Welcome to the GalsCarGuide Blog

I have dutifully submitted Gals’ Car Guide to what feels like endless online Blog Directories. It seems this is an essential step to enabling the women of the world to access Gals’ Car Guide! And although the process of reciprocal linking may seem tiresome and something of a ‘blog clog’ I figured that it would actually be really useful for those looking for motoring advice to have quick access to a few of the best blog directories where they may be able to find any information not covered here. Although, of course I would rather you left a comment with a question for us to answer.

So, here it goes:

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Elizabeth Clements, who bought a Range Rover through Carsite recently wrote in her feedback about her buying experience that she “found the whole experience significantly less stressful than buying from a dealer”…Providing us with her answer to Salesroom vs. Online.

A new study by Canadian price comparison website Kanetix discovered that men more regularly received tickets than women for a variety of motoring offences.

Male motorists were almost three times more likely to have been caught ignoring a traffic sign and it is nearly six times more probable that a man will be caught without his seatbelt. The statistics also revealed that men were three times more likely than female motorists to have a speeding conviction on their record, as well as the fact men were responsible for 66% of accidents investigated.

Whilst the figures do partially explain why women’s car insurance is often cheaper, Kanetix spokesman Gregory Ellis warns against reading too much into them.

A further study conducted by Brunel University last year revealed that significantly more women than men comply with speed cameras.

If these statistics are true, and women are often safer and more cautious drivers than men, it seems even more shocking that female motorists in the showroom are charged, on average, £544 more than a man (according to a What Car? survey). Women deserve a deal which rewards their care and caution. Carsite.co.uk, the female friendly way to buy a car, may possibly provide such a reward.

The SMMT has published Women and Motoring, a report based on an Ipsos MORI omnibus survey and focus group discussions. The focus groups explored different attitudes to motoring in women under 40 and over 40.

Both younger and older women worryingly place environmental factors towards the bottom of their agenda when buying a car. However, there is more concern about the environmental impact of motoring in the under 40s. Younger women seemed more willing to consider buying vehicles with lower CO2 emitting technologies. Older buyers were dismissive of their role in limiting emissions, in fact the over 40 group generally felt that the manufacturers are responsible, exclusively, for delivering cleaner cars to the road.

Members of the younger group, however, acknowledged that consumer action also had a part to play: if people won’t buy a car, manufacturers simply won’t make them. It seems that sellers should not underestimate the power of the consumer, especially the young female one.
However, there were many areas in which age seemed irrelevant to womens’ views. Price, colour, appearance and style topped the agenda for both groups. And running costs were also high on the list.

“Our findings show that nearly as many women are buying cars as men. So manufacturers and dealers ignore their views at their peril,” said SMMT chief executive, Christopher Macgowan.

With women being so influential in the car buying market, GalsCarGuide is an essential resource for motorists. And Carsite, which is being heralded as the female friendly way to buy a car, is obviously paving the way for other car sellers who have not yet faced up to the massive influence female consumers now have when it comes to buying a car.

I was talking to my friend last night and she was telling me what a nightmare she had recently had when taking her car to the garage. She said she felt that she had been treated really badly by the staff. The reason that her problems arose in the first place was because she had been sold a duff car which had been pushed through it’s MOT. She may have been one of many people who get sold used cars which actually have more problems than the seller lets on. Many cars which have previously been written off are cleverly repaired with filler and paint and then re-sold. There are also a number of “Cut and shut” vehicles - one car produced by welding together the front and back of two different vehicles, as well as stolen cars or ones with outstanding finance.

However, whilst many dealers will try and sell dodgy cars to unsuspecting customers, many of whom will be women, there are some sellers who you can trust entirely. One such seller is www.carsite.co.uk which is not a dealer but a route through which ex-fleet cars are sold directly to the public at wholsesales prices. All Carsite cars are independently RAC inspected and HPI history checked and there is a 100% as described guarantee. If you are not totally satisified, then you pay nothing.

Perhaps if my friend has used Carsite then she would not have run into the problems which she did, and would never have felt intimidated at the garage. But, this in itself is a problem which needs to be addressed. According to a survey by Direct Line one in five female drivers refuse to travel on Britain’s motorways because of a fear of breaking down. Perhaps they just cannot face the hassle of the garage which would follow.

As they say, prevention is better than cure!

A recent survey by car insurers More Than has revealed that thousands of drivers may have bought cars that are unsafe. As many as one in three second hand cars which are bought privately in the UK could have adverse histories that render them worthless. At present there are roughly 2.9m cars traded each year, making the number affected in the region of 1m.

The most common problem is outstanding finance agreements which means that the buyer is not actually purchasing the legal title to the car so it can be repossessed at any time, leaving the buyer with no way to get their money back.

Other problems include stolen cars, ‘cut and shuts’ - where two damaged vehicles are welded together to make an apparently undamaged car - or vehicles which have been declared unfit for repair following previous accidents.

Here at GalsCarGuide we really don’t want you to buy one of these cars! The ’shady past’ and ‘is the car safe’ sections of the site are crammed with information about how to avoid this.

Most importantly is buying from a seller which carries out independent inspections, by someone like the RAC and also HPI history checks on all their cars. If a car is HPI history cleared then you can guarantee that it has never been stolen, tampered with or has any outstanding finance. All of the cars listed on GalsCarGuide are HPI history cleared so there is no reason to worry.

And that means there is no reason to hold back..go on..get shopping!
Have you ever had any car buying nightmares? If so let us know and share your story here.

A recent survey by women’s car insurance providers Diamond found that the majority of females (90%) though male driving habits were irritating. However, half also believed themselves to have annoying motoring tendencies.

The survey shows that it is definately women who get more irriated by men, rather than vice versa; turning the old stereotype of men criticising female drivers, on its head. However, although this myth has been dispelled “the results do tell us something which isn’t a surprise”, says Sian Lewis, managing director of Diamond, “men think they have less irritating habits than women”
The majority of women felt that the most annoying habit of male drivers was speeding, with almost one third or respondants selecting this tendency. In comparison, most male drivers who beleived women had bad tendencies said their most common complaint was that women were not courteous to other drivers.

35% of women were driven mad by men criticising thier driving and altough less than half the men questioned found female passengers irritating, it was having their driving criticised which annoyed this minority the most.

So it seems that women are simply just angrier drivers than men. Being both more irritated at themselves and at men than the men are themselves. But although they may be irritated, it seems that men actually don’t find them that irritating after all. Perhaps the anger shown by female drivers is a symptom of insecurity about how they wil be judged by their male couterparts. Perhaps women shoud embrace the results of this survey and have more self confidence in their ability to drive. Who knows, maybe this would decrease road rage. Although, of course, if all those ‘blasted men’ stopped speeding too it wouldn’t go amiss!

New statistics have revealed that women may not be so clueless when it comes to car buying, but in fact may be manipulating their situation to their own advantage. Research carried out for eBay motors says that a quarter of British women have lied about how much money they’ve got to spend on a car, one in ten have played dumb so that the salesmen will take pity on them and 10% will flirt if it helps them get a better deal. Some also admit to deliberately leaving their partner at home which eschews the idea that women need a man in order to get a better price on a car.

However, the fact is that women are only able to secure a good deal on a car because they appear to be foolish, or because the salesman may have the hots for them. This shows a striking lack of knowledge on the part of the female buyers. They should not feel intimidated when they try to talk to the salesmen on their own terms. Women car buyers should not feel that they need to resort to flirting when buying a car but should arrive armed with the knowledge to do some serious bargaining. That is what we hope you will do after your visit to GalsCarGuide!

The eBay motors survey also shows that 52% of women don’t know what MPG stands for and 65% are in the dark about the essential V5 document. At GalsCarGuide we were so shocked at these statistics that we immediately put the facts on their site. To find out the truth about V5 and MPG visit the ‘Find the Right Car’ section.

Another finding of the survey was that a quarter of women would prefer to buy a used car from a women than from a man and 40% think female private sellers are more honest and will tell buyers about any small fault in the car. But, why make buying a car such a gender specific hassle?! If you choose to buy a car online from a site such as carsite.co.uk or eBay then this will be eliminated. Similarly, at carsite there is a 100% as described guarantee.

With almost half (48%) of women not getting a final say on what car they drive you could infer that feminism has a long way to go. Or, perhaps, more correctly, you may realise that car dealers simply aren’t very good at inspiring trust in their customers. A greater proportion of men (46%) than women (42%) admit to feeling patronised by car dealers. Maybe we should all be car shopping online.

On Monday of this week I was interviewed about GalsCarGuide on the up and coming radio station Colourful Radio. The interview was conducted by Amina Taylor, who has previously interviewed celebrities such as Janet Jackson, P.Diddy and Mariah Carey, writes monthly columns for the Guardian and Pride magazine.

The interview was focused on the question of whether women are becoming more interested in buying sports cars. A survey from Citroen and IPC magazine shows that up to 14% of women now wish to buy a sports car, which is a sharp increase in recent years. Similarly, with galscarguide featuring in Company Magazine’s list of life rules and sports cars such as Ferraris now being advertised in magazines like Vogue it seems as if women are getting into motoring with a previously unseen gusto.
We discussed whether the automotive industry has kept up with the changing desires of women drivers, concluding that online buying may lead to greater choice and less intimidation, with three in five women feeling they’re not taken seriously in the showroom. Amina admitted that the men working in her studio had scoffed at the idea of a woman driving a sports car. But went on to ask whether a sports car was exactly the same thing to women as it is to men; a status symbol.
To listen to a recording of the interview visit colourfulradio.com/colourfulmorning/, the date of the show was 24.4.07.

Galscarguide offers help to all female consumers whether they are after a swish sports car, or something more regular!

A new survey from IPC magazines and Citroen reports that up to 14% of women now wish to buy a fast sports car. This shows a sharp increase in recent years. Due to these changing consumer desires, advertisements for sports cars, such as Ferraris, can now be seen in Vogue as well as Autocar.

Similarly, GalsCarGuide has been featured in Company magazine’s list of ‘rules to live your life by’. Company, which is aimed at young, trendya dn streetwise women, stated that getting a new car, one more suited to you, is a crucial factor to consider when ‘making over’ your life.

So, are cars the new handbags? Are women simply becoming more interested in technology and gadgets? Or have they always been, and simply haven’t had it acknowledged till now?

However, while the media and advertising industry are quick to respond to the changing needs of modern women, it seems that car dealers have not follwed suit. Despite the findings of the IPC and Citroen survey - which shows an increase in women’s desire for faster, more expensive cars - the survey also reports that they are stil not being taken seriously on the forecourt..

Despite 93% of women over 35 owning their own car, three out of five felt that car dealers did not take them seriously. These three in five women felt that car dealers assumed they only wanted to drive ‘runarounds’ when as many as 14% actually wanted a sports car or open-topped coupe.

It appears that dealers have failed to keep up with the rest of the world and change up a gear since the 1996 Which? Magazine survey which found that three out of five female researchers felt that some salemen were reluctant to deal with women.

But is it the motoring industry as a whole which is still stuck in the dark ages? Or is the problem restricted to dealers and their showrooms? Seeing as websites devoted singularly to car buying, such as GalsCarGuide, are being featured in magazines such as Company and Ferraris are gracing the pages of Vogue, I would venture a guess that the answer lies with the latter rather than the former.