Tag Archives: female friendly garage

female friendly, garage services, women drivers

A garage photo speaks a thousand words

In an industry that isn’t overly famous for being female friendly, FOXY Choice’s garage subscribers know that it’s the people that matter most in a business and that it’s very important to convey a friendly image at all times.

Under normal circumstances it is enough to show their Unipart Car Care Centre credentials, that they care sufficiently to wear a smile & clean overalls and that the workshop is neat and tidy…

But when the staff are handsome too ;-), then that is a bonus for local women drivers as female friendly FOXY Choice garage subscriber Swiftest Aldershot illustrates very well.

As you might expect, this business employs females in what is predominantly a male-dominated industry, has female friendly magazines and knows that a park next door can help Mums entertain young children whilst their car is being MOT’d, repaired or serviced.

Good one Swiftest Aldershot – you are also listed at www.femalefriendlyapproved.com I see.

FOXY

female friendly, garage services, women drivers

Garage offers helicopter rides while women wait…

I never fail to be impressed by the entrepreneurship of some of FOXY Choice‘s female friendly garages, this time Natton Garage at Ashchurch near Tewkesbury. Not only do they  look after everyday runabouts like Fords and VWs for local women drivers but they also service, repair and MOT classic cars as their website shows.

I have also heard that they are famous for their hanging baskets, knowing that women drivers in particular like to see the presence of a feminine touch (no offence guys) and that these floral displays add to the female friendly

female friendly FOXY Choice Natton Garage, Tewkesbury
female friendly FOXY Choice Natton Garage, Tewkesbury

aesthetics of what would otherwise be a fairly mundane garage exterior; albeit in a rather lovely rural situation…

Finally, whilst Natton also offers local women and men drivers the option of a courtesy car or car collection service, is it the only garage to offer a helicopter ride whilst they wait for their car to be MOT’d, repaired or serviced?

I suspect so but if any of you know otherwise, let me know!

FOXY

female friendly, garage services, women drivers

Bishop Auckland garage gets female friendly vote

Many garage websites show photos of the exterior of their garage and let’s face it, few are memorable for that reason ;-).

Yet a photo, so they say, speaks a thousand words… which is why the one from Auckside Garage in Bishop Auckland, County Durham for their female friendly FOXY Choice entry is spot on for local women drivers doing their garage homework.

Yet if you simply google on garages in Bishop Auckland, looking for an MOT, car servicing or repairs for example, all you get is a list without any way of knowing who are better than the rest (remember that garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics qualified in this industry) and which are genuinely female friendly.

Bearing in mind that we women place a lot of importance in how things look (and we’re quite fussy being expert shoppers ;-)) then the exterior of a used car lot, a garage forecourt or a me-too car glasshouse dealership isn’t necessarily the best photo for a business that wants to be memorable for its female friendly customer service.

Instead, a photo of a smiling staff team in clean overalls or a smart, well organised, clean looking, neat and tidy office team conveys the right sort of image to women who can then imagine the business behind the friendly image.

Quite obviously from their photo Auckside Motors is an honest, hardworking and friendly garage, a member of the Good Garage scheme to boot and a female friendly FOXY Choice subscriber so they have signed the FOXY Promise© to ‘never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell women services they neither need nor want’. As a result of all this, they also get a listing at the new website www.femalefriendlyapproved.com and are a foxy choice for women drivers in and near Bishop Auckland in Durham when it comes to MOT, car servicing and garage repair work.

Why would any woman settle for second best when she can have a female friendly business to look after her best motoring interests for a change?

FOXY

female friendly, garage services, women drivers

Awardwinning female friendly garage in Oxford

One of the great things about what we do is to identify and promote the best and female friendly UK garages based on their commitment to quality and ahead of other local businesses in their area. So we keep our eyes open for female friendly business news and encourage this feedback, especially when it’s to do with business or trade awards.

Female friendly garage TJ Hall & Son in Sandford-on-Thames, Oxford, is one with a special award to celebrate in 2009 – Robert Hall has won leading trade publication CAT Magazine’s ‘Technician of the Year’ Award, sponsored by Castrol. TJ Hall is a friendly and family run business who are clearly proud of providing a warm welcome for women drivers and their garage services include MOTs, car servicing and vehicle repairs for all cars, including classics and older ‘cherished’ vehicles.

The oil companies are good at spotting and working with the best garages. I have posted about this recently – US company Forte Oils (nothing to do with the hotels) runs the Good Garage scheme, Shell co-ran the recent Aftermarket Better Garages competition and Castrol has partnered with CAT to promote their Technician of the Year Awards. They all like to be associated with the best businesses in an industry with a rip-off reputation, especially when it’s for women.

Either way, remembering that this is an industry where garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics qualified, those that can demonstrate another tier of excellence, such as TJ Hall & Son, clearly rise above others who know they can’t rise to these standards.

It’s also good to note that TJ Hall have signed the FOXY Promise at the FOXY Choice website (so they can be trusted not to overcharge or patronise women), include a local car collection and delivery service and operate a breakdown recovery service too, should any foxy lady driver in Oxford need to call on a female friendly emergency service if stranded in future. This gives the business a further listing at the new www.femalefriendlyapproved.com website by the way.

These are all signs of quality so we advise women drivers in the Oxford area to choose a local garage with recent and prestigious awards for their next car servicing MOT or repairs, preferably one signed up to the FOXY scheme of course. Well done Robert.

FOXY

female friendly

A female friendly garage in Sheffield

I am considering adding testimonials to the FOXY Choice website in 2010, having decided against this last year in the light of so many bland and evidently prompted endorsements that I find on other websites.

In an industry where garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics qualified, how good can an endorsement be to the effect that ‘I’ve been coming here for years and they are nice people..’  if the person giving it doesn’t know how to check that the standard of the workmanship in the workshop is good enough.

But a recommendation that arrived yesterday caught my attention and summed up what makes a garage female friendly in my opinion, over and above the FOXY minimum standards we expect.

So in case anyone is reading this and wonders what the female friendly FOXY Choice website is all about, and what a garage, dealer or dealership has had to do to be listed by us (other than sign the female friendly FOXY Promise of course) this testimonial speaks volumes about the level of service we are working hard to identify and promote for women.

It is about a FOXY Choice garage subscriber in Sheffield which is also a Unipart Car Care Centre and called Chris Noyland Bill Rhodes.

This is what one of their female customers, Christine Antunes, has said about them.

“I was recommended to Noyland+Rhodes a few years ago and have not looked back. We have always been impressed by their friendly service but also by their reasonable prices.
I am a mom with 2 young children and I recently developed a problem with my car’s clutch. I had just dropped off my toddler at nursery and almost all the red lights came on.

I had nowhere else to go and I prayed to get to the garage, which I did thankfully.

I had my 3 month old daughter with me at the time and the manager, Phil, said he would fit my car in and try and sort it out asap. He was really friendly and helpful. They also offered me a loan car, which was such a help, as my car repair took 3 days. I could use the car at no extra cost, which I could not believe! My car was still under warranty and Phil took my details, phoned the necessary people up and sorted it all out for me. What a star.

I would highly recommend Noyland+Rhodes to other women drivers for their friendly and professional customer service.“

Thank you Christine for troubling to tell us some good news.  I agree that this is a sign of a caring garage that goes the extra mile for women. Well done Phil.

FOXY

“Four words sum up what lifted successful individuals above the crowd – a little bit more. They did what was expected, and a little bit more.”

A. Lou Vickery.