s not very British after all. I prefer to know where I am, with businesses publishing a fixed price menu, and/or promising me their best price and then offering me a simple price matching guarantee should I find a lower price elsewhere after paying my money (terms apply of course). I’m usually suspicious of cheap prices anyway, especially in garages I don’t know, for fear of being ripped off in the end.

And whilst successful hagglers are usually assertive types (more often male, truth be told) who enjoy the chase for the lowest possible prices, I suggest that for every one woman who enjoys negotiating, there are two of us who feel this is probably below our dignity…we don’t have to do this on the High Street after all.

Which is why comparison websites are so popular of course because we can see our price choices without any stress; even though we all know we get what we pay for and that it’s vital to read the small print before we buy car insurance, for example. If only to see the excess we’re underwriting and whether it’ll cost us more to choose a FOXY Choice approved female friendly bodyshop for our accident repairs.

But why should those who don’t like to haggle be expected to live with a second rate deal? In fact, these females can be ones that tend to trust a business yet they are often the ones exploited by unscrupulous businesses. They don’t get a deal because they didn’t like to ask…

Take the following telecoms and insurance organisations, for example, who MoneySavingExpert.com tells us will reduce their prices if existing customers threaten to take their business elsewhere…  AA Breakdown, Admiral, BT, O2, Orange, Sky, T-Mobile, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone.

Those customers that threaten to take their business away save money, often quite a lot, whereas those that simply pay up regardless, pay more. Is that style of caveat emptor behaviour really fair? And what is even worse in my opinion is that very often existing customers are better off cancelling and signing up again because of preferential deals many offer new customers. Women don’t necessarily do this, because of the hassle involved at the time, but we aren’t stupid, the rot has set in and many of us will jump ship as soon as it suit us.

I am particularly interested in the subject of customer loyalty in the UK motor industry because many car dealerships will do a better new car buying deal at the end of a month or a sales quarter; whenever there is a sales target to be met. But who realises this when they walk into a showroom – the car salesman, who is often on commission, is not going to tell you this…

In FOXY’s experience the majority of women find haggling stressful and this mindset, in an unfamiliar shopping environment like a garage or car showroom, may explain why we often feel ill at ease and like to take a man with us for support. In 2011 for goodness sake; when women are the professional shoppers and the BIG gender spenders!

On the flipside, businesses that adopt and stick to a ‘What You See is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) ‘no haggle’ policy are likely to be trusted more than others. It seems a more open and honest way to do business, it’s definitely less stressful and it’s clearly fairer for all.

If only the price we were quoted was always the best price at the time! Then the motor industry wouldn’t have the reputation it has for ripping off solo females (and many men who are less likely to admit that it happens to them too) who don’t know how to react in garages, dealerships or when dealing with a stressful accident claim.

FOXY Steph

PS: Visit the FOXY Choice website to find out which female friendly UK garages, dealerships and fastfits have signed a commitment to not ‘overcharge, patronise or sell women anything they do not need or want.’ That’s the FOXY Promise and whilst it is primarily for women (because FOXY is a female brand) it’s also the sign of a measurably better and more trustworthy business for men too.

Please see our latest interview with FOXY Choice’s Female Business Ambassador, Eileen Jack, who runs female friendly Lambert Street Garage in Halifax.

Eileen has been a supporter of the FOXY Choice approved garage scheme since its very early days.

Unlike some opportunistic garage owners who want to see if what we do means foxy ladies queuing at their door without any effort on their part, Eileen takes the female friendly business agenda very seriously.

She understands the female dynamics of course and that it’s often the very sight of a female in the business that reassures wary females; convincing them to visit Lambert Street Garage rather than another local garage. Right or wrong, many women are distrustful of males in the motor industry either based on their past experiences or the stories they have heard from others.

But it’s only when you interview someone that you start to get a feel for the person, their business principles and the other loves in their lives.

It is clear that Eileen loves horses as well as engines and we now know Lambert Street Garage is a female friendly family business which she runs with her son. Her husband brought her into the business and it’s equally evident that she does her job well and it’s sorting out her customers’ motoring problems that really turns her on.

And that is what makes a successful business of course. We’re not just here to make money on one-off sales, we’re here to make a difference through customer relationships. Get things right for the customer – exceed her expectations wherever you can, and she’ll pay back in spades through loyalty, referrals and by acting as your brand ambassador whenever she can.

Which is why having a Female Brand Ambassador in any business (but particularly in one with such a male dominated image) makes such good sense. And why, if you are female, it makes good sense to promote your existence and the fact that any wary customer (male or female alike) can speak to you about their car if they’d prefer.

And if the Female Business Ambassador isn’t the business owner, who is likely to do all this sort of thing instinctively, it surely makes business sense to appoint the right female to represent women’s best interests in this business. And to back her judgement and ideas to bring you more female business in future.

FOXY Steph

“I don’t mind living in a man’s world if I can be a woman in it.” Marilyn Monroe