August 6, 2013

The answer is yes. Automotive News said, “When it comes to auto repairs, women are likely to get quoted a higher price than men, but women are better at negotiating a discounted price, according to a study conducted by the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University." The study was conducted in collaboration with AutoMD, an online site that provides automotive repair information for consumers.

This survey was conducted by agents from AutoMD in a 16 week period in summer and fall 2012. Agents only made calls to independent repair shops nationwide and didn’t make calls to dealership service departments.

Agents were given a script so the same repair information was requested from each repair shop. The price requested was for a six-cylinder 2003 Toyota Camry LE radiator replacement.

Here’s why research is necessary when getting repair estimates. Women who appeared uninformed and gave no price (estimate) to the repair shops were usually quoted a price 6% higher than what a man was told. But men were usually quoted a price lower than the market price after saying they had no idea of the average cost for such repairs.

It is important to note that both women and men were quoted $25 to $35 higher than market prices when they seemed misinformed.

Most repair shops were not willing to negotiate the price. But when they did, women were more likely to receive the discount. Female callers who requested a lower price obtained it about 35% of the time, compared with 25% for men. Most of the repair shop employees whom the callers spoke to were men, according to the research.

The study suggest that women should do their research before going to a repair shop so they know what they’re talking about and ask for a discount.