Are Women Paying More at the Garage Than Men?

Coming from my own experience, and being a woman myself, I needed work done on my car. I knew a bit about cars and about what it would cost me to have it fixed. So I called a garage in my area and told them I needed a thermostat. They asked me the make, model, and the year of my car, and then they put me on hold. When they came back to the phone they gave me a quote of $150.

Right away I thought it was a lot of money for the little bit of work that needed done. I had a thermostat replaced before and knew it was about $80, so I told them I would call them back. I ended up waiting a couple of days and then had a male friend call the same garage with the same problem. They ended up giving him a cheaper quote of $88. I couldn't believe it and thought to myself how would they like it if someone tried to rip their mother or wife off.

Women need to know what to do so that they aren't taken advantage of. First of all if you need work done to your car and you know what it needs, call different auto parts stores and ask them how much it is for the parts you need. Second call a garage and ask them how much they charge an hour for labor. Ask them how much it will cost for parts and compare the prices from auto parts stores to the garage prices, cause the garage will charge you extra to get the parts. If you find the garage does charge you more, then you want to go buy the parts yourself. Call the garage back and ask how much for labor to install these parts. By doing this it will save you extra money. If your uncertain of what is wrong with your vehicle take it to a mechanic and get a free estimate before committing to just having it fixed.

Ladies be specific on what you need done to your car. I have heard of women taking their vehicles in for one thing, only to pay more because they were told other things were wrong as well on their car. Let the mechanic know that nothing should be fixed on your vehicle unless you ok it. They shouldn't take it upon themselves to fix anything without permission or blindside you with something you didn't expect. I have had this happen to me as well on a couple of occasions.

Call a couple garages and get quotes from each one and see if there is a big difference in prices from one garage to the next and if you find one that is a lot cheaper than the others then that is the garage you want to go with. If at all possible have a male call garages for you and get quotes. Women don't let this happen to you, remember if you feel the prices are unreasonable confront them. Do not let yourself be taken advantage of.