Female motorists in the UK pay more on average to have their car repaired than their male counterparts, a new study has revealed.
Online marketplace ClickMechanic used male and female mystery shoppers to go to car garages across Britain to see if they were charged different amounts for the same job. The research found that women are charged, on average, £45 more for car repairs than men, ITV reported.
In the same way a car mechanic or dealer would not expect the price of road risks insurance quote or motor trade insurance policy to differ depending on their sex, it goes without saying that gender should have no bearing on the amount charged for car repairs.
However, having used men and women to take a 2011 Ford Focus to 182 independent car garages in 10 UK cities, ClickMechanic discovered that the standard repair would cost a man £571, where the average for women came to £616, which is an increase of eight per cent.
Shockingly, a mere six per cent of the garages chosen for the investigation provided the same quote for both the male and female mystery shopper. Birmingham was found to be the worst city when it came to its garage charging what the researchers dubbed a 'female premium', as women were quoted £582 for the same job they said they would do for a man for £445.
Sheffield and Edinburgh were the two UK cities that actually reversed the trend, with their garages quoting males five per cent and 19 per cent more than females respectively.
