Dear Mr/Mrs Publisher.

Why aren’t there any dedicated motoring magazines for women?

See the typical magazine titles if you don’t believe me; look at the colours, the cover cars and the headings… they’re SO obviously for men.

And yes I realise that most female magazines don’t carry much about motoring either which is surely another reason to think about this surely… They don’t include cars or other motoring matters for women, presumably because most of us prefer to read about beauty, health, celebrities, cooking and so on.

I also realise that it’s a gender thing. Traditional men are more likely to be petrolheads than us (with some notable exceptions, no offence intended) and they are more turned on by performance cars, gadgets and mechanical matters.

Whereas traditional women are more likely to look at practicalities like whether the car is fit for purpose, its safety and reliability record as well as how much it costs to buy and run, the onboard space and its environmental credentials. Then there’s the brand, looks, colour and accessories of course. This is a big homework job to do before you can be sure you’ve bought the right car. Remember that you immediately narrow your choices when you step into a new car showroom; good sales staff will do all they can to sell you a car they’ve got, not suggest one they don’t have but which might be better for you.

But the most important fact is that 80% of all consumer goods decisions involve women nowadays and we instigate some 60% of car sales and probably influence other ones our family and friends buy. AND we’re getting wealthier, more independent and definitely more discerning.

So if women want to buy cars AND it’s clearly a tough job to choose the right one let alone negotiate a fair deal AND most magazines are writing about cars from a male perspective AND ordinary women like me can write about cars and motoring matters without having to be racing drivers or Top Gear fashion accessories … what’s the real problem here Mr/Mrs Publisher?

Knowing the business case, wouldn’t a magazine or motoring section for women be supported by the likes of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) and likely to attract manufacturer advertising? Many car companies are using Mumsnet and similar hi-density female websites yet Mumsnet readers aren’t there to buy a new car, nor are they daft enough to say ‘A new Ford, what a good idea, I must buy one now.’

Surely females considering their next big item new or used car purchase would buy a Magazine that was dedicated to helping them choose a car that was right for them. A Magazine with down to earth reviews and feedback from females rather than macho technospeak? And couldn’t they be interested in other motoring matters too, such as how to negotiate the best deal, find a female friendly car dealership or measurably good garage and compare the best insurance deals for women. And perhaps this could include content about what to do with your car in terms of days out, leisure and travel activities?

If this exists already Mr/Mrs Publisher, please tell me and I’ll subscribe to it. If it doesn’t, I think you are missing a trick here and women drivers are the worse off for it.

FOXY Steph

When high cost/low volume motor car producer British Leyland wanted Margaret Thatcher to bail them out this is what she said at a dinner given by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on 6 October 1979…

“This year we have the lowest car production for twenty years. Not because home sales are the lowest – far from it. But because people are buying foreign cars rather than our own. And some of these come from high wage, high exchange-rate economies. The world recession may have exacerbated our problems but it is not the root cause in the motor industry. What has happened to the motor industry since the 50s exemplifies what has been going wrong in too many other parts of British industry; higher pay not matched by higher productivity; low profits so low investment; too little going into research and new design… and why haven’t we had the productivity? Overmanning. Resistance to change. Too many strikes and stoppages.”

As we know, the last part of that message fell on deaf ears and may well be worth replaying in today’s uncertain industry conditions.

Knowing that a sustainable car manufacturing industry needs high volume and low costs to succeed, let’s hope British workers choose to be part of a competitive future that will include cheap car rivals from India and China.

What price our car industry in a recession today? The cost in 2009 included failed businesses, redundancies, production layoffs, industry depression, a status quo mentality at best and the salvation scrappage scheme for many; encouraging people to buy new cars for a discount (that they probably would have had in terms of a p/x price and sales come on…) so they’d scrap perfectly good others with life still in them. And with no real CO2 saving when you factor in the cost of production, knowing that the industry had massively overproduced in the face of this slump.

And the opportunity cost today? Aftersales for starters in terms of garage services for independent garages who may well have lost MOTs, car servicing and repairs for some 200,000 cars. This business (exc MOTs) will have transferred to main dealerships who can be expected to corner this business whilst the new car is in warranty, at least.

How sad we weren’t competitive in the 70s.

How sad that we never seem to see what’s coming when we make short term decisions affecting the UK economy.

…but let’s hope the industry learns to accept a much smaller new car sales market, produces a more sensible number of cars in the short term, cuts its cloth accordingly and turns its attention to encouraging more motorists into garages more often so their cars are safer, cost them less to run in the end and (this outcome is not likely to please car manufacturers) last longer (which is better for the planet).

I’d suggest that this is the time for a female friendly makeover too. Regulate garages and out the bad guys, raise service levels to satisfy professional (and demanding) female customers and employ more women in the industry to tidy the place up for male and female customers alike.

Yes I do have a vested interest in saying so but that doesn’t make me wrong; I honestly do believe the time is right for this and that those that are seen to be female friendly ahead of others will be satisfying a demand for better garage and dealership service levels in future.

FOXY Steph

Female motorists can check a Good Garage Guide for measurable signs of quality when shopping around for cost effective garage services

Find out which are the best and female friendly garages in your area

I was interested to read in Motor Trader that the Motor Codes Scheme is close to second stage OFT full approval for their service and repair code.

But is this in all motorists best interests? I have my doubts unless they can magically recruit many more independent garages.

I had my doubts because before a radio interview for BBC Scotland yesterday I checked to see how many subscribers Motor Codes have in Glasgow and Edinburgh, for example. They have 97 in Glasgow of which only 5 are independent garages and in Edinburgh there are only 4 independents listed out of 38 subscribers. The balance are franchised car dealerships where motorists will pay considerably more for car servicing or repairs. This suggests that independent garages in Scotland are shunning Motor Codes for some reason because they’d probably do quite well as a cheaper choice? And with Scottish blood running in my veins I’d say that’s an important consideration .

BUT in case any car manufacturer is reading this, Ford ideally, having insisted that their dealership network sign up to the Motor Codes scheme, could they PLEASE tell me what it is of Motor Codes service and repair code that their dealers weren’t doing beforehand? I cannot believe that their dealer services were worse than this, surely? And just to remind you, in brief, subscribers are required to provide…

• honest and fair services
• open and transparent pricing
• work completed as agreed
• invoices that match prices
• competent and conscientious staff…

oh yes and a swift complaint service which is a bit like admitting defeat before you start .

Is that all? Surely the UK’s main car dealerships must be doing this as a bare minimum? So why sign up to such a low standard?  Certainly my business would fail if I didn’t do a lot more than this and I don’t have the power to despatch dangerous cars onto our roads…

I am also amazed that so few motorists have been told that garages aren’t licensed or regulated and that mechanics don’t have to be qualified. Having said that FOXY does recognise and support the sterling work re ATA at the Institute of the Motor Industry (of which I am a member) and the growing number of mechanics that have been trained and qualified recently so things are on the up.

But Motor Codes doesn’t explain the garage choice to motorists. Some want dealership standards and others are more driven by cost, especially if they drive an older car. I think this is something that the motor industry needs to do or, even better, an independent motoring voice, as a matter of urgency and to include the new EU rules which need to be understood by all.

Nor does it address the perception of many that they’ll be sold services they don’t need or want. And from a female point of view, the tendency of this male dominated industry to patronise us…

My advice to garages considering subscribing? Read the Motor Code and question why you need it. Are you not better than that already?

Will the Motor Codes code do anything to prevent the bad garages letting the industry down in future? No it won’t because their subscribers aren’t to be monitored for c24 months and it’s just cheap (and could be misleading) publicity at £75 a year until they are.

Instead of all this and the c13 previous garage quality schemes that have failed in some 60 years… what the UK motorist needs is ONE garage standard to put all businesses on a level playing field when it comes to quality workmanship. Not ATA plus OFT plus BSI plus TSI motor trade partnerships et al… it’s far too confusing for most motorists.

FOXY Steph

Find out about measurable signs of garage quality in FOXY Good Garage Guide.

See where the best and female friendly garages are near you.

Believe it or not, FOXY is a supporter of the Motor Codes (service and repair) garage code within the trade but we do not think it is ready to promote to the general public even after 15 months.

Certainly we would like more independent garages to sign up to this (also known as the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code – MISRC), if only to highlight the slippery dodgy businesses that aren’t honest, fair, open or transparent in the way they do business.

As things stand, we are told that some 5000 businesses have signed up to this of which c90% are dealerships. Yet these dealerships are required by manufacturers like Ford and Peugeot to operate to minimum aftersales performance standards which already exceed MISRC standards. So why do they need MISRC?

Not just that but motorists who choose a MISRC dealership (where there isn’t an independent listed) will pay something like 30-50% more than they would in an independent garage.

This means that manufacturers like Ford and Peugeot are effectively funding the Motor Codes public advertising campaign which is encouraging men and women drivers to choose a franchised dealership (ie them) and the outcome is that the motorist will then pay more than he or  she needs to (because they don’t know they have a choice…).

The greatest irony is that if FOXY Lady Drivers Club wanted to complain that the Motor Code is an unfair sales and marketing practice which could deceive motorists (ie encourage them to pay over the odds without giving them a choice), we’d expect a fair hearing within the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).

But there is a conflict of interest here because BERR is part of the same governmental family as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) which is the financial beneficiary of the Motor Codes scheme. The scheme pays OFT so it is unlikely to welcome any complaints that will decrease its coffers here.

In fact, it’s only when the Motor Code’s monitoring Compliance Check happens (at an extra cost of £175 and to take place within 24 months of registration) that the OFT can know if the scheme is working (ie if subscribing garages and dealerships are up to scratch) before awarding it full Stage 2 OFT code approval. As the scheme started in August 2008 it’s too soon to know this – and I haven’t seen much mention of this in Motor Codes sales recruitment publicity in the trade recently…

All in all I think the female motorist runs the risk of being mislead if she takes the Motor Codes publicity material as follows, knowing that any business can sign up to this for so little money…

The Motor Industry Code of Practice for Service and Repair aims to promote and safeguard consumers’ interests by helping consumers identify better businesses and to encourage subscribers to raise their standards of customer service. You should have the confidence that Code Subscribers:

• are committed to treating consumers fairly

• will guarantee good customer service

• give consumers clear information about the goods or services they are selling

• have user-friendly, straightforward and quick procedures for dealing with customer complaints

• will use clear and fair contracts

On the other hand, if I were an independent and middle of the road garage I’d get in there now and pay my £75 sub for one year to take advantage of the scheme’s generous publicity, knowing that I need do nothing more and I could opt out before any compliance check bill.

FOXY Steph

PS: Final thought – the Motor Codes scheme sponsor is the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) whose franchised dealer members are among the 90% of businesses being promoted within the scheme (see above).  If this was you, and you were funded by major manufacturers, would you be inclined to actively court independent garage competitors that might be more popular?

Pre recession, motor industry research claims that c£17m is lost by UK car dealerships every week when women drivers walk out of car showrooms.

Why do they do this and why is the industry not doing anything about this?

The reality is that there are so many subliminal reasons why, in an industry that is so used to demeaning women and is often totally oblivious to this at the very highest echelons.

For example…

It’s not just the fact that one of the leading trade magazines uses the innuendo of scantily clad dolly bird headlines and YouTube videos to tempt salesmen and mechanics to visit their website

… or the many topless model posters in garage workshops

… or the ghastly sex magazines women and children can still see on shelves in petrol stations

… or the bimbo-like eye candy that meets you at Motor exhibitions

… or the more upmarket (but equally patronising to women) fashion models draped across prestige car bonnets (because you’re worth it…).

Here is an example of what I am talking about and there are a lot more at AutoTrader’s website, titled their bonnet babe collection. See what I mean?

The reason why women feel so ill at ease in this industry and why men don’t understand is for all of these reasons and more.

It all spells a total lack of respect for females and it is costing the UK motor industry our trust and our business.

No wonder UK showrooms, car dealerships and garages are not perceived to be a female friendly places to either work in or visit.

No wonder online services are booming.

Of course there are massive exceptions to all this and I have met many gentlemen in the motor industry who are equally as appalled by all this as me.  Those businesses listed at FOXY Choice and the new femalefriendlyapproved.com websites certainly agree and are on the right track for women customers.

But until the UK motor industry picks up on this extreme disrespect for women customers and does something about it at the very top of leading trade organisations like the SMMT and RMI then this disrespect will fester on and continue to affect sales from their biggest customer audience – female motorists – for new cars, used cars and garage services.

Mark my words, those businesses that go that extra mile to market themselves to women as female friendly, ahead of complacent competitors, will reap considerable competitive advantage in industries like the UK motor industry.

Talk to me soon guys – I’ll tell you how to do it!

FOXY Steph