Ladies Garage Events
The best garage events are the ones designed to refresh the important motoring facts we might have forgotten, didn’t know we didn’t know or have tried to delegate to others! Here’s what you (and your friends, men most welcome) can expect to learn, and more.
- About tyre pressures and how to check them
- How to change a spare wheel if need be (or other solutions)
- How to check and top up fluid levels
- How to spot poor wheel alignment and understand why this matters
- How to check your tyre tread depth
Below please find a review of the last garage event organised for women drivers – held at Protyre Faringdon (near Swindon). They are part of Team Protyre with garages across England and Wales.
Garages that’d like us to promote a similar event should email details WELL IN ADVANCE to info@FOXYLadyDrivers.com and we’ll help you spread the word.
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Ladies Tea and Tyre Care Party – Faringdon – October
Protyre Faringdon closed at 1pm on the Saturday afternoon but by 2pm its reception area was filling with women drivers keen to check in for a car maintenance class. Or was it to sample the delicious locally baked cup cakes?
Either way, it’s always so much easier to chat about motoring matters in an all female group too – no need for technical jargon and even better with two female members of staff (including the garage Manager) when we need to ask ‘how much oil do we need’ or ‘how should we check our tyres.’
Held during Tyre Safety Month, the emphasis of any DIY car maintenance programme will gravitate towards tyres especially when the likes of punctures are so often the cause of scary vehicle breakdowns. What a reminder this session was for us all to check that we have current emergency breakdown cover – although the related customer service of some operators was considerably less impressive than for others.
For example, one lady had waited over 3 hours, twice, for rescue services from the same breakdown operator – who she is no longer with of course. One wait of 3 hours could be explained perhaps but two makes you wonder.
Another lady’s car had broken done and she’d been stranded in a dangerous road situation with a needy and elderly Mum for over 2 hours; the breakdown recovery service had failed to identify them as a priority so she wasn’t treated as one.
Not good enough we all agreed.
And so the stories continued to be shared and spread whilst we laughed and sampled tea, coffee and cakes to keep us fuelled for the DIY sessions ahead. One thing was for sure, many women still see garages as intimidating places run by and for men – until they saw there was a female friendly approved garage choice in Faringdon.
Protyre Faringdon is run by manager Nikki Ham (she’s the one with her back to the white car) supported by a knowledgeable team of friendly staff including that rare species, a female tyre fitter Sophie (photo’d below).
The session kicked off with an introduction from FOXY, explaining that FOXY Lady Approved garages and tyre centres, like this one, have signed the FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell services we don’t need.’ As such Protyre is the only leading garage group in England and Wales to be able to sign up to this commitment as yet or meet FOXY’s minimum quality standards.
Ladies were split into three groups and were taught how to
- jack up a vehicle to change a wheel (which would be preferable to waiting 3 hours for GEM)
- check and top up oils and coolants
- check their tyres and learn about tyre choices.
Lessons that will be remembered include ‘don’t have your legs under the car when jacking it up’, ‘not even Superwoman could remove the wheel nuts from a Skoda (with the equipment supplied by the manufacturer) after a fast fit tyre fitter has screwed them on needlessly tightly’ and ‘there’s no need for 5 litres of oil, ever…’
For some reason I feel the need to explain that this last lesson referred to a grandson ‘helping’ Gran by pretending he knew his subject! Which nearly cost her a new engine because he didn’t…’
All in all, the session lasted two hours and ladies went away at 4pm with a goodie bag full of useful car maintenance and general safety information plus a complimentary gift membership of FOXY Lady Drivers Club, with Protyre’s compliments.
Thank you Nicki and the Protyre garage team for giving up your Saturday afternoon to help local women in Faringdon run safer cars in future.
For More Information
Please bookmark this page to find out about other UK based Ladies garage events post COVID-19.
If you’d like to join FOXY Lady Drivers Club you can see the benefits and do so here.
If you’d like to join the FOXY Lady Approved business network, here is the information you need.
Other FOXY Lady Approved garage events organisers
Please contact the businesses direct to check for 2019 dates.
Bexley (actually in Crayford) – SMaRT Garage Phone to check.
Horsham – Nightingale Service Centre
Morecambe – Westgate Tyres
Newtownabbey – Bailies Auto Refinishers
West Norwood – SMaRT Garage Phone to check.
Tring – Roy Chapman
Woolwich – SMaRT Garage Phone to check.
