Tag Archives: aftersales

car dealerships, women drivers

A female friendly lifestyle choice in Leicester

Female friendly Sturgess Motor GroupNo matter your lifestyle, there’s a genuinely female friendly garage choice for women drivers in Leicester.

We first met Sturgess Motor Group when they organised a Women in the Driving Seat evening event for local female motorists. It was a popular feature in their calendar and their Marketing Manager, Nichola Moore, saw this as a way to show women drivers how much the Group cares about their motoring welfare not just the value of their business.

It was only a matter of time before this Motor Group would subscribe to FOXY Choice’s female friendly approved UK garage network as further evidence that they really do care for their female customers long after the car has been sold.

Sturgess operates seven franchised car dealership operations in Leicester covering Toyota, Nissan, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, Volvo and Land Rover brands. The dealership name and logo will be familiar in the city with branches in Narborough Road, Aylestone Road, Almond Road and Walnut Street.

All locations are ATA employers (Automotive Technician Accredited) which means their staff are accredited to repair all makes of cars not just their franchised brands. They also subscribe to the Motor Codes Service and Repair code which is working its way towards full OFT Code of Practice approval. These are both signs of superior standards in an industry with too many garage/dealership complaints and where women often feel ill at ease and on their guard.

This female unease is precisely why Sturgess have signed up to the FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need or want’ AND have appoined Debbie McIntyre, Gill Clifford, Trish Blaber, Sheena Tegg, Rebecca Hill and Jessica Watts to be Female Business Ambassadors as part of the FOXY Choice female friendly approved garage network.

Sturgess of Leicester is one of the UK’s oldest family operated motor dealers and was founded in 1897. Women shopping for a new or nearly new car to suit their lifestyle and budget will find they have a genuinely female friendly choice here, whether it’s a 4×4, a prestigious executive car, a sporty convertible, something for the family or a stylish and environmentally friendly supermini.

We look forward to working with Sturgess in future.

FOXY

female friendly, garage services

Female friendly garages reach new female customers

Genuinely female friendly good garages who are worried about losing business might do well to consider marketing themselves as female friendly to attract new women customers in today’s recession-like times.

FOXY Code for garages

As the gaps between car servicing periods lengthen (and appeal to new car buyers of course) the downside is that fewer car services are bought so garages need to find more customers to make up this business shortfall.

In fact the value of the retail car service and repair market has fallen by 21 percent since 1999. perhaps this has something to do with franchise dealerships increasing their labour rates by 36 percent (over the Retail Price Index) and independent garages by 15 percent.

This, says the latest report by business monitoring service Trend Tracker, is to compensate for inflation and a fall in work coming in. What an odd strategy to attract more business in such a competitive industry? And now that they all are having to add special offers and discounts in recessionary times…

Apparently the number of car services and repairs carried out in the garage sector has fallen 17 percent in 10 years (including a recession) from 55.9 million to 46.6 million. Yet the number of cars on our roads has risen? Trend Tracker says this is because motorists are buying fewer ‘transactions’ ie down from an average of 2.04 transactions in 1999 to 1.50 in 2009.

Clearly there is no room for complacency and all garages must look for new business opportunities, hence the suggestion that they look at the new female friendly garage website and marketing services package – FOXY Choice.

Trend Tracker’s Chris Oakham says

‘These declining trends in service and repair demand will squeeze providers to the point where we forecasts there will be 44 percent fewer service/repair outlets by 2015 than there were in 1999.’

Already, there are a third fewer garages today than there were in 1999. Trend Tracker reckons it will continue. Franchises are going to be particularly affected in a fall in the number of cars up to 4 years old.

Because of weakening new car sales since the peak years of 2003/2004, and especially as a result of the recession, the number of cars less than 4 years old will fall by 25 percent by 2012 compared to its peak in 2004/2005.’

The solution may be for the best garages and dealerships to subscribe to FOXY Choice’s female friendly marketing services and to start promoting their quality services to women. It’s the women that are increasingly wealthy, who are doing their shopping homework online and who can influence family and friends after all. Women are demanding shoppers who expect quality workmanship, value for money, relevant services to save them time and money, ethical behaviour and clean/comfortable premises.

Not too much to ask surely?

FOXY

Find out about FOXY Choice’s female friendly UK garage network and marketing services here.