Auto Estrogen

1. The wait is always longer than you want it to be.
2. The employees are nice but it’s rarely good news.
3. It’s always more wrong with your car than you thought.
4. Watching Oprah in the waiting room doesn’t soften the blow.
5. The cost for the work is always more than you thought.
6. The job always takes more than a day.
7. When you describe the problem the employee frowns and looks puzzled.
8. You don’t want to feel bad because you knew you should have brought the car in earlier.
9. You hate when you can’t answer the question, “when was your last tune-up?’
10. When they tell you what’s wrong, you don’t understand and have problems relaying the info.

The sticker on my windshield says time for an oil change. It was left on my car from the last oil change by the nice auto repairman to remind me of the next time I needed the service. And he made it really easy for me to remember —– he left it in the upper left corner of the driver side window (kind of hard to miss). All I have to do is match the numbers on the sticker with the numbers on my odometer and that’s it.

So the numbers match and I’m taking my car in. Why? Because I want to be a good steward of car maintenance. There’s a good reason for that, too — I want my car to last and an oil change is a really simple car maintenance task — inexpensive, takes very little time and can add years of life to your car. The alternative, not being a regular oil changer can cause havoc with your engine and cost you thousands of dollars for the oversight.

Now is a great time to get a grip on your auto maintenance. To help you keep track of everything, we’ve partnered with myEZ Car Care, which offers the Electronic Glove Box, a great online tool that helps you keep track of everything with email reminders, vendor discounts and more.

Statistics say that more than 65% of customers that take their vehicles to repair shops are women and women spend approximately $300 billion dollars on used car sales, maintenance, repairs and service, but for many women maintaining a car can be troublesome and problematic. So I wanted to talk about that. Here are some of the questions women have when it comes to auto repair:

1. What do I need to know about auto repair?
2. How do I find a good mechanic?
3. What are some general principles/rules for maintaining my car?
4. How can I become more knowledgeable?
5. How can I squeeze car maintenance into my busy routine?

To help answer some of these questions, I spoke with Towanda Cooper, owner of
Cooper Automotive Repair, Inc. Towanda has over 20 years of experience in the vehicle maintenance and repair industry, which has provided her with a very broad knowledge base. Towanda’s many strengths include her unique ability to accurately diagnose and repair mechanical problems on American and foreign-made vehicles. Here’s my interview with Towanda:

Car-Buy-Her: One of the things that you have said in the past that has really helped me a lot and many of the women in our auto clinics is that you (meaning the mechanic) is not the expert, but that the woman (the driver) is actually the expert. Can you talk a little about that because I think many women would find that somewhat comforting?

Towanda: What I mean by that is that women (the driver) are the ones that know their car best. Not their spouses or the mechanics. Women are the ones that drive their cars every day and have a better feel for the car.

Car-Buy-Her: What can a woman then do once she knows somethings wrong with her car and she had to take it into the repair shop? How can she feel more comfortable going into the auto repair shop?

Towanda: I recommend that when you start hearing a noise or something like that, look at your speedometor and notice the speed. If you notice a smell, be able to tell them how it smells. Don’t use terms like I don’t know. Be as specific as possible. Also, ask to ride along with the mechanic so the two of you are hearing the same things.

Car-Buy-Her: Are there some key things that women need to know, som general principles or rules for keeping your car up?

Towanda: Get to know your car and do maintenance check-ups on time.

Car-Buy-Her: Speaking of time. Women tend to be very busy and are often challenged by that and maintaining their cars. What strategies or tips can you share to help women begin to incorporate maintenance more naturally into their daily routine?

Towanda: Keep a log of maintenance. Add repairs and schedules to your daily planner or palm pilot. Pay attention to your owners manual. Schedule maintenance just like you schedule anything else.

Car-Buy-Her: Can you share tips for preparing for the winter months?

Towanda: Two particular things come to mind for winterizing. 1. Check the state of your battery and make sure that your battery can make it through the winter months. You can go to an auto parts store and have your battery checked. 2. Check antifreeze to make sure that it can make it through the winter months. You can purchase an antifreeze tester.

Car-Buy-Her: A big concern women have at our clinics is safety and what happens if they are on the road and their car stops. Can you talk about the idea of the emergency kit?

Towanda: What I consider an emergency kit is having in your car: A quart of oil, transmission fluid, a toolkit, a gallon of water, and a flashlight.

Car-Buy-Her: From your standpoint working on cars on a regular basis, are there some additional thoughts and points you can share for maintaining our cars and being on the road?

Towanda: I want to point out the importance of keeping your tires maintained. Tires must be properly inflated and could cause drive-ability problems if the tires are low. Keeping your tires aired up helps your brakes out as well. When tires are low you put more pressure on your braking system. Make sure you have antifreeze in your car because that helps your heating system.

Car-Buy-Her: Let’s say I’m a woman and I want to become more familiar with my car and more knowledgeable, what are some things I can do today to jumpstart that process.

Towanda: A good start is to attend one of the Car-Buy-Her auto clinics for women. I also recommend reading your owners manual. Also don’t be afraid to talk to the mechanic and ask questions.

Car-Buy-Her: As a mechanic, what should a woman look for when looking for a good mechanic or some questions we should ask to find a good mechanic?

Towanda: The first thing I would recommend is checking with the Better Business Bureau to make sure there are no complaints. Also the auto industry has a certification program for mechanics called ASE so if you go into a shop make sure that they have ASE certified mechanics on duty. In addition you can ask your friends for referrals.

To hear the live interview, visit www.blogtalkradio.com/auto-estrogen

Car-Buy-Her loves Her Skirt . . . .Skirt!Magazine, that is. The self described magazine is all about women . . . their work, play, families, creativity, style, health and wealth, bodies and souls. Skirt! Is an attitude . . . spirited, independent, outspoken, serious, playful and irreverent, sometimes controversial, always passionate. Ahhh . . . the same quintessential qualities of a Car-Buy-Her, a woman that is informed, in control, and ready to buy. Car-Buy-Her’s are empowered through information and education and Skirt!Magazine is filled with information, articles, and wonderfully feminine messages and editorials each month.

Skirt!Magazine teamed up recently with Car-Buy-Her during our Fall (2nd) Auto Clinic for Women. Ladies attending the auto clinic not only received a wealth of great automotive information but each participant went home with a fun-filled Skirt! Goody Bag including a personalized hanger for Her Skirt!

Auto repair is a chore, no matter how you look at it:
- It takes time out of your day
- It takes money out of your pocket and
- There’s nothing fun about it

It is a fact of life, however, if you happen to own a car. It’s an absolute, so the best thing to do is to prepare. The problem is, you never really know what’s going to go wrong. There are so many possibilities, some minor and only slightly burdensome, others major and total disruptions. Take the increasingly louder noise I heard the other day on my way to a conference. “Oh no, is that my car I thought?” After turning down the radio and listening intently, I discovered that oh yeah, it was me. My only desire at that moment was to make it to the parking lot without any problems. I did. And then . . . well, I went on my way, along with my day, almost completely forgetting the little noise that troubled me on the way to the conference.

Once I returned to my car, it hit me, an instant reminder. I had problems turning the steering wheel. So there I was — in car maintenance hell — what could be wrong? Is it a minor or a major?

I got on the phone, called my auto service and arranged for a tow. One thing I knew. I would not be left on the side of the road!

Fast forward three days later, yep, the auto shop was closed, it just happened to be a weekend and so my poor car had to sit by idle over the weekend before she (my car) could get some relief. The verdict —- a minor (that’s when your bill is under $500 ).

So here’s what I decided. As women we have to take better care of our cars. And we have to do it, not someone else. At our women’s auto clinic back in April, our female automotive mechanic told us something that was very enlightening. She said that we were the experts when it comes to car maintenance — not her. Wow! Talk about power. How revealing it was to find that out. Although we might not be the technical experts, we are indeed experts. Why? We’re the ones driving the car on a daily basis and we’re the ones that know when something feels funny, sounds funny, or runs funny. We just have to do a better job when it comes to descriptions (I’ll share more on this in another blog).

Being a Car-Buy-Her is not about being an automotive expert; it’s about becoming informed and empowered when it comes to your car, it’s care and it’s maintenance. We can do that by being better stewards of observation. By taking notes and listening to the heartbeat of the vehicle we’re in. And then by putting those that we entrust our beloved to, to meet the standards in which we’ve set.