This means that poorly maintained cars are less safe and more likely to break down or have accidents as a result.

Kwik-Fit customer services director David White said: “The research seems to support some traditional views of male and female attitudes to car maintenance. However, whatever the reasons for so many drivers not checking their cars between MoTs, the result is that their car could have faults which aren’t spotted for up to a year. Around a third of cars fail their MoTs on illegal tyre tread, unsafe brake wear or a damaged windscreen.”

What David fails to highlight is that these cars may well be unsafe for their owners and/or dangerous to other motorists and pedestrians.

The poll reveals that as many as 19% of motorists do not carry out any maintenance checks at all between MoT tests. Women owners who do not make any checks are twice as likely as men because [sic] ‘they do not know what they are looking for.’

No patronising judgement there then Kwik Fit…

On balance, I don’t think this makes ignorant women drivers any less culpable than lazy men but I am surprised that insurance companies are not insisting on proof of regular maintenance from them (which FOXY could provide of course…)

Yes this is scary from a road safety point of view but it is now time for

1   the industry to realise that it needs to get the safety message across to ALL motorists and

2   insurers to start to penalise motorists who don’t get their cars checked regularly.

Shameless plug follows – women drivers who are members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club can take advantage of FREE quarterly car fitness checks carried out by FOXY approved garage professionals and which include tyres, oil, coolant levels, emissions and a seasonal check such as the car’s air conditioning system, brake fluid levels, anti freeze and battery performance.

SO why don’t women’s  car insurers reward female motorists who can demonstrate taking care of their cars?

FOXY Steph

Most of us are aware of the statistics about young men drivers causing more than 90% of all fatalities and serious injuries on the road. Hence the lesser risk assessment for car insurance premiums for younger female motorists.

Previous research suggested that men and women between the age of 30 and 60 were similarly competent drivers, judged by their driving record and insurance claims.

After that, older women had more accidents but they were often local bumps that were less serious and less expensive to repair. I had assumed that they were normally paid for by the motorist within their excess and I have always advocated the likes of the Driving Standards Agency’s Arrive Alive training programme (called Classic for older drivers) for organisations like the WI and TWG to include in their local membership events programmes.

But I read in Guardian Money that insurers are now charging women drivers aged 75 some 50% more for their car insurance than men. From the age of 80 this rises to a staggering supplement of 100%. Ouch.

Unsurprisingly, linked to predictable baby boomer birth rates and social trends the number of women drivers over 70 with licences has increased dramatically from 4% in 1976 to the 1990s figure of 20% and it is now at 36%. This will continue to grow as those of us with driving licences age and replace Mums and Grans who perhaps didn’t drive in their day.

The crossover point at which women start paying more than men has, according to AA Insurance, reduced from 60 years to 50 years in just six years. As other car insurance providers are still working on 60 years as the crossover point it makes sound sense for any 51 to 59 year old foxy women drivers to shop around for rates come renewal time, especially those who might be paying more than they need to AA Insurance…

In Guardian Money’s analysis Asda and Sheilas’ Wheels came out best and surprisingly, bearing in mind their retail market profile one of the biggest increases in premiums was made by Marks & Spencer followed by the RAC (53% more), Tesco (37% more) and LV= (28% more).

I know from experience that many older women drivers lack confidence for a multitude of reasons (divorce and widowhood might have forced them onto the roads after many years of willing back seat driving), can be more likely to get distracted than men (we call it multi-tasking and we often have children with us), are more likely to be doing local shopping mileage (so we WILL be the ones to have these local prangs) and may not have had training in motorway driving which requires a different skill set.

But is it just ‘older’ women that should have driving refresher courses? Even celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow  admit to needing help with their driving concentration skills… And after 10 years, wouldn’t it be a good idea for everyone to have a refresher driving training course to fend off all the bad driving habits we all seem to acquire?

I am all in favour of driving training courses for women drivers of all ages that bring women together locally, are social female friendly occasions rather than what might be perceived as patronising experiences and so that women can learn from their peers rather than superior males…

And perhaps the insurance companies would then reward an independent training scheme with lower premiums for women drivers, where applicable, just as they do with the PassPlus training scheme for novice drivers. After all their risk should be lower with fewer road accidents and motoring claims.

We might even include FOXY’s life assistance membership services including free car fitness checks and FOXY Choice’s female friendly approved garages so she can count on friendly motoring support and good local garages to help her run safer cars and who are measurably better than others.

FOXY Steph

It’s an ill wind that has been blowing car repairers good business this winter.  Snow and black ice last December has meant 40% more insurance claims from women drivers as well as men. But some motorists display a distinct lack of Christmas goodwill according to AA Insurance…

As if it isn’t bad enough for women drivers to have to abandon their car in snow or icy conditions, many motorists then find that their vehicles have been damaged by other cars sliding into them or that they have been broken in to by thieves.

“There’s no worse Christmas gift than finding someone has left a dent or scrape on your car and not left a note to admit it,” says Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance who then asks motorists to please leave a note with their contact details on the windscreen of the ‘innocent’ car.

But few will I suspect if the stories of folk who leave their cars running, unattended, whilst they warm up are anything to go by. Leaving the house to drive off, many find their car (usually a posh one) has been stolen off their front drive. Who are these dreadful people? I hope the penalties are tough when they are found out…

But this is a salutary message re women’s car insurance to the rest of us because insurers almost always reject these claims because theft of an unattended vehicle left open and with the keys in it is specifically excluded from policies.

As an aside, I’d remind any female motorist to consult her insurance policy in all cases before relying on insurers to carry out repairs for their car. In most cases you do not have to use the insurer’s repairers; you could use a female friendly variety and cherry pick one from FOXY Choice with the best qualifications and recommendations. This could be done more cheaply and quickly too – time is the factor that seems to cause many women drivers stress especially when any courtesy car facility is withdrawn before the car’s repair is complete. Outside the motorists reasonable control as well.

Happy New Year.

FOXY Steph

This guidance states that customers should be able to review key features of their selected policy before they commit to buy; should see what cover is provided as standard as well as which features are add-ons and be given clear information about excesses. In principle this should help women drivers do their insurance buying homework before committing to one car insurance provider but in reality if the likes of Aviva and Direct Line companies and insurance products are not using comparison websites surely those female motorists who buy their motor insurance online will be looking at a restricted audience, without necessarily appreciating this?

And if insurance providers are paying the likes of £40 per lead/sale to comparison websites perhaps it’s time to give High Street brokers like Cooperative, Swintons and NFU a fair chance to compete?

Maybe it’s just me but I sense a genuine appetite for a more female friendly customer service from the women drivers I speak to – perhaps the time is right for female friendly insurance brokers to sharpen up their marketing tactics here and give the comparison websites some serious competition based on keen prices, added value and superior customer service.

To find out more, read FOXY’s car insurance feedback for women drivers…

FOXY Steph

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

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

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

So to hear this morning that one in five young drivers, including women, may be on our roads without car insurance for female motorists is truly worrying.

But the VED system should surely prevent this happening and we all know when renewing our car tax that both our MOT and motor insurance cover are checked.

Now perhaps this news story is an August ‘no news story’ written for a provocative insurance company to get into the much coveted Google News but I was reminded of when I was at a Unipart Car Care Centre Panel meeting earlier this year and the owner of female friendly Cavalier Garages in Manchester explained that one of his customers, a young woman driver, was evidently surprised to hear that she needed motor insurance for her new (used) car.

I wasn’t sure about this story at the time but clearly it has legs!

I sincerely hope that there is no leniency for stupid young drivers of either gender because there is no excuse for their ignorance – they are old enough to drive and they passed the driving test didn’t they? And the implications of this for others are too awful to consider…

One area that the insurance company might be trying to highlight is the trend for parents to insure their child’s car in their name with their son or daughter shown as a second driver (when they are really the main driver). They do this for cost reasons and because they don’t understand why they shouldn’t.

But there should be no excuses in law for stupidity, either way. All this does is give foxy lady drivers a bad and rarely founded name.

FOXY Steph

When asked about specific garage-type chores nearly half the women asked claimed not to know how to top up their oil or check their brake fluid levels. You really should know how, said Churchill Car Insurance as they gave away free breakdown cover to help sell their car insurance to women drivers before the end of September.

Unsurprisingly, more men than women considered themselves to be experts in this field (one in three marvellous men compared to one in 20 critical women ) whereas an occasional honest man (one in ten) considered himself to be poor at doing this compared to one in three women.

Clearly much salt must to be taken with most gender research but I am always amazed at the expectation that we should all know how to do our own car maintenance when it comes to today’s highly computerised engine systems.  Fair enough we should glance at our tyres everytime we approach our car to spot any defects or potential flats because these are fundamental to our personal safety.

But do we really need to know how to change a tyre or top up specialist oils or brake fluids in today’s modern cars?

If my car breaks down I call a breakdown recovery service and expect to get rescued pdq.

Yes I can check my car’s lights, oil, coolant and brake fluid levels in between regular car services but I’m happiest when a female friendly garage professional checks these and my CO2 emissions for me afterwards.  I would always have my car checked before a lengthy holiday journey anyway.

Fortunately members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club and their family can take advantage of free seasonal car checks, each worth £15, carried out by handpicked and female friendly garages across the UK. At this time of year the checks include brake fluid, oil, coolant, tyres, lights, windscreen and emissions.  At other times of the year these include air conditioning systems, battery and anti-freeze levels.

I know that many female friendly garages and car dealerships kindly arrange for Ladies evenings where they teach women drivers the maintenance basics and how to cope with road rage, for example. I particularly like the courses called Safety at the Wheel (as offered by many Vauxhall dealerships) and the car maintenance evenings offered by Unipart Car Care Centres – I went to an excellent one at SB Motors in Hove last winter. Thank you Caroline.

But the truth is that men and women drivers don’t have to do it for themselves on their own but if they do, they must get it right, choosing the right  specialist oils to maximise the performance of their cars.

Yes sisters can DIY car maintenance for themselves if they want to but just to be sure, they can also pop into their nearest female friendly FOXY garage and get their maintenance  checked on a regular basis. All it takes is 20 minutes and a professional eye is more likely to see problems arising than we are, before they become extremely expensive to fix.

Yet another FOXY moneysaving tip for free…

FOXY Steph

Generally I am in favour of anything that can help UK dealers maintain employment levels even if this means their selling cars that were produced overseas and benefiting overseas economies. The aftermarket industry after all is a future beneficiary that few people think of, worth c£6.5bn, so not to be sneezed at.

But I didn’t think that the motor insurance industry would be able to muscle in their, charging amendment fees to car insurance policies for women drivers, in addition to higher premiums in most cases.

So far, says the Telegraph, motorists who have bought a new car and taken part in the scrappage scheme have paid up to £697,000 in admin fees simply to have had their policy amended.

Fast forward to February 2010 when the scheme is likely to end and this figure is estimated to have reached near £6 million says uSwitch.com.

The highest reported fees range from £35 for a mid-term amendment to £75 for a new policy with the average creeping up from £19.40…

To add to car insurance information for women drivers…

FOXY Steph

“When one door closes, another door opens.” Alexander Graham Bell