We send female motorists to Coventry for great customer service, a good chat and a cuppa with Amie (time permitting)…
Independent Automotive UK, on Longford Road, is the first car servicing company in Coventry to join FOXY Choice, the UK’s only female friendly garage network.
Amie Jenkins, Independent Automotive UK’s Female Business Ambassador knows from experience that women customers have felt intimidated discussing car repairs elsewhere.
“We put their minds at rest by not using technical jargon, by personally showing them the problems on their car and by using photographs taken by technicians working on their car. That way they can be sure we’re being 100% upfront with them.”
“In fact I’m on first name terms with most of my customers and can often be found in the waiting room catching up on the latest gossip over a cup of coffee!”
Samantha Bailey (in the photo) is a case in point. A recent customer who started using the garage after a bad garage experience previously, when she’d taken her VW Polo for an MOT and expected her low-mileage 3 year old car to sail through.
Instead, mechanics told her that her vehicle had a broken brake pipe that made it dangerous to drive. The mechanic’s body language made Samantha suspicious so she asked to see the damage.
Rather than show her this straight away they took the car off the forecourt and onto a garage ramp for about 15 minutes before showing her the ‘damage.’
“To me it looked like it had been slashed with a knife and whilst I couldn’t prove it, I couldn’t trust them not to rip me off from that moment on.”
Since then Samantha has taken her car to Independent Automotive UK and it comes as no surprise to her that they’ve won this year’s prestigious Motor Codes’ Midlands Garage of the Year Award. She also approves of the garage signing up to be an independently approved female-friendly garage and supports the FOXY Choice initiative to check out and promote the UK’s best garages to women.
Independent Automotive UK is now promoted to women drivers and Club members via the award-winning FOXY Lady Drivers Club website. To complete the job properly female garage visitors are encouraged to leave feedback at the FOXY Choice website to monitor the genuinely female friendly ones.
Samantha admits she doesn’t know a lot about cars, but she knows she can trust Independent Automotive UK technicians to show her what needs to be done, and treat her with respect and honesty. She particularly likes the fact that the waiting room overlooks the car bays, so she can see what the technicians are doing to her car.
“I’ve recommended a lot of people to this garage so I hope other female-friendly garages elsewhere follow its example and sign up to FOXY Choice so more women drivers enjoy these sort of service levels in future.”
Steph Savill, founder of FOXY Choice knows from research that too many women drivers worry about being overcharged and patronised. “This isn’t good for business nor is it a good basis for a long-term customer relationship.”
Andy Fox, director of Independent Automotive UK and who launched the company three years ago, said: “As one of the top 10 garages in the UK it’s our responsibility to lead from the front. There is absolutely no room in a modern, forward-thinking business for any form of patronising attitude towards women, either customers or staff.”