Tag Archives: car repairs

accident repairs

Choosing a female friendly car repairer

photo ack: carbumperrepairscardiff.co.uk
photo ack: carbumperrepairscardiff.co.uk

Women drivers need to know who to trust and where to take their cars for repairs to everyday motoring bumps, dents, scuffs and dings. This is why we operate the UK’s only female friendly approved garage and accident repairer network under the FOXY Choice banner.

These are typical cosmetic car damage we ALL collect.

When we’re parking, for example, but just as often (or so it seems to me) caused by careless and short-sighted others wielding trolleys, buggies, opening car doors and reversing recklessly in busy car parks.

Just like the garages women visit for MOTs, car servicing and mechanical repairs we all want to know where the genuinely female friendly accident and cosmetic repairers are in our area.

What are cosmetic car repairs?

Cosmetic car repairs affect the look of your car, your perceived status sometimes and ultimately your driving pleasure. If your car LOOKS good it’s no secret that you FEEL good and it seems to drive better too. Funny that!

photo ack: bradleysmartsolutions.co.uk
photo ack: bradleysmartsolutions.co.uk
Cosmetic repairs are also known within the motor industry as SMART repairs (as in Small to Medium Area Repair Techniques). Few females know of this acronym so perhaps that’s the first point to make here. A SMART* vehicle repairer is therefore a specialist cosmetic car repairer…

*not to be confused with the SMaRT Garage Group that does service and repair work in South London and Salford… and who are part of the #FOXYLadyApproved garage network. Sorry to confuse you!

We all need cosmetic vehicle repairs at some stage.

By that I mean
+ Alloy wheel refurbishment
+ Car interior repairs
+ Car valeting
+ Cosmetic car park dings
+ Paintless dent removal
+ Pre sale tidy up
+ Scuffs and scratches
+ Vehicle recovery service
+ Wheel alignment

Remember that a pristine looking car will sell ahead of one that’s evidently been in a few supermarkets too many. My mother in law had her car tidied up before selling it recently and it flew off the shelf – she sold it to the first caller at the asking price.

What surprised me most, looking at prices recently, is that cosmetic repairs cost less than I imagined, and this price list from the Just Car Clinics group will give you an idea of the costs to budget for….

How to find a good accident or cosmetic car repairer

It isn’t easy to find a good cosmetic car repairer online.

Even Google doesn’t know the difference between a ‘service and mechanical repair’ garage and an ‘accident and cosmetic repairer’. To see what I mean, search for ‘cosmetic car repairs’ and you’ll find loads of ‘service and (mechanical) repair’ garages.

That’s such a waste of our shopping time and very misleading, especially when we might end up handing our car over to a garage that might have a go (but has no skills or license to do the work) or charge us a handling fee to simply pass the work on to one of their chums who may or may not be any better.

Even the motor industry lumps ‘repairs’ into one category when motorists are likely to be searching for ‘repairs’ yet looking for the best ‘mechanical’, ‘accident’ and/or ‘cosmetic’ repairer to suit the job in hand.

When all women want to know is who and where are the best local approved repairers we can trust not to rip us off.

In short, we want a repairer that’s best qualified to do this specialist job, but few women (or men) know what the best standard is.

We might choose a national network like FOXY Lady Approved Just Car Clinics or favour a specialist repairer for a make of car, like Ford Accident Repair Centres (a handful are FOXY Lady Approved to date). Or a specialist in a particular field such as upholstery or alloy wheel repairers.

When it comes to more major car accident repairs, FOXY looks for the Kitemark specification (known as BS10125) in bodywork repairs. Most of the leading insurers require this for their repairer networks.

Another sign of measurable quality is membership of the VBRA (Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association) that operates the only Trading Standards Code of Practice scheme. And if you can find an expert for the work you require listed at the IMI’s Professional Register at least you know that person is licensed to do the job.

When it comes to cosmetic repairs some say a mobile resource (one that might assemble a tent outside your home or office to complete the likes of spray paint repairs there) is less able to achieve the same consistent paint finish because of the outdoor/weather variant. But it might suit you better and be a quicker solution?

Needless to say, after an accident and all the stress this brings, you want a business that has invested in quality standards first and is female friendly to boot – an accident can be very unsettling.

Remember that the motor industry doesn’t require individuals to be licensed to carry out bodywork repairs so, whatever your foxy choice, go for a business that has clearly invested in licensed/trained staff who are more likely to provide higher standards than others.

Very often a good accident repairer will be a good cosmetic repairer because of the synergy in skills. They are likely to be experts in panel sourcing/beating, paint spraying and/or the economic supply of the best value (NB: be wary of the cheapest…) replacement parts.

You’ll also find networks of specialist often franchised services offering car valeting, alloy wheel repairs, windscreen replacements and such like. Needless to say perhaps, it’s the same old jungle out there for females so choose a female friendly approved one, where given the choice.

Here’s the list of the latest FOXY Lady Approved garages (for MOT, servicing and mechanical repairs) and REPAIRERS (as in bodywork, accident and cosmetic car repairs).

Here’s how to provide female feedback about any local accident repairer (good or bad)

Here’s how to provide female feedback about any local cosmetic car repairer (good or bad)

We can then share your feedback re local accident repairs within the Club for the benefit of local women drivers.

FOXY’s final advice when shopping for car repairs?

We say

1 Always look for/ask about signs of measurable quality whatever the car repair you require.
2 As tempting as a cheap price is, don’t decide on the basis of price alone – this is an unlicensed industry remember.
3 Don’t put up with excessive repair delays after an accident and poor, patronising or overcharged work of course.
4 Where you can, choose a FOXY Lady Approved repairer in your area.
5 Tell us if you have cause to complain about any UK repairer via the Feedback area of the top righthand menu area of the foxychoice.com website.

If we can help sort things out, we’ll add our voice to the female cause.

By choosing a FOXY Lady Approved ie female friendly accident repairer and/or cosmetic car repairer everybody wins in the end, just as soon as women realise they have a female friendly choice and don’t make do with repairers that clearly aren’t.

Please help us spread the word by telling your friends…

FOXY

NB: Sadly cars that were accident write offs are allowed back on our roads without an insurance bill of health (see eBay for examples of this). Whilst that’s a subject for a different blog I couldn’t live with myself if a repairer I chose to repair my car did the job SO BADLY that this caused a serious accident to the person I next sold my car to…

How about you?

garage services

Are they having a larf?

How much did you say?

A number of garages expect me to start the buying process before they tell me how much my car servicing is likely to cost. But I’m foxy, remember; I’m used to comparing prices first and I have no intention of being fobbed off in this way.

If I pick something off a supermarket shelf or High Street clothes rack, for example, I expect to see the price before I buy it.

If it’s more than I want to pay I can keep looking or go elsewhere. Whether it’s a tin of beans, a car service or a fitted kitchen…

And I don’t expect to be asked for my personal details before I’m given a price. That’s enough to send me packing elsewhere…

So when my car needs servicing or repairs I want to know what my choices are and to be able to compare, like for like, what it’s going to cost for my car and model. Because otherwise it’s nigh on impossible to judge what’s best value for money for me, the car and the occasion.

As things stand…some garages publish car servicing tariffs online and others don’t.

Most dealerships and leading independent garages include car collection services whereas few national chain garages and fast-fits do…

And some garage brokers publish a price tariff and collect your car but don’t tell you which garage will be doing the work. This worries me because a low price can be a function of quality workmanship and this is an industry where garages aren’t regulated and mechanics do not have to be accredited as fit for purpose...

Yet many garage and main dealership websites expect motorists to book car servicing and MOTs via their website without confirming a price or giving an estimate for starters. And one assumes people trust them sufficiently to do this…

Well, knowing what I do about the UK’s garage industry I wouldn’t buy expensive garage services without knowing
1     who the garage is
2    whether it’s up to the job ie what are their credentials
3    what my local choices are and
4    that the price is a fair one in my circumstances (from a value for money point of view).

So my advice to all foxy lady drivers is to check the garage in question for measurable signs of quality (like ATA, BSI and OFT logos), look for a tariff (or ask for an estimate in advance) and shop around. And my advice to garages is to publish some sort of estimate before they go to someone else who does.

It’s a very competitive world when it comes to buying car servicing and/or vehicle repairs and this means that independents, dealerships, fastfits and bodyshops must each set out their wares to attract the right customer and car. Prices, customer services and amenities – not just the work they do.

Having said that, it is rarely in any motorist’s best interest to buy a used car or garage service on price alone and no-one should be fooled into buying any garage service or repair without getting a quote in advance…

Sadly too many foxy lady drivers are paying more than they need without realising this until afterwards.

To find out about your choice of garage solutions and signs of garage quality to look for, see FOXY’s Good Garage Guide. And if it’s female friendly garages you’re after, visit FOXY Choice’s website and email selected businesses direct to compare their prices and service levels first.

Finally let us know how you get on and, whilst this offer stands, we’ll thank women who give us garage feedback with a free gift of membership of FOXY Lady Drivers Club worth £23. Where we share the word about the best businesses to benefit foxy lady members and their families…

FOXY

garage services

Garage misinformation for motorists

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

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!

buying a new car, women drivers

Top Ten car buying and selling tips

According to carsite.co.uk website the following tactics can either cost or win you hundreds of pounds when you come to buying or selling a car in 2010. It’s all in the eye of the beholder of course.

  1. Poor colour choice (lose or gain £200-500 on the sales price)
    The message is to buy and sell cars in popular colours – like black, grey even or silver. Yes they might be boring, but you’ll be maximising your sales audience – much more than if you buy a Barbie-like pink car, for example…
  2. Scratched or tarnished alloys (lose or gain £50-100 per alloy on the sales price)
    Look out for a SMART car repairer to take care of these small but important details – see FOXY Choice website, for example. You’ll pay remarkably little to put these right.
  3. Body dents and scratches (lose or gain as much as £200-300 per panel for worst examples)
    Same as per 2 – get an estimate for body repairs from a qualified bodyshop that knows what they are doing – independents will be cheaper than franchised dealerships. Google for dent removal then do your homework about that business in case they haven’t got all the appropriate equipment to do this well.
  4. Cracked or chipped windscreen (£250-300)
    Easy to put right – call in a mobile service or ask a good bodyshop that does SMART and cosmetic body repairs.
  5. Poorly maintained trims and upholstery (Up to £500 in some instances)
    As per 2 – see the likes of the female friendly car repairer ooops.net in Poole then see who is doing something similar in an area near you.
  6. Messy interior (£300-400)
    This is a no-brainer of course but if you can afford to lose this amount of money then don’t bother cleaning your car before you take it to trade in at a dealership…
  7. Undesirable specifications (Dependent on model)
    This is commonsense. More women than men buy automatics and more men than women look for vroom performance although it seems as if we are all looking for fuel performance now; other than the Top Gear boys that is!  And there are many other instances of features that please some but not others.
  8. Incomplete service book and vehicle history (£300-400 or refusal to trade)
    I cannot emphasise this enough – don’t buy a cheap car that hasn’t been serviced regularly. If it hasn’t been looked after it WILL become very expensive to run after you buy it. If it seems too cheap there will be a downside – remember the saying ‘there is no such thing as a cheap lunch…’ and in the case of a poorly maintained car the bills can be huge…
  9. Balding or near-limit tyres (£100-150 per tyre)
    To quote Homer Simpson ‘dohh…’. Even he wouldn’t be so silly, surely?
  10. Short MOT (£200-300)
    This is likely more to do with the fleet cars carsite.co.uk buy but where there is a short MOT, get the car checked by a good local garage before you buy it. If you are a member of FOXY Lady Drivers Club you can claim one of your quarterly car fitness checks for free – this will likely tell you if you are about to buy a shocker…

*Figures based on a 3-year old/30,000 mile family-sized car from a mainstream manufacturer.

Finally let me add some foxy motoring advice – ALWAYS buy a HPI check or equivalent for any car you want to buy before you part with your ready cash. Too many cars for sale are not what they seem and if you buy a used car from an individual you have no comeback in law where caveat emptor is the rule.

<buyer departs with car and seller wipes hands with glee>.

Whereas if you buy from a reputable dealer (NB: all dealers say they are reputable of course…) you should ask and find that they have done the HPI check to be sure the car is what it claims to be. You then have 6 months protection in law if anything unreasonable were to develop when you take the car home so this should be the minimum period of any warranty.

FOXY

female friendly, garage services, women drivers, women's car insurance

Winter car repairs with women in mind

It’s an ill wind that has been blowing car repairers good business this winter.  Snow and black ice last December has meant 40% more insurance claims from women drivers as well as men. But some motorists display a distinct lack of Christmas goodwill according to AA Insurance…

As if it isn’t bad enough for women drivers to have to abandon their car in snow or icy conditions, many motorists then find that their vehicles have been damaged by other cars sliding into them or that they have been broken in to by thieves.

“There’s no worse Christmas gift than finding someone has left a dent or scrape on your car and not left a note to admit it,” says Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance who then asks motorists to please leave a note with their contact details on the windscreen of the ‘innocent’ car.

But few will I suspect if the stories of folk who leave their cars running, unattended, whilst they warm up are anything to go by. Leaving the house to drive off, many find their car (usually a posh one) has been stolen off their front drive. Who are these dreadful people? I hope the penalties are tough when they are found out…

But this is a salutary message re women’s car insurance to the rest of us because insurers almost always reject these claims because theft of an unattended vehicle left open and with the keys in it is specifically excluded from policies.

As an aside, I’d remind any female motorist to consult her insurance policy in all cases before relying on insurers to carry out repairs for their car. In most cases you do not have to use the insurer’s repairers; you could use a female friendly variety and cherry pick one from FOXY Choice with the best qualifications and recommendations. This could be done more cheaply and quickly too – time is the factor that seems to cause many women drivers stress especially when any courtesy car facility is withdrawn before the car’s repair is complete. Outside the motorists reasonable control as well.

Happy New Year.

FOXY