FOXY Lady Drivers Club supports today’s research findings that the cost to the UK of scrapping the annual MOT could be as much as £1.5 billion.

Government claims that reducing MOT frequency will also reduce the financial burden on motorists are challenged today in a report which shows the opposite – that proposals to scrap annual testing will hit both motorists and the UK economy hard.

The report by Pro-MOTe is titled “A cost too far” and includes research that the average female motorist would be more than £57 worse off under a less frequent MOT system than she is today.

It also shows that the overall cost to the UK in increased costs of road deaths, injuries and damage, as well as 40,000 lost jobs and reduced tax revenues, will be some £1.44bn.

The research compares costs of the existing 3-1-1 MOT system (where cars over three years are tested every year) with the 4-2-2 system more commonly used elsewhere in Europe (where cars over four years old are tested every two years).  It estimates that under 4-2-2, the average motorist would incur annual SAVINGS of £24.44 a year made up of:
- £20 a year in saved MOT fees
- £3.30 a year in saved personal time
- £1.14 a year in saved fuel costs as a result of fewer visits to a MOT station

But the average motorist would incur annual INCREASES of £81.81 under 4-2-2 from:
- £30.59 in additional repair costs
- £46.05 in additional insurance premiums
- £5.17 in additional fuel costs of £5.17

The research was carried out using data from the DfT and the Treasury, and motor industry sources.  Pro-MOTe is supported by the RAC, AA, road safety campaigners, industry groups and insurance companies to campaign against plans to reduce MOT frequency.

Commenting on the report, Pro-MOTe co-ordinator, Bill Duffy, said:

“This research shows that scrapping annual MOT testing would not only be dangerous but prove very expensive too, to both drivers and taxpayers alike. The Government has suggested that reducing the number of safety tests would reduce the financial burden on motorists.  Yet the truth is exactly the opposite.  Moving to two-yearly tests would mean extra repair costs, extra insurance premiums and extra fuel costs for already hard-pressed motorists. And the cost to the UK economy in lost jobs and higher costs arising from the additional accidents that we would see due to less frequent testing would be significant.”

Hear hear Bill. This is a poorly considered proposition and it’s time it was scrapped. This is also costing road safety, consumer organisations like ours and directly affected motor industry businesses a lot of unnecessary time and money attempting to do this research for our Government.

An interesting and possibly previously ignored dimension here seems to be that insurance companies plan to respond to the scenario of an increased number of unroadworthy cars by raising premiums for us all.   Then motorists would surely hold the Government responsible for another rise in the cost of motoring…

So it’s time to shut the UK’s back door to this proposal now. Heaven knows we all have more productive things to be getting on to benefit not threaten the UK economy and its motor industry.

FOXY Steph

For further information go to the Pro-MOTe website or contact Ed Owen at EdO@pro-mote.org.uk or on 07774 759653. Pro-MOTe was launched in October 2011 to press the Government to drop plans to reduce the frequency of MOT testing. The launch report “Dangerous, expensive and unwanted” is available at http://www.pro-mote.org.uk/assets/download/PRO-MOTE_launch_report.pdf

Supporters of the Pro-MOTe campaign include AA, Andrew Page, Association of Professional Ambulance Personnel, Autoglass, Aviva, Brake, British Cycling, Confused.com, Driver’s Edge UK, Euro Car Parts, FOXY Lady Drivers Club, Garage Equipment Association, GEM Motoring Assist, Halfords Autocentres, Independent Automotive Aftermarket Federation, Kwik Fit, MOTEST, MOT Trade Forum, MOT Club, National Tyre Distributors Association, Parts Alliance, RAC, The Retail Motor Industry Federation, Road Safety Analysis, Road Safety GB, The Scottish Motor Trade Association, Tyre Industry Federation, UNITE.

Why aren’t there more female board members in the UK motor industry? Because if there were, businesses would be more profitable.

Starting with an example of best practice, let’s pay a tribute to Rolls Royce and the bailed-out Lloyds Banking Group who are aiming to increase female board membership to 23%.

Compared to many of the Top 10 dealership groups and other car manufacturers, for example, where there are very few female board members if any.

Clearly those with a traditional male culture don’t realise that women on boards can have a positive impact on their bottom line? Such is the evidence in Lord Davies ‘Women on Boards’ report (2011) which states that “Companies with more women on their boards tended to outperform their rivals with a 42% higher return in sales, 66% higher return on invested capital and 53% higher return on equity.”

Of course it isn’t just the motor industry that is slow to realise this; just 12.5% of FTSE 100 Board members are women, one in five have no women in their boardrooms and this drops to an average of 7.8% for all FTSE 250 companies.

Nonetheless Lord Davies is calling for UK companies to commit to an ambitious target of 25% female board membership by 2015. I’d love to think the UK motor industry would commit to this, knowing the problems it has recruiting young women into automotive careers as well as the poor image it has in so many female customer minds.

A couple of clues were identified during research carried out by Cranfield University. They found that there is a lack of flexibility around work/life balance (to do with families in particular) and that traditional male cultural environments, the old boys network and a lack of networking opportunities for women are major deterrents for qualified females who might otherwise make good board members.

I identify with these issues in the motor industry. But I do not agree with one of the suggested solutions, which is to provide more training opportunities for women. May I suggest that it is the men that are more in need of training about women if women are to be helped to contribute their talents and to flourish in this industry.

I can understand why female board members are good for the bottom line and, with the right female board members empowered to encourage others in their wake, I think it is possible to move quite quickly from a male cultural environment towards a healthier gender diverse workplace. Providing the business wants to adopt a more female friendly agenda in future that is.

FOXY Steph
Automotive Careers Champion

Find out more about Steph Savill @ LinkedIn

On behalf of all women drivers… FOXY Lady Drivers Club is supporting the PRO-MOTE campaign to keep the safer British MOT model in the face of a real EU threat.

The UK MOT industry is seriously threatened by a lesser EU alternative. Despite one in three cars failing their first MOT after just 3 years on our roads and most of us too busy to maintain our cars in between annual tests thereafter, the EU is attempting to impose a regime that tests our cars every other year, starting once they are 4 years old.

Instead of what is known as the UK 3-1-1 model the EU is attempting to sell us their 4-2-2 version yet their roads aren’t as safe as ours. That’s madness.

Which will mean many more unsafe cars on our roads, an increase in accidents as a result (there are illustrative statistics to prove this) and ’000s of jobs lost in the UK’s motor industry.

After banging on the drum and getting nowhere with protests made by FOXY Lady Drivers Club to our Sussex MP Nick Herbert (and tweets to Philip Hammond who was in charge but just about to change platforms) we now have a new Transport Secretary, Justine Greening. I don’t envy her having to get to grips with this and red herring issues thrown into the mix, like increasing the speed limit on motorways. Whilst VOSA is changing the existing UK MOT model to include other items…

This is the perfect scenario for this BAD CHANGE to come in through the UK’s back door whilst no-one is standing guard, so to speak. In which case, mark my words, the cost of this apathy will be lost British lives on our roads and MOT industry jobs.

Which is why FOXY Lady Drivers Club is supporting the new PRO-MOTE campaign alongside other road safety groups, motoring organisations and industry bodies.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION to show your support and pass it on as a priority.

Please don’t think that others will do the right thing for you. You have to do it for yourself. If not, and the EU MOT model is introduced, the cost could be a life or the job of somebody you know. Because nobody bothered to do the right thing. That includes YOU…

Go on, sign the petition now please!

FOXY Steph

By all means see what I wrote about this earlier when I was canvassing support about the UK MOT model in my blog at confused.com. And see why women need their own motoring club to add their voice here…

Supporting organisations include FOXY Lady Drivers Club, the RAC, the AA, Brake, Aviva, Halfords, Kwik Fit and the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

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

Alison Jones is now responsible for Audi’s new and used car sales, agreeing production volumes as well as network and franchise responsibilities for the UK.

This demanding job is titled Head of Operations and was previously held by a female, Julie Evetts.

Alison first started working for the Volkswagen Group in 1988, leaving to work for a Fleet Management and then an Audio Visual business. She returned to the Volkswagen fold in 1998 and has since taken on roles involving Operations, Finance, Aftersales and Customer Service.

Most recently she was Head of Aftersales and Customer Service where she masterminded an overhaul of the Volkswagen Group Customer Service Centre as Head of Contact Strategy for Audi, Volkswagen, Commercial Vehicles, Skoda and SEAT.

Robin Woolcock, Volkswagen Group’s Managing Director said “Alison‘s breadth of knowledge across all areas of the business, particularly her impressive record in customer sevices, combined with her commercial, leadership and change management skills stands her in good stead for her latest role as Head of Operations for Audi UK. ”

It certainly does Alison and is a sign of a business rewarding all the hard work you have put into your career so far. Clearly a well deserved move up the ladder and a role model for others looking to see how high women can get in the motor industry.

FOXY Steph

FOXY Choice identifies aftersales businesses that employ females in customer facing roles  because women tend to trust women in such a male dominated industry. You can read about other women working in the motor industry in our new Women and Work section and find out about exciting career opportunities in the motor industry at the AUTOcity website.

Is August too early for a New Year resolution to make 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the UK motor industry?

I look at lots of motor industry websites, read lots of marketing blurb, see lots of job ads and industry news but it is still VERY rare to find a female focus despite the importance of the increasingly independent female pound.

So I’d like to suggest that the UK motor industry makes a start to a more female friendly agenda by making 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the motor industry. There’s just about enough time to plan a campaign, given the willingness and a resource to do the job.

We all know the motor industry should be a more female friendly one already and there is a compelling business case to make it so; to boost sales by marketing to women-as-women (not men) intended to increase their loyalty and referrals through female-oriented communications and independent information about their best choices…

To do this would require an industry commitment from all key players to the following tactical activities and more…

• To iron out the 80:20 male:female workforce imbalance by recruiting more female staff, starting at the top of organisations
• To provide female friendly workplaces for women employees
• To market cars more creatively to women, using segmented female feedback as a tool
• To market independent advice (and why total independence matters to do with quality…) about garage standards to women
• To train male employees about the importance of the female purse and how they can gain her trust and business when it comes to shopping for new cars, garage services, motor insurance and car finance
• To understand what busy women look for when shopping online
• To remember that women are different when it comes to customer service levels and amenities.

Question   Isn’t this what the motor industry should be doing in any case? So why isn’t it?

Answer 1    Because some businesses think equality means providing women with services and standards designed by men for men.

Answer 2    Possibly because many men like the industry as it is.

Answer 3    Because many men at the top of organisations can’t see how to recruit women without  falling foul of equality legislation… coupled with the fact that new female recruits are less likely to have the motor industry experience that men do (thus perpetuating the imbalance of course…)

Answer 4     Or they haven’t spotted that female staff don’t fancy a job in what they perceive to be a male dominated motor industry… coupled with the fact they need to advertise outside the industry to reach women of course

Answer 5    Or that the few female stalwarts who have made it to the top of organisations have got there by thinking more ‘male’ than ‘female’ en route which other women may be less willing to, given more female friendly industry choices

Come on RMI, SMMT, SMTA and IMI. The business case for being FEMALE FRIENDLY in the UK motor industry is clear and whilst nothing short of a total cultural makeover is needed to do the job properly this has to start from somewhere and should surely start sooner rather than later…

And given a resource FOXY will happily play a key part in any FEMALE FRIENDLY business agenda in 2012.

What about a coordinated approach guys to all round mutual gain?

FOXY Steph

Just three in ten women take their own vehicles for a service, compared with seven in ten men.

New research from Bosch Car Service confirms that women are doing all they can to avoid garage visits for fear of being overcharged and patronised for being female.

30% of the female sample said that they take their own cars for a service with 35% stating they were not confident of a good experience from a car service.

This is because too few UK garages are genuinely female friendly places to visit.

“It is clear that there is still a feeling of discomfort amongst women drivers towards taking their cars in for a service, which could be why they are leaving it up to men” said Bosch Car Service Concept Manager, Howard Price.

And why FOXY Choice’s ‘Female Friendly’ marketing services are designed to identify, promote and monitor garages and dealerships that have gone out of their way to be measurably better (in terms of quality), to provide services that address women’s needs and expectations and that genuinely welcome females.

But just because a garage can demonstrate measurable quality doesn’t mean that it’s female friendly. This is because too many men think that men and women should be treated alike; as if women want to be treated like men!

All this can easily be sensed during phone contact, when visiting websites, when making  email enquiries and via female garage feedback – providing it’s genuine and independent…

When will the industry look long and hard at the number of female employees in garages, for starters? This is the UK’s last male bastion and a perfectly valid reason why women find so many of them intimidating and unfriendly places.

It’s time garages, dealerships and bodyshops got their Female Friendly act together behind the scenes. What FOXY Choice does is unique and specialist, requiring garages to sign up to our FOXY Promise ‘to never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need’ as a minimum standard. We then monitor this by encouraging genuine female feedback via the independent FOXY Choice website.

But just by saying they are a female friendly garage, women will not start to queue at the door. Nor does it mean that they understand what women want. There’s a lot more entailed and it may well mean they need to change the way they do things for women. Yes, they need to be seen to welcome local women with open arms but many will have to change their business culture in the process.

Employ more females for starters but make sure their needs are catered for – many do not stay in the industry because they don’t feel welcome.  Like many female customers for the same reason…

Garages also need to respond to the needs of busy women for stressbusting and time-saving services.

So garages need to work harder for women to be the richer for their efforts. By benchmarking performance standards to FOXY Choice approved Female Friendly levels women will be reassured and begin to trust garages, dealerships and bodyshops where they know they are understood and appreciated.

Once reassured they will recommend Female Friendly garages to others, men will be (secretly) delighted to share these higher standards and garages purporting to be good but not meeting FOXY standards won’t attract the female purse in future.

Bring it on guys – you know it is the right thing to do in the garage industry today…

FOXY Steph

Whilst you don’t have to be an engineering student to enjoy an exciting career in the UK motor industry, three female students studying motorcycle maintenance at Mid-Cheshire College were given a special insight into careers in motorsport at Oulton Park recently.

Carol Spencer, Samantha Royle and Louise Doyle spent the morning working on cars used for Oulton Park’s driving experiences, including single seaters, rally cars and BMW M3s. Supervised by Oulton Park’s female Engineering Team Leader Sophy Owen, they were rewarded in the afternoon by enjoying some of the driving experiences on offer at the Cheshire circuit, including YoungDrive! – an introductory driving course in a BMW 1 Series for 11 to 17-year-olds.

Louise said “My personal highlights were at the beginning of the day when we had a look at the single seater race car, the rally car and then the BMW M3. In the afternoon I had the experience of driving round a rally circuit. I had no idea how much I had already learnt when the staff were explaining the mechanics behind the vehicles and the checks that they do to make sure the cars are safe.”

Samantha was equally impressed: “The team at Oulton Park made us feel very welcome and took time to go into great detail with the vehicles. The highlight for the day I have to say was the YoungDrive experience,” she continued “and being introduced to this side of engineering has opened new doors for me and set me targets for the future I would not have even considered setting myself up until this experience.”

Driving experience days at Oulton Park including M3 Master and YoungDrive! can be booked by calling 0843 453 1000.

For more details of exciting careers in the UK motor industry, visit the AutoCity website.

This is an industry that knows it needs more women in it to get service levels right in future. You don’t have to be male, an engineer or technically-minded because there are jobs in Marketing, Sales, Accounts, Customer Service and many other important administrative roles. The opportunities are definitely there for determined, talented and ambitious females to make it right to the very top.

FOXY Steph

Which garage to choose - I'm confused

What a tangled web of misinformation there is for motorists to cope with when it comes to choosing the best garage for their MOT and/or car servicing.

For starters, the best kept secret in the UK motor industry is surely that the garage industry within it isn’t regulated, that garages don’t have to be licensed (so anyone can set one up at the drop of a hat), that mechanics don’t have to be qualified to repair our cars and there’s no fixed standard when it comes to the content of car services.

Trust me – this is all true.

And this disorder explains why there are so many complaints about used cars and garage services and why there’s a genuine need for FOXY to identify the businesses that sign our female friendly promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need.’

One possible reason why the industry doesn’t want us to know this is that this is an opportunity for individual trade factions to earn out of subscription fees to their respective ‘good garage’ schemes. Or am I being too cynical?

For example, the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) promotes the recent Motor Codes Service & Repair Code which is skewed towards franchised dealerships. So the competing motor trade association in England, the RMIF (Retail Motor Industry Federation) has recently introduced another similar scheme, called Trust My Garage, which all garage members can join.

But neither scheme promotes measurable signs of quality, just that their subscribers operate to a fairly basic code of conduct. But they do promise a swift complaints handling procedure which has a self-fulfilling prophetic feel to it I suspect…

Another scheme called The Good Garage Scheme promotes subscribing garages through clever product placement in TV soaps and in adverts. But few motorists realise that this scheme is run by a US oil company and is designed to sell oils not garage credentials. Granted many of their garages probably are ‘good’ but with no benchmark to say what ‘good’ is, I’d definitely want to question that adjective in some instances.

In FOXY’s book, there are three quality logos that distinguish measurably superior and genuine garage quality. These are ATA (Automotive Technician Accreditation), BSI Kitemark and the OFT Code of Practice. To us, each of them means that the business or employee in question has gone that extra mile to invest in being better than the rest.

Then it’s up to the motorist to choose, and we certainly don’t tell women drivers whether they want a dealership or an independent garage to look after their car. Providing they do their shopping homework first and know their choices; it’s their car and their money.

One thing we do feel strongly about however is that a cheap price from a garage you don’t know or haven’t checked (or who hasn’t signed the female friendly FOXY Promise) isn’t worth the risk of saving a few bob on the bill total knowing that shoddy garage workmanship can ultimately cost lives.

But in the absence of industry regulation and recognising that few garages are ATA, BSI Kitemark or OFT logo enabled, we all tend to look for garage testimonials from our friends. This is where it gets really hard for motorists to distinguish the good guys from the pretenders. Because we don’t know who to trust for honest and impartial advice…

And let’s face it, garages are one of the least popular places for women to visit for fear of being ripped off or patronised; if we can delay going or get someone else to do it for us, that’s usually a result. But mightn’t be a foxy decision in the long run.

You might think the Which? Consumer association would want to lead in this area and promote the same signs of garage quality as us. But they prefer member feedback within their Local website. The problem with garage feedback is that it’s often based on an impression formed by a friendly welcome and convenient customer services. Both very important factors of course but it’s workmanship and ethical standards behind the scenes that matter most in my opinion.

Honest John supports the Motor Codes scheme which is dealership skewed and he provides good garage feedback too. As honest as he undoubtedly is <I’m a Telegraph reader> his main interest is clearly cars not garages…

And whilst word of mouth is powerful, testimonials can be rigged to favour or damn. When these appear on a business’ website, for example, with no names and bland/devastating quotes, how reliable can they be?

Finally, and interestingly where this blog started from in the first place… when leading websites that motorists trust, like confused.com, provide ill-informed and ultimately misleading information about garage choices words ultimately fail me.

And so I remain…

…yours confused

FOXY Steph

PS: FOXY is a female brand meaning shrewd, canny and astute which is what we believe women have to be in the garage industry today. Since our daughter’s bad garage experience in the early 2000s I have made it my business to become an expert in this field, on behalf of other women drivers. Which may explain why FOXY Choice is the only website to explain and promote the different measurable signs of quality, judging ATA, BSI Kitemark and OFT fully approved code logos as the pinnacle of garage standards.

Yes I’d love to see the industry regulated so the bad garages would be put out of business. But the industry needs to realise this and after 70 years of trying to regulate itself and failing, we are still where we were and it just isn’t good enough!

It’s New Years Day and a time when our thoughts are supposed to turn to resolutions for the year ahead.

And mine has landed on the ‘imperfect but with many good bits’ motor industry that I believe can be helped towards a brighter future with a thorough makeover… for those that deserve to succeed that is.

For example, let’s say a management consultant is called in to review a struggling business’s performance and recommends that the culture of that organisation needs to be changed. You’d start at the top wouldn’t you? You’d decide where you want to be, look at the way forward, some heads would roll and chances are the consultant would be employed to facilitate the journey. Sounds familiar anyone?

Now let’s see how a struggling industry like the UK motor industry would attempt to do this.  Needless to say I am not being paid to do that consultancy job and it wouldn’t be a quick job if I was, but I am happy to start off the ‘Where We Are At’ bit at least and would welcome contributions from those better qualified in the industry…

1    In 2010 the industry is in the doldrums with some notable pockets of exceptions, such as car parts for DIYers…

2    Fewer new cars are being sold; private motorists make do and even the rich realise that it isn’t good for their image to be seen driving flashy cars when others are really struggling.

3    Manufacturers have to plan ahead so they can’t be as flexible as they’d like – their stocks and lines for 2011 were decided ages ago. So they compete for perceived unique selling points or price advantage – some bravely attempting to repositioning their brands up or down market. The electric bandwagon rolls forward quietly with the all-knowing Chinese on the brink of entering the volume market but for a few known quality issues to resolve…

4    Fleets are now contracting cars for 4 years not 3 wanting low running costs throughout.

5    Those that want a nearly new car are finding them few and far between as a consequence of recent new car supplies.

6    Because they don’t have to, cash strapped motorists are postponing garage servicing so their cars aren’t as safe as they should be and garages without a location or brand advantage are struggling to be seen as good or different.

7    Even worse, cars aren’t being maintained well, especially the new ones otherwise why would so many fail their first MOT?

8    Just as worrying, motorists who don’t know any better choose

• the cheapest used car not realising the salesman knows why it’s cheap
• DIY repairs to save money but might not buy the best parts
• garages that follow a basic motor industry code and/or are good garage scheme members not realising that neither scheme requires them to employ qualified/trained or accredited mechanics
• MOT and car servicing deals from businesses they don’t know, running the gauntlet of rip off dealers, shoddy workmanship and unscrupulous dealers.

9    Complaints are seen as the norm and caveat emptor still applies in many areas. In 2010 a Which? undercover mystery garage shopping reports that nearly 90% of sampled garages (including dealerships) missed or ignored at least one potentially dangerous fault on the cars that had been doctored in advance. Much the same as in 2007′s survey by the way. And the relentless pace of used cars and garage complaints keeps the Office of Fair Trade’s (OFT) Consumer Direct staff employed having seemingly backed away from the recent Super Complaint opportunity that might have led to regulation and quality control.

10   Shoppers are using the internet to save time and money but also to avoid stressful garage and dealership visits – including many women who account for some 50% of customers and seem to be the least happy with the male dominated  ‘too blokey’ culture that doesn’t seem to understand their different shopping needs and demands…

Got the picture?   So where does the motor industry want to be in future – from 2011 onwards?

Here’s my contribution but as I am not being paid for this , I’ll be brief.

The UK motor industry needs a better image, more ambitious quality standards, a more ethical regard for the safety of motorists and more female recruits because women matter and need a voice.

This all demonstrates the need for joined up motor industry thinking in all these areas with higher level, better, specialist and totally independent public communications for all motorists. This needs to include unbiased, whole picture and down to earth information and advice about cars, garage services, insurance and finance products so better shopping choices can be made.

A good example of unhelpful in-fighting in the industry is the looming ‘Trust My Garage’ launch in 2011.  Looking at this from the motorists perspective (which a trade body is not best placed to do), like it or not, we already have the still fairly new Motor Industry Service and Repair Code and the imaginatively titled Good Garage Scheme so what good will a third one be, run by another trade body and reserved for their members, when none of the three equate to or promote qualified or accredited staff.

Which is what FOXY Choice does, by the way, and why an independent organisation like FOXY will always be a more trustworthy arbiter than one funded by interested parties.

What the UK motor industry needs to do instead is

• explain this and a lot more to the motorist who deserves this knowledge
• identify the genuinely better than the rest schemes and
• empower her/him to make the right buying decisions based on quality, value for money and informed feedback. Yes feedback is important in many instances but when I am told a garage is friendly based on their sunny receptionist, how do I know that their mechanic isn’t selling me new tyres/brakes/engine flush washes I don’t need for pecuniary advantage? Or not even doing the job I’ve paid for?

Happy New Year to all the good businesses we work with and may 2011 be the year for positive thinking and debate; so you get your just rewards without being confused with second-rate others.

FOXY Steph