Choice of female-only automotive advice at vehicle leasing company

Carparison is giving customers the choice to speak with a female employee from enquiries through to sales in an effort to make them feel more comfortable when doing business with the automotive industry.

The Devon-based company’s decision follows the publication of a number of automotive industry surveys, which show that nearly 70% of car buyers have never bought a car from a female sales representative.

It also follows the company’s recent realisation that only 22% of vehicle finance deals are signed by women. 

Head of sales, Charlotte Channing-Jones said: “Past surveys and our own research has shown us that very few people have bought cars from women. We want to help change this pattern in the automotive industry.

“At Carparison, more than 40% of our staff are female and we want people to be able to have an open and honest conversation with us about the purchase of a vehicle.

“The truth is, it may be that a customer would feel more comfortable speaking to a female about their automotive requirements and we’re fortunate to be able to facilitate that.”

Carparison are piloting the inclusion of a question in their online enquiry forms, asking if the customer would prefer to speak to a female member of the team. This will go live from April 1.

Carparison content marketing executive, Beth Twigg said: “We started to wonder why women weren’t talking to us.

“There’s an industry stereotype that people working in the automotive industry are only interested in getting the deal over the line, rather than listening to what customers want.

“This can put people off and, considering the research we’ve seen, I think it’s important people have the option of speaking to a female about their vehicle requirements.”

At Carparison, two out five of full-time staff identify as female. This figure is significantly higher than the 20% of the workforce who identified as female in a 2020 study by Deloitte into Women in the Automotive Industry.

The same study revealed a bias towards men for leadership positions with only 10% of women reaching senior management level.

Despite the under representation of women in the automotive industry, eight out of ten women are the final decision-makers where cars are sold.

Channing-Jones concluded: “Offering customers the choice to speak to a female employee in our team is an important step towards women being fairly represented in the automotive industry.”