Driven Women Magazine focuses on women and motoring culture, with thought-provoking articles and interviews from around the world from experienced journalists and passionate enthusiasts alike. Created from stats that show how important a woman’s decision is in the purchase of cars, enabling women’s voices to be heard when it comes to the automotive sector is DWM's mission. Read more to discover how to know your worth and power when negotiating your next vehicle purchase.
Over the past decade there has been a shift in the automotive industry away from traditional family sedans to SUVs and women have a played significant role in this movement. In Australia and the USA, women directly purchase approximately 45% of all new cars and the Harvard Business Review found that women make the final decision in 80% of automotive purchasing decisions. What cars are now the most popular? SUVs! The popularity of SUVs appears to know no bounds. In Australia, for the first time ever SUV sales outstripped the sales of passenger cars in 2017 and this was repeated in 2018.
Car companies know the value of women and you will increasingly see companies directing advertising towards women. But this shouldn’t just be focused on the practical features of a car because women can be passionate about cars as well, as shown by Driven Women Magazine. I was watching Jay Leno’s Garage on TV over the weekend and Jay was talking to John Hennessey, the owner of Hennessey Performance Engineering a company renowned for manufacturing some of the most powerful cars in the world and John said to Jay “you should always sell to mum.” If Hennessey knows this then it should be pretty obvious to the rest of the car industry!
Charli Robinson for Driven Womens Magazine
Although women may be buying cars in record numbers, it’s not all plain sailing for car dealerships. Women-drivers.com conduct surveys of women in the USA and they have found when a woman leaves a dealership without buying a car, there is a 60% chance she will not return there. The Top 5 Reasons for not purchasing at a particular dealership according to Women-drivers.com are:
- Poor price or deal presented
- Didn’t like the way they were treated
- Didn’t have Model/colour they wanted
- Poor trade-in offer
- Location and/or Service Hours.
Chatting with women about their dealership experiences in Australia, I’m amazed that even in this day and age sales personnel still treat men and women differently. Assuming that a woman needs her husband’s help to purchase a car is one of the most common mistakes. Proactive car companies are working with their dealerships to ensure these bad experiences do not occur.
If you feel that you have not been treated respectfully or are getting a bad deal at a particular dealership, then show them by purchasing your car from somewhere else. Remember you have the power! Although there are few women in Executive roles of the major car companies around the world, the influence of women in the automotive industry cannot be underestimated. The rise of women purchasing new cars has seen a shift in the entire automotive industry.
About TDP’s Guest Contributor…. Helen is the Founder and Editor of Driven Women Magazine – the only motoring magazine in the world that focuses on women and their involvement in motoring culture. Helen created DWM after spending years reading motoring magazines and lamenting that there were essentially no female contributors writing for them. As well as running a global magazine business, Helen is also a wife and mother of two children and when she is not looking after them she is probably out reviewing cars for her website.
The official charity partner of DWM is Drive Against Depression; they work to achieve increased mental health awareness in Australia, particularly relating to depression and anxiety. Their intent is to remove the stigma surrounding these issues by encouraging open conversations over a shared enthusiasm for motoring. Visit their website for more information.
Thank you Helen for sharing your insight into the motoring industry and how women can know their worth and power when negotiating their next vehicle purchase. For more from DWM, visit the website and check out Instagram
TDP xo