Women still experience negative treatment and outright humiliation when buying a car or having one repaired. This article provides advice on how to deal with such situations.
There's more to cars than the colour and it doesn't cost hundreds of dollars to change a spark plug. But chances are, when a woman walks into a car yard or a workshop, she'll be patronised with very little useful information about the car, while the mechanic will try to rip her off or at least that's what a discussion paper on women consumers and the motor vehicle industry concludes.
Research shows that women are charged higher prices for goods and services, enduring inconvenience, negative treatment and outright humiliation in the process. Examples in the paper include:
A woman who attempted to buy a car from a small-town dealership on four occasions was continually ignored by the sales rep, and finally told to go home and come back with her husband. She was a widow. And, another woman took her car in for its first service and was charged well above the industry price for genuine parts. That's bad enough, but they'd used non-genuine parts!
Don't get mad get smart
The NSW Department for Women, in conjunction with Toyota, NRMA and the Motor Vehicle Repairs Industry Council, has produced an information guide aimed particularly at women. The Automotive Tool Kit provides advice about buying a car, consumer rights, getting repairs or a service, getting to know your car, and even career opportunities in the industry. It's biased towards NSW regulations and policy, particularly when it comes to buying a car and consumer rights, but there's still useful general information and resources for readers from all states.
A limited number of printed copies is available from the NSW Department for Women: phone (02) 9287 1860, or toll-free within NSW on 1800 817 227.
