Tag Archives: BSI Kitemark

Many nationwide Kitemark holders provide members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club with special offers at MOT, car servicing and repair times and have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise.

female friendly

About FOXY Lady Approved© garages and repairers

FOXY Choice is using a new badge in 2013 to indicate that a business is FOXY Lady Approved© as female friendly.

So far this applies to GARAGES and REPAIRERS who sign the FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women anything they don’t need’ and where you see our Female Friendly Standards Certificate displayed (see below) you know they meet this too.

Very soon it’ll be available for insurance advisers too, subject to a FOXY Lady Insurance Promise that addresses the needs of women after the Gender Directive 2012 – more about this very soon.

It’s a shame that some businesses, usually ones whose staff are paid hefty commission bonuses to sell the likes of tyres and fast fit repairs, can’t sign the FOXY Promise but it’s good to know which ones ie those that have joined our FOXY Lady Approved© scheme as listed at FOXY Lady Drivers Club, won’t (and don’t) do this.

Signs Of Garage/Repairer Quality

We also look for measurable quality indicators such as ATA (this is the motor industry’s accreditation scheme which needs topping up every 3 years), the BSI Kitemark in vehicle body repairs, OFT Code of Approval schemes (run by Bosch Car Service, VBRA and Motor Codes), manufacturer approval and Trading Standards schemes including Motor Trade Partnerships and Buy With Confidence.

We’d prefer the industry to be regulated so there was only one standard to amalgamate the best features from them all, but we have to accept that we are where we are and do our best to ease the confusion in the minds of motorists!

When a small business isn’t a member of any of these schemes (they’re optional indicators remember because UK garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics accredited to repair our cars) but it’s still obvious they’re going the extra mile for females, we ask for independent female feedback, make our minds up on that basis and monitor all performance levels through ongoing feedback in any case.

There are other considerations for us. We also award brownie points for quality awards, female staff in customer roles and businesses that organise ladies evenings but by and large we let the female customer decide what type of garage or repairer she prefers.

Providing the business signs the FOXY Promise as a minimum we’re happy to approve good independents alongside good franchised dealerships alongside good fast fits, bodyshops and/or mobile repairers. Subject to female feedback of course.

FOXY

garage services

Top Technician 2011

Well turned out, confident and clearly professional car mechanicsFOXY Choice welcomes any evidence of quality standards in garages that benefit motorists. Car mechanics who are prepared to enter rigorous trade awards like this one clearly see themselves as good enough to win. We think this should be celebrated in an industry where mechanics don’t have to be qualified to repair our cars or accredited as fit for purpose.

How else can women check that their local garage is one of the best when it comes to trusting them with their car’s safety?

As things stand complaint levels are too high and all motorists find it nigh on impossible to single out the measurably best garages from a sea of confusing acronyms. Trade associations have a vested interest in their trade members goodwill and other garage schemes are merely there to sell their sponsors goods and services. There is no one independent body to help motorists understand their choices –  although there wouldn’t need to be one if the industry was regulated…

Congratulations are therefore due to the following car mechanics who have gone that extra mile and passed the online test before having to prove their technical skills in rigorous practical tests; en route to deciding who is to be Top Technician 2011.

ENGLAND

Essex
Matthew Eeles of Saffron Autos
John Tinham of John Tinham Motor Engineers
Steve Smith of Hills Toyota

Lancashire
Lee Collins of the Kwik Fit Group, Manchester
Rafal Rosielewski at Crewe Volkswagen

Norfolk
Glyn Morgan of Breckland Auto Services
Clive Atthowe of Clive Atthowe Tuning

West Sussex
Paul Gutsell of Guy Salmon Jaguar
David Harney at Queensway Garage

Yorkshire
Keith Windle of Skipton Ford and Mazda
Sean Wright at Benfield Ford, Leeds

Other areas…
John French of Grovebury Cars, Bedfordshire
Jamie Virdee at FIAT UK, Berkshire
Peter Jones at Pete Jones Auto, Chester, Cheshire
Matthew Booth at the Village Garage, Hampshire
Jason Evans at Cotswold BMW, Herefordshire
Andrew Gilbrook at Jemca Toyota, Kent
Mark Waby of MWT Automotive Services, Lincoln
Stuart White at Complete Car Maintenance, Surrey
Simon Harris of Pebley Beach Hyundai, Wiltshire

SCOTLAND
Conrad Omand at CS Omand Garage, Orkney
Duncan Ronaldson of Western Saab, Perth

WALES
Gareth Edwards at Gwyndaf Evans Motors, Gwynedd
Craig Stephens at Kwik Fit, Rhondda

Oh that all mechanics were required to go through this process and/or be ATA accredited with the ethical commitment we like so much…

We tell women drivers to look for garages that are ATA employers, hold a BSI Kitemark and/or operate to an OFT fully approved code. This is a clear sign they are better than most of the competition. We also like garages that employ females – that’s a great start towards showing they understand our needs.

Well done chaps.

FOXY

Find out which garages are FOXY approved ie have signed up to our female friendly FOXY Promise AND have measurable quality schemes for service and repair work.

Swot up here about the confusion of  good garage quality signs motorists are expected to get their heads round before making their choice.

garage services, women drivers

Electrician in York sees the light…

It’s good to see that Yorkshire Trading Standards has fined a tradesman nearly £2000 as a result of his passing himself off as a member of a trade association, implying professional conduct that wasn’t the case.

I’d like to see more of these checks and fines in the motor industry so that women drivers could be 100% confident that they are dealing with one of the best and honourable businesses. FOXY Choice’s terms and conditions require female friendly garages to self certify their business credentials including current membership of trade associations; there could easily be a degree of sloppiness here because it isn’t always possible for us to check that all trade memberships, for example, are correct or up to date.

Because we favour, promote and reward garage businesses with OFT (schemes operating to a fully approved code and those that have yet to get there), ATA and BSI Kitemark credentials in particular, I’d hate to think we might be misrepresenting this important sign of quality to women drivers in any of our female friendly garage listings… or that businesses might be passing off trade memberships at any stage.

In this instance, David Pearce who is an electrician from York, pleaded guilty to four charges of displaying a trade association logo he was not entitled to and one of displaying a ‘trust mark’ he wasn’t entitled to use.

York Trading Standards claimed that Pearce’s firm used quotation forms bearing the logo of the National Association of Professional Inspectors And Testers (NAPIT) and used a trust mark linked to the same organisation. Pearce also displayed the logo ‘inappropriately’ on his firm’s website.

In his defence, Pearce claimed he had not run a business before and obtained help from a friend in the same occupation. This third party had given him quotation and invoice forms he had copied and he hadn’t realised that his website could be accessed by the public…

Nice try David…

I got this story from the helpful Professional Associations website and am as surprised as they are to not find this as a news story at the NAPIT website yet. I imagine that any professional business association would wish to discourage trade cowboys from making false claims about their membership. After all, this might then flush a few lapsed members out of their cubby holes to conveniently remember to pay a recently lapsed sub!

FOXY

Find out about the lading trade associations that female friendly garages can join in FOXY’s Good Garage Guide.

car dealerships, garage services, marketing to women, women drivers

Does the Motor Codes garage scheme encourage women drivers to pay over the odds in car dealerships?

Does the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code/garage market itself to women and encourage them to pay over the odds in car dealerships? Yes I think it does.

For starters the Motor Codes website,  blog and recent press releases state….

“Don’t risk a rip-off, you can trust a Motor Codes garage.”

“Consumers, why go anywhere else? Don’t risk a rip off, look for the logo and have confidence in your choice of garage by using the Garage Finder facility on the Motor Codes website.”

[Click here to find out] ‘How the Service and Repair Code solves your cowboy garage concerns….’

“Franchised and independent garages who subscribe to the Code surely have the edge over those that don’t – or won’t.”

“Businesses that commit to the Code are demonstrating their willingness to provide consistent levels of customer satisfaction and the more that subscribe, the easier it is for consumers to find the good guys.”

Yet these marketing statements, intended to influence men and women drivers alike are misleading because…

1   the likes of the ATA, BSI Kitemark and OFT approved Stage Two schemes operated by Bosch Car Service and VBRA are higher standards than the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code

2   the majority of manufacturers expect higher service and repair standards of workmanship from their franchised dealers than the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code states

3   only a small percentage of subscribers to the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code have been inspected (142 compliance checks in Q1 2009 gives you an idea of how many of the 5500 subscribers have been vetted during the full year…) so this is an EXTREMELY CHEAP promotion at just £75 a year for any business to get on the quality bandwagon and claim to be better than others without having to prove anything…

4   most of the businesses listed (iro 80% I estimate, probably more) are franchised car dealerships. Check out your nearest town via the Motor Codes website for starters. Is it a coincidence that this scheme is run by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders who exist to represent the best interests of the main manufacturers? How can they put the best interests of motorists first (but someone must)…

5   female motorists on a budget (ie most of us in a recession) choosing a Motor Codes subscriber are likely to feel tricked into paying more than we need to because the website suggests Motor Code subscribers are better…

For example and as at today…

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Glasgow only 2 out of 50 are independent garages…

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Newcastle upon Tyne only 1 out of 42 businesses is an independent garage

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Manchester only 3 out of 33 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Birmingham only 3 out of 35 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in London only 6 out of 46 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Shoreham-by-Sea (my nearest town in Sussex) only 3 out of 33 are independents

If you wanted to choose a Motor Codes subscriber in Exeter only 2 out of 23 are independents

and so on…it’s the same skew across the UK. Draw your own conclusions.

As I see it, this means that many men and women drivers, choosing a Motor Codes subscriber (as a result of lavish marketing budgets) could end up paying over the odds in car dealerships without realising they could have had an informed choice of a good independent garage…

AND that the majority of Motor Codes subscribers have neither had a welcome visit or a Compliance Check yet. The fact is that these subscribers don’t have to be good garages, they just have to say they are.

If it was me and I found this out, I’d feel cheated by the very industry and OFT- backed code that is promising me and other women drivers like me better car servicing, MOT and repair value for money services.

And isn’t this the very reputation that the motor industry wishes to change – for overcharging motorists?

Undoubtedly manufacturers jumped on board because Ford signed up first and told its dealers to subscribe a year ago… but I remain amazed that so many manufacturers ever thought that their authorised dealers needed to subscribe to such a basic Motor Code… have they read it?  Their dealers MUST have been doing more than this in the aftersales department…

Of course I support attempts to raise standards in the motor industry, but this code is not the salve to all garage problems yet. It isn’t ready for consumer marketing and it could mislead and increase industry complaints not reduce them as it set out to do.

And many, many garages and dealerships are offering much higher and female friendly standards  – let’s set the quality bar much higher in future.

FOXY

car dealerships, female friendly, garage services, women drivers

FOXY garage services in Taunton

Our Head of Sales, Claire Boundy, lives near Taunton so it seemed like a good place to start our FOXY Lady Drivers Club foray into the West Country providing female friendly garage and motoring support services for women.

We now have a really friendly BSI Kitemark licensed garage in Taunton to provide women driver members with car checks plus a range of FOXY approved local garages offering MOT, servicing and repair discounts so that’s a good start. Lots of national offers and our accident assistance and helpdesk of course!

The disappointing bit here is that despite contacting all the dealerships in the area, none have taken the plunge to sign the FOXY Promise and become a FOXY Choice subscriber.

Now clearly dealerships are in the doldrums and perhaps they are sitting on the fence for the moment but with a unique female friendly business proposition to promote themselves online to new customers and as a female friendly business ahead of others I am surprised and disappointed not to have more takers with a view to when the good times return. Very short-sighted I think.

Maybe when they pick up on our local PR and Musgrove Park hospital promotion we’ll have some new recruits – let’s hope they haven’t left it too late to compete with the independents for valuable aftersales business that can lead into the showroom.

Unless, of course, they aren’t female friendly businesses (and I’ve spoken to many UK dealership staff that clearly aren’t) and know that the FOXY Promise will out them as such.

So far I have been surprised by a couple of leading national garage organisations that have blanched at FOXY’s service and ethical commitment (see PS). Very telling but not a surprise if our Helpdesk call log is anything typical!!

FOXY

PS: The FOXY Promise states “We strive to be a female friendly business and will never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell our customers services they do not need or want.”
Sounds fairly basic to me but businesses that fail the female friendly FOXY Promise test know we spread the word in the Club…