To think women are perfectly capable of driving and parking "big cars"?

[Kingcyrolophosarus]

and to hate the casual sexism from male garage workers

Took car to the garage, patronising young guy " would you like me to reverse that out for you?"
No thanks, I've been driving since you were in nappies mate. I've had this car for 5 years, it belongs to me, not my husband. I know how to look after the engine, I know what tyres it takes, and I can fit those tyres by myself

Car hire guy when I was changing a car( for price reasons) "is it too big for you, can't you park it?"

Tyre garage guy
" ooh these are really expensive" proceeds to quote 30% extra
Er, you really think I don't know how much they cost?
I'll go to a garage that doesn't assume I'm stupid thank you

YANBU.

But some women believe they can't reverse park etc Presumably cos they're conditioned to believe this...?

What I think they really mean is 'I haven't learnt yet' but don't have the opportunity or don't want to look a dick so avoid trying. Vicious cycle...

You change your own tyres? Do you have access to a garage/workshop, or do you have some simple kit to do it? How do you balance the wheels afterwards?

I'm looking to do my own car tyres if possible; I've got the equipment to do motorbike tyres.

I'm pretty rubbish at parking - that is my fault and unrelated to being a woman I believe!!

However, I haven't noticed anyone being particularly sexist at garages and I have been to 2 different ones in the last week and had to use the AA as well. I also found that when my husband was looking for a car the sales people always went out of their way to speak to me too.

CaptainVonTrapp yes, I think it's social conditioning. Just like women are brought up to believe they can't do physics and maths. In comparison Eastern Europe has a lot more female engineers.

Yes OLTT. Why else would otherwise capable, intelligent women say they 'can't do' an everyday task instead of getting to grips with it?

Anyone who has a newish Passat will know that releasing the button-operated hand-brake feature is a bit of an acquired skill.

Is it? Clutch down, in gear, a few revs, lift clutch, parking brake releasesautomatically; it's the same process as a manual handbrake, without the handbrake bit

YANBU.

I am a bloody ace driver ( obviously ). I can tow and everything, and reverse with a trailer. I have had to learn - I've had no choice.

But I'm afraid you do see an awful lot of underconfident women drivers. I won't say crap drivers, because the number of SHIT drivers who are men makes me mad.

I was at the vauxhall garage at Taunton as had been on M5 and my window wipers stopped working - I got to the garage and they took a quick look - 2 minutes - then sat for 50 minutes, it was the woman behind the counter that tried to rip me off she wanted to start the bill at 90 quid for the 50 minutes I had been sat there, the entire bill I got down to 60 quid for the small part and labour in the end. I told her I wasn't paying for parking the car and the men taking a two minute look at the job and create, she coloured au to the roots of her hair so I guess she really was rumbled.

So don't think in garages it will always be the men, it could be a woman trying to rip you off..

Don't start me . Have had an HGV licence for 15 years , had to , because when I was doing proper competing , the horsebox was too big to drive on normal licence . Since then have driven boxes of varying sizes up and down the country , on motorways , mud caked fields , and in and out of gateways with barely an inch either side ( why oh why is the car park field always the one with the narrowest gate ? ) . So far , not had a scratch , let alone an accident .

So why then , when I drive the Land rover into the tyre services , do they treat me like a bimbo ? Well they did , until the day I had to have the Land rover done , then said ' I'll be back in a minute with the other one ' . Half an hour later , brought the 16 tonne horsebox back , and said 'two fronts on that please ! ' And did a 3 point turn in their car park to leave . Little woman my ass .

SoniaGluck When did I say this applied to everyone? All I meant was when I'm nearly in an accident because of someone else this is what I see. I'm certainly not a perfect driver but I know how to stay in lane on a roundabout.

Tbh, 9 times out of 10 the bad driver is checking their phone, regardless of gender.

YANBU.

I often get boggled looks from DP when he sees that I have squeezed the car into a tiny gap that he would have dismissed as too small. I remember the first time I drove both him and his step brother together. I had to do a parallel park into a tight space outside step brother's house, which is also on a hill. I was absolutely determined to avoid any ribbing about women parking, so I psyched myself up and thought about the manoeuvre carefully. I then managed to do the most perfect, one movement parallel park that I have ever seen or done in my life. Both DP and stepbrother were slightly stunned, and I sat there pretending that I always parked like that.

On the other hand I had a thoroughly annoying experience with my little cheap student car. It had an air intake that you had to change manually to take in fresh/cold air during the summer and warm air from the engine during the winter. If it was set to cold air intake during the winter it would suffer from carburettor icing. I knew this because when it had happened before, my lovely, non-patronising mechanic had explained it to me shown me how to switch the air intake around.

During a sudden cold snap one autumn, I realised that the air intake needed changing when the carburettor had iced up on the way into work. I had nursed the car in, but decided to change the filter before I went home. To my extreme annoyance, I could not get the relevant nuts unbolted, even after applying some WD40. In the end I had to resort to getting a man to turn the nuts as I simply didn't have the strength to do it. He didn't quite know what to make of the fact that I had to ask for his help to do something to an engine that he knew nothing about!

I'm a terrible driver, it's not because I'm a woman though!

Tbh, 9 times out of 10 the bad driver is checking their phone, regardless of gender.

OK. Well, in that case, the driver isn't doing something dangerous because they're not realising it. A person must be aware that being on the phone whilst driving is dangerous as well as being illegal.

You seemed to be implying that lots of women were merrily driving around being oblivious to the fact that they were driving in a dangerous manner; whilst the men were equally dangerous but it was macho risk taking and they were aware of it.

If I misunderstood then I apologise but that was how it came across to me.

YANBU, I actually find it easier to reverse into a space & don't even get me started on looking for a new car............

YANBU to think that some women can park large cars, but YABU if you think that all women can do so. Same as men really! I parked by people carrier into a space recently and two men standing watching looked in dosbelief and when I got out their comment was (in disbelief) "Well, there was nothing wrong with that bit of reversing" , I looked at them and asked why they thought there should have been.

Garages are the worst for assumptions. I actually shouted at the salesman who ordered our last car along the lines of "I chose the car. I ordered the car. I paid for the car and it is registered in my name SO WHY DOES IT SAY MR GRACE ON THE ENVELOPE WITH THE PAPERWORK IN AND ON THE KEY FOB?". The one before had done exactly the same thing.

My name is perfectly acceptable to all manner of utility companies and other organisations except, it seems, garages.

I bought a new car this year and got such a ridiculously cheap price that my Dad looked slightly stunned and announced I'm going with him to buy his next car
On the other hand, a dealership quoted me for a new exhaust and I had a feeling they were taking the mick so I asked Dad who rang and got a price probably £75 cheaper than I did

Don't you think it's partly because it's more acceptable for women to admit to insecurities in the parking area. Women are happy to say 'ooo, I can't reverse park'. Plenty of men can't do it either, but they wouldn't fess up so happily.

Over the summer I got boxed in to a really tight parking spot by a complete idiot who had parked on the end of a row. I was in an unfamiliar car and just couldn't get out of the space. So I looked around the car park, found someone sitting doing nothing and got him to watch me out and make sure I didn't scratch either car. No problem - job done. But I bet DH would have found it tricky too - and he'd have been too embarassed to find someone to ask to help. (Incidentally it was an older man - I might have been too embarassed to ask someone younger, don't know why.)

I've not driven a big car, but I've no reason to assume I can't do it, as I'm fine with any other car I've driven.

Those of you can't reverse, what do you do when you meet another vehicle on a single track road?

A lot of it comes down to practice.
It's taken me a while to get the hang of parking the transit van, mostly because it lacks the rear view mirror. i was known to go in and out of spaces in empty supermarket car parks until I got the way of parking between the lines.
I drove a Volvo estates for years which I found easier to park than my DHs wee Punto.
I can't say I've come across sexism in the garages I go to, I wouldn't go back if there were.

The best driving fun I've had was when I had a chance to drive a Challenger tank. Try parallel parking that. Great fun

I am a perfectly capable parker and reverser, and I have never caused an accident or pranged my car, but sometimes in garages, they pack them into the tiniest most difficult spaces, so I ask them to get the car out - if it gets pranged it's their problem not mine.