Women motorists face higher charges than men when bringing their vehicles into garages for a service or MOT safety check, according to the findings of an investigation.
In a blind test of up to 100 garages, a man and woman sought quotes on MOTs and a service using exactly the same vehicle, it found women were quoted prices up to five per cent more expensive.
Men were quoted £229 on average whereas women were quoted £241 – a 5 per cent increase. In other instances, male callers were quoted £48 for an MOT, whereas women were quoted £49 – a 2 per cent increase.
Janice Pang, head of vehicle maintenance at Caura, a car-servicing management app that conducted the investigation, said: “Cars don’t judge their drivers whether they’re male or female, so why should garages?
“A 1 per cent increase in price in either gender swing is wrong, but when our research shows a 5 per cent increase (on average) on like-for-like pricing, we were shocked by prejudice in pricing for women,” she said.
Caura has dubbed the price discrepancy “the pink pricing prejudice”.
Three different cars were used to conduct the investigation. A Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost (2013) with 91,000 miles; BMW 3 Series 330i (2019) with 45,000 miles; and a Porsche Cayenne S (2019) with 67,000 miles.
Further gender biases in motor garage pricing and treatment were identified using other testing methods including mystery shopping as well as survey of over 4,000 women and men.
Three fifths (59 per cent) of women said they think garages for vehicle maintenance and servicing are more catered towards men than women, and nearly half (46 per cent) of the females surveyed said they felt rushed to approve additional works to their car when booking in and agreeing work.
More than four fifths (83 per cent) of women surveyed said they understood the language used when describing what their car needed in terms of maintenance – disproving the stereotype that women don’t understand car jargon.
The Independent Garage Association was contacted for comment.
The latest findings mirror a survey carried out in January which found that women continue to face challenges when dealing with mechanics with millions finding a visit to a garage leaves them feeling uncomfortable.
The study, by car service firm Fixter, found that 10 million female drivers (60 per cent) face feelings of anxiety and stress about dealing with a mechanic while eight million (48 per cent) have reported encountering casual sexism from garage staff, such as being referred to as “darling,” “love,” or “sweetheart”.
The car servicing business said that the prospect of facing such discrimination often results in women delaying crucial service and maintenance checks, ultimately, costing female drivers additional costs through critical issues being missed.
Research conducted by Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) found fewer than one in five employees (19 per cent) are women by comparison with non-automotive industries offers a far more even spread (49 per cent men and 51 per cent women). It has warned the lack of diversity in the industry could hinder its ability to attract talent in the midst of skills shortages.
