The Star Motoring: Saturday, July 16, 2011 (SOURCE)
Women prefer men to take the lead - in car maintenance
LONDON: Women are still passing on the responsibility of car servicing to male counterparts, according to new research from car servicing network, Bosch Car Service.
Just three in 10 women said that they take their own cars for a service, compared with seven in 10 men. While neither men nor women expressed a particular ‘dread’ towards car servicing when asked to compare it with any other household chores, a significantly greater number of women (35%) stated that they were not confident that they would get a good experience from a car service, as opposed to just 24% of men.
“It is clear that there is still a feeling of discomfort amongst women drivers towards taking their cars in for a service, which could be why they are leaving it up to men”, said Bosch Car Service Concept manager, Howard Price.
“The majority of customers in general (70%) already feel confident that they will get a good experience of getting a car serviced, and this is good news for the profession. However, there are still discrepancies according to gender and age; car servicing professionals need to continue to do all they can to build the same levels of confidence among all customers, regardless of whether they are male or female, old or young.”
The survey was conducted to compare drivers’ perceptions and to highlight any concerns amongst the public towards car servicing. Almost half of the women asked stated that they leave car servicing up to the men in their families, with 36% leaving it to husbands, 6% boyfriends and 4% dads.
Bosch Car Service, which has over 500 garages in its British-wide network, recently released the results of its annual customer satisfaction survey, scoring 99% for overall customer experience.
The survey also revealed that three in ten drivers under the age of 24 admitted to letting mum and dad deal with the responsibilities of car maintenance, and just three in ten took their own cars in for a service.
This was significantly less than the percentages from other age groups that take their own cars to be serviced – with all other age groups showing as approximately 50%. In contrast, younger drivers didn’t express any greater concern about car servicing experience in general than any of their older counterparts.
Howard continued: “With younger drivers, the reason for leaving it up to parents is most probably because of inexperience – as well as cost – rather than feeling unconfident in the experience of car servicing.”
Although younger drivers expressed no greater dread or concern about car servicing overall, they were significantly more concerned than any other drivers about garages overlooking faults, with 20% stating this as their biggest concern. This varied significantly with the thoughts of older drivers, who – at aged over 35 – averaged just 8% who had the same concern.
“This could indicate a wider lack of confidence in vehicle maintenance amongst newer drivers”, continued Howard.
“Garages need to reassure younger and newer drivers, and make an effort to explain to them about any problems that are detected in their vehicles to make sure they gain an understanding – and therefore a confidence – in maintaining a car, detecting faults, and staying safe on the roads.”
Just three in 10 women said that they take their own cars for a service, compared with seven in 10 men. While neither men nor women expressed a particular ‘dread’ towards car servicing when asked to compare it with any other household chores, a significantly greater number of women (35%) stated that they were not confident that they would get a good experience from a car service, as opposed to just 24% of men.
“It is clear that there is still a feeling of discomfort amongst women drivers towards taking their cars in for a service, which could be why they are leaving it up to men”, said Bosch Car Service Concept manager, Howard Price.
“The majority of customers in general (70%) already feel confident that they will get a good experience of getting a car serviced, and this is good news for the profession. However, there are still discrepancies according to gender and age; car servicing professionals need to continue to do all they can to build the same levels of confidence among all customers, regardless of whether they are male or female, old or young.”
The survey was conducted to compare drivers’ perceptions and to highlight any concerns amongst the public towards car servicing. Almost half of the women asked stated that they leave car servicing up to the men in their families, with 36% leaving it to husbands, 6% boyfriends and 4% dads.
Bosch Car Service, which has over 500 garages in its British-wide network, recently released the results of its annual customer satisfaction survey, scoring 99% for overall customer experience.
The survey also revealed that three in ten drivers under the age of 24 admitted to letting mum and dad deal with the responsibilities of car maintenance, and just three in ten took their own cars in for a service.
This was significantly less than the percentages from other age groups that take their own cars to be serviced – with all other age groups showing as approximately 50%. In contrast, younger drivers didn’t express any greater concern about car servicing experience in general than any of their older counterparts.
Howard continued: “With younger drivers, the reason for leaving it up to parents is most probably because of inexperience – as well as cost – rather than feeling unconfident in the experience of car servicing.”
Although younger drivers expressed no greater dread or concern about car servicing overall, they were significantly more concerned than any other drivers about garages overlooking faults, with 20% stating this as their biggest concern. This varied significantly with the thoughts of older drivers, who – at aged over 35 – averaged just 8% who had the same concern.
“This could indicate a wider lack of confidence in vehicle maintenance amongst newer drivers”, continued Howard.
“Garages need to reassure younger and newer drivers, and make an effort to explain to them about any problems that are detected in their vehicles to make sure they gain an understanding – and therefore a confidence – in maintaining a car, detecting faults, and staying safe on the roads.”
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