There is much dispute over the influence of gender with regards to car repairs, with many cynics stating that garages will take advantage of you based on your gender.
By utilising the data of 6,600 registered garages and 113,000 past users, the vehicle servicing and repair website WhoCanFixMyCar.com discovered that on average, the price of repairs was quoted at 10 per cent less than it was for men - contrary to a recent survey by ClickMechanic. For example, across the data, the average cost of clutch and gearbox repairs was £398.36, with quotes for men averaging £405.09 and quotes for women averaging £373.31.
Vehicle derivative is of course an important factor when it comes to costs of repairs and the data found that – unsurprisingly – there are clear trends when it comes to chosen vehicle types between men and women. Men are twice as likely to drive the likes of a BMW 3 Series or Volkswagen Passat – but conversely, women are twice as to drive Minis or Ford KAs.
The most important factor though is that commonly owned cars between the genders, like the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Astra, resulted in a minute difference between prices quoted by garages, with women receiving a quote that was just 1.3 per cent lower than men.
This suggests that when like for like instances are taken into consideration with men and women, the difference in quoted prices are so small that no bias is shown when it comes to gender.
