Is there a need for a motoring club for women?
We are often asked what we do and why this matters. Even by women who are unhappy with the way they have been treated by the motor industry but think ‘that’s just the way it is.’
They are right, in their experience, but that’s not the way FOXY sees it. We KNOW we can make a big difference in service levels for women drivers. In a nutshell FOXY wants women drivers to be better informed (ie foxy as in shrewd and canny) about their shopping choices and for Club members to have a motoring friend to turn to when they need one. We are also helping the motor industry understand what women REALLY want, so they can do a better job for us in future.
How is FOXY making a difference today?
Over and above the Club services we offer, members of FOXY Lady Drivers Club
- are introduced to FOXY Choice approved FEMALE FRIENDLY UK garages, fastfits, franchised dealerships, used car showrooms and accident repair centres that have signed the female friendly FOXY Promise© to “never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell women services they do not need or want”.
- can contact a FEMALE FRIENDLY accident management service before they speak to their insurer to take independent advice about their choices and best interests
- can ask FOXY for friendly advice and support when handling a serious motoring complaint
We also continue to speak out about all important motoring issues from the point of view of women drivers, including these recent topics:
- Unfair car insurance price hikes for women due to be inflicted on women in December 2012; introduced by the EU in the name of equality and despite statistical evidence that young women are safer drivers than young men.
- A proposition to harmonise the UK MOT regime to a less rigorous EU model; despite government research calculating that this will add c400 deaths to our roads each year.
- The validity of the OFT’s slogan ‘Your Car, Your Choice’ (to do with Accident Repair Centres) which doesn’t seem to apply to insurers who charge extra for leading bodyshops outside their appointed network.
Where is FOXY is heading in future?
FOXY is passionate about the following motoring-related issues (below), will continue to influence the industry where it can and always looks at these from the point of view of women drivers.
- The motor industry has an unhealthy ‘blokey’ image. More than 80% of its employees are male (a higher ratio at Board level), recruitment practices tend to perpetuate this profile and yet more than 50% of their customers are female who often feel ill at ease in male dominated environments.
- The number of competing ‘quality’ garage signs is confusing. Some businesses claim to have accolades they don’t and a few schemes are positively misleading.
- Too many definitions of ‘car servicing’ are misleading making it difficult to compare ‘like for like’ prices.
- No woman should feel the need to take a man to get a fair deal or to be taken seriously in UK car showrooms, garages or accident repair body shops.
- All garage mechanics should be qualified to a minimum industry standard AND accredited to do their job every five years.
- The motor industry could do with a FEMALE FRIENDLY makeover because women are not the same as men ie women do not want to be treated like men.
- The motor industry can do a better job to help motorists make the right buying choices by providing unbiased, transparent and collaborative information services that aren’t patronising, that talk to women as well as men and which debunk confusing mechanical and/or jargon speak.
- Ultimately the best way to tackle the level of serious complaints in the motor industry is for a totally independent body to manage a ‘name and shame’ register of offending businesses and demonstrably fraudulent complainers, having exhausted every reasonable opportunity to resolve matters otherwise.
This is why there is a need for a dedicated motoring club for women and why we need your membership support so we can get on with this job.
