Tag Archives: garage evenings for women

West Sussex Women in Gear

Jacquie Davis showed us how to cope with the unexpected...
Last week I attended a garage evening for women in Goring, West Sussex, organised by Birchwood Motor Group. I went with a Club member who wanted some company!

The evening split into three parts starting with a speaker about road rage followed by a session in the garage and rounded up with a talk about self defence, just in case.

The first speaker was a former Chief Police Inspector turned behaviour expert. He explained how most of us have preconceived ideas about motorists which are all too often groundless.

Anyone who drives too fast, too slow, who tailgates us or doesn’t indicate when we think they should may be immediately said to be too old, too young, male wearing a hat (!) or female… Needless to say, these perceptions can put us in a really bad mood when driving. But women shouldn’t be intimidated by the road rage they encounter. The perpetrators are just bullies (usually male in our case) and we shouldn’t let them make us feel like victims either or be tempted to inflame a situation by our body language.

If you have made a mistake say sorry, don’t smile, stay calm throughout, drive confidently at all times and carry on regardless…

The next session took us past the latest Suzuki and Skoda models into the garage area where we were then split into groups and shown by patient technicians how to change a wheel, check our tyres and top up oils and fluid levels. I overheard one lady admitting she hadn’t realised that different cars needed different oils and we were all able to ask motoring-related questions in a fairly jargon free environment.

At this stage we were all treated to a surprise supper including fresh sandwiches, pastries and hot and cold drinks.

The highlight of the evening for me was a quite remarkable lady called Jacquie Davis who then talked to us about self protection; she had been a personal bodyguard and mentioned some really hairy assignments. My initial reaction was that I didn’t want to think about having to defend myself for real but in a group of 80 females we all had a good laugh at imagining how we might. I can still see Jackie fending off her (smaller technician) ‘attacker’ as well as her novel uses for an umbrella and any innocent pen that might come in handy if someone chose to invade her personal space…

Jackie’s advice was to trust your instincts – if you think you are in danger you probably are so get ready to run or fight. You can charge your adrenaline levels by pumping (ie opening and closing) your fists several times. This does work she says although I’ve not needed it to yet… Put handbags under seats not on passenger seats; lock all doors in cities; go round not through parks at night; don’t stop the car in a dark place even if it seems to be police doing the asking – if it’s genuine they’ll understand if you drive to a lit up forecourt or the nearest police station before getting out. In a nutshell don’t take unnecessary risks and do put as much distance between him and you as possible…

All in all a great evening and all credit to Birchwood Motor Group’s staff. Most of them were male of course but I did spot a female Service Manager which is a rare and wonderful thing. The attitude of the Dealer Principal was particularly refreshing – ‘We are here to serve you’ he said and the whole team did exactly that including offering to park our cars on arrival bringing them up to the door for us when we left (with a goody bag to remind us of the night).

Well done Birchwood Motor Group for providing evenings like this for women drivers in Sussex. And to the AVF Communications team for organising the Women In Gear programme on their behalf.

FOXY

If you are looking for a female friendly garage or dealership like this one, near you, check out the FOXY Choice website. It identifies all measurable signs of quality which is oh so important because few motorists realise that UK garages don’t have to be licensed or mechanics qualified. And we’re talking about your personal safety here.

Women and garage evenings

I’ve been involved in several well intentioned garage evenings for women and have reached several conclusions.

  • Firstly that they are time consuming to organise and often disappointingly attended.
  • Secondly that it is the best and female friendly garages that do this as part of their caring philosophy.
  • And finally that the attendees are often women who have nothing better to do of an evening, some who are clearly only interested because it’s free and others who are obviously loyal customers already…

So what’s the point?

The reality is that few women are interested in the workings of their cars and even fewer are going to ever change a wheel if their car breaks down – why otherwise would we have breakdown cover and eyelashes to flutter?

But should women know how and what oil to change, how and how often to check our tyres and the signs of low brake fluid. I have to say yes of course, and yet I know that few motorists including men, women and yours truly (who knows how) don’t do any of this as often as we might. So I can’t expect others to do as I say when I know better and still don’t do what I should do often enough. Yes I’m busy and yes I rely on my car for my independence so why am I not a paragon of virtue here?

I think it might be because I don’t enjoy doing car maintenance so I keep postponing it, forget when I did it last, worry that I don’t do it well enough, often enough or to spot looming problems and have a husband who seems to enjoy this sort of thing more than me. But does he really, or do it regularly enough or well enough either…

And all the time I keep thinking ‘why do garages want to teach women what to do for themselves when they want to see more of them and their cars for business reasons?’ Maybe the answer is a network of FOXY approved garages for women offering free and no obligation car checks for women to pop in uninvited, say on a Saturday morning or a mid week evening.

To be approved by us would require them to sign the female friendly FOXY Promise to ‘never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need or want’. Which truth be told counts out most of the national chains who encourage their staff to sell special promotion tyres, wipers and oils to earn commission knowing full well that this can result in motorists being sold stuff they do not need.

But if garages want to encourage women into their workshop/showroom they’d be better off surely getting involved in events that women like and attend – fashion, beauty, leisure, family and household-related. That’s what women enjoy and it might be a good way to get their name and offers noticed. And ultimately so women can start to enjoy visiting garages they trust in future. Steady on…

In the face of adversity there usually is a business opportunity to be found if you look closely enough but in this case it would be the sort of service that busy women like me who want to be able to trust a local female friendly garage might be interested in. And which could produce new business. Well worth a try for mutual benefit I’d have thought.