Wtf, female car owners charged £45 more than men for same job.

[squidzin]

I thought car mechanics ripped everyone off equally, apparently they are even more sexist than we thought.
Makes you wonder what other services get a female premium.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/garages-charge-women-45-more-than-men-for-the-same-repairs-10361221.html

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/garages-charge-women-45-more-than-men-for-the-same-repairs-10361221.html

This isn't a new thing. Garages have tried to rip me off several times over the years but because I have a reasonable amount of car knowledge and trusted friends to ask for advice, they've never managed it.

The worst were a place which tried to tell me my head gasket had blown (it hadn't) and one which failed to do any of the work I'd paid for. When I went back immediately, having obviously noticed that the car was still broken, I got loads of eye-rolling and 'if the lady isn't happy' etc. as they asked me to point out exactly what was wrong, clearly expecting me to be unable to.

In all honesty, I think all women should have basic car maintenance knowledge. Not only that, but get quotes for work beforehand and don't be afraid to challenge them on higher than expected bills.

I can't say I'm surprised in the slightest.

You know the whole thing of "getting a man" to deal with car plumber etc. And how the men in those situations will often talk down to you / be a bit odd when you're female and address men quite differently. (Although this has imporived over the last couple decades it is still there in many places to a greater or lesser extent). And then the idea is well women can and should deal with this stuff (even though it can be uncomfortable) so yay let's do that (which I have a lot). But deep down oftentimes you know that they are not taking you as seriously as a bloke and you suspect they're ripping you off more than they would a bloke but you've got no way of telling have you.

So anyway yes is anyone really surprised?

I suspect the results would change if they put in a man who said really inept things and a woman who knew her stuff, but as a basic customer and with no additional info their assumption is that the woman knows less than the man hence the bigger price hike for women.

The Good Garage Scheme was recommended to me on here - found one in my area, and I no longer fear trip to the garage. He shows me the part he takes out for replacement, shows me how/why its knackered, and shows me the new part in situ. Bills appear to be fair and correct. Before finding this, I used to actually put off going to the garage, so its such a relief to find someone you trust. It shouldn't be difficult, should it.

IIRC, there was an episode of Watchdog or Rogue Traders or some such where they sent a female mechanic in to some garages to test the theory. It was hilarious yet annoying when one blatantly tried to rip her off and she put them on the spot. There was a lot of backtracking and evasion once they realised she knew what she was talking about.

but Sheffield and Edinburgh were the only ones to buck the trend – charging men 5 per cent and 18 per cent more respectively

I would love to know the explanation for that !

Frankly they could tell me the hamster that makes the wheels go round had died and needs replacing and I might believe them.

I've been talked down to and/or initially ignored by salesmen in Mercedes and BMW garages. I haven't bought either make since partly because of this.

After I had been totally ignored in the Mercedes garage, once, I actually made a complaint to the sales manager but he didn't really get it. (I had seen men who walked in after me get greetings).

I've had the normal experience of having them talk to DP rather than me (he's happily clueless about cars, and will give them a blank, uncomprehending smile and ask me) - my garage are used to that by now and generally just deal with me (although despite apparently correcting it on their systems a number of times they still call me Mrs Pickle rather than Ms.)

Mind you, it's a mainline dealer (not that from quotes from other places on a couple of jobs they're any different in price - just for things like diagnosis I think), and after my last service I found I was leaking oil, so took it back and paid them 70 quid to have a look. They recommended 700 quids more taking apart, and I said I'd just keep topping it up (which they were fine with as an option) - and I haven't had to top it up since, which suggests something that hadn't been put on properly, now is on properly to me. I shall prod them about that when I next go in :)

My car is via motability so I don't get this. But when I did own a banger I would get it MOT'd and repaired at the local ambulance station, I worked for the NHS so got a discount too.

The ambulance service employ mechanics to keep the ambulances on the road so the other work they do is just a sideline, they won't do major repairs but do quite a lot.

Worth looking out for.

Bearleigh - my mum got a BMW a couple of years ago and the salespeople completely ignored her and talked to my dad. She did buy the car but when she got a follow up letter addressed to my dad she completely lost her temper with them and wrote and complained to BMW UK. She got a grovelling apology in return.

I bought a nearly new car a few years ago and it was a really awful experience. The bloke expressed huge surprise that I wanted to look under the bonnet rather than simply admire how much boot space there was for my 'shopping'