The average British woman is charged more for car repairs than men, according to a new survey from consumer repair experts ClickMechanic.
In order to gather its data, the company sent a pair of mystery shoppers, one male and one female, to 182 independent garages across the nation to get a quote for a new clutch for a Ford Focus.
ClickMechanic found that, on average, its female mystery shopper was quoted £616 compared to the average quote of £571 that the male mystery shopper was given for the exact same repair.
This variation worked out at an average of an additional £45 in 8 out of 10 cities surveyed by the company, leading them to coin the term “female premium” to refer to the extra charges.
Co-founder and chief executive of ClickMechanic, Andrew Jervis, said: “For every female car owner in the UK this report will come as an unwelcome surprise.
“While the vast majority of mechanics strive to provide honest and reliable quotes, these results show that there is a worrying minority of garages failing to do so.”
“There is a desperate need across the industry for transparency and consistency in price in order to establish trust with consumers of both sexes,” he added.
Garages in Birmingham were found to be the worst for charging female premiums, with garages in the city found to charge the female mystery shoppers an average of £137 more than the men.
Manchester followed with the same £137 average extra charge, while Glasgow, London, Cardiff, Leeds and Liverpool all also featured in the top ten worst spots for charging women more.
However, it’s not all bad news as the female shopper actually benefitted from betters prices in certain areas, with Edinburgh charging an average of £117 less than the male mystery shopper.
ClickMechanic also claimed that its survey revealed “price-hiking across the country”, with the average price of clutch replacement for a Ford Focus around 16 per cent higher than industry guidelines.