My business partner, Michelle Lundy, spent over 20 years running car dealerships before she started Women’s Automotive Solutions. She watched hundreds of smart, successful women walk into her dealerships to buy cars. These women were doctors, lawyers, bankers, and business owners. They owned homes, managed their family finances, and negotiated business deals. Yet, most of them felt like they needed to bring a man with them to buy a $30,000 car. But why?
If you ask a random sampling of women how they feel about car shopping, most would rank it right up there with a root canal. Many women say that the dealers “take advantage” of them or don’t treat them with respect. Others are uncomfortable with the high-pressure negotiating process.
Research shows that women pay $500 - $1,000 more for cars then men. In fact, women pay 46% more for goods and services in general than men. Think about it. We pay more for hair cuts. We pay more for clothes. We pay more for dry cleaning. And, we pay more for cars. Why? Because we allow it! We DON’T ASK for a better deal.
In her book, “Women Don’t Ask”, author and economist, Linda Babcock, reveals some interesting statistics:
- 2.5 times more women than men said they feel "a great deal of apprehension" about negotiating.
- Men initiate negotiations about four times as often as women.
- When asked to pick metaphors for the process of negotiating, men picked "winning a ballgame", while women picked "going to the dentist."
- Women will pay as much as $1,353 to avoid negotiating the price of a car.
Babcock believes that society is to blame for teaching women that it is not appropriate or "lady like" to be assertive. We are supposed to put the needs of others before our own. Young girls are encouraged to play “house” and other cooperative, compliant games while boys are encouraged to compete and to “win”. When a man displays initiative, he is considered a "go-getter". A woman displaying the same behavior is considered “pushy” and “aggressive”.
Does this mean that women are less capable negotiators than men? Hardly. Women simply take a different approach, one that is more "collaborative" than “competitive”. Women are more likely than men to listen to the needs and concerns of all parties involved and look for a win-win scenario. This approach allows women to develop long-term relationships without burning as many bridges as men, who tend to focus on short-term gains. Unfortunately, this collaborative approach does not always serve us well in the car buying process, which is short-term and adversarial by design.
Of course, we must be careful not to make too many generalizations. Not all women are intimidated by the negotiation process. I know several women who can bring a car dealer to tears in five minutes flat. (We car chicks obviously don’t mind it!) Nor should we assume that all men enjoy haggling. After all, 60% of Women’s Automotive Solutions clients are men!
If you don’t like to negotiate, that’s ok!!! You don’t have to. You have “people” to do these unpleasant things for you. Just call Women’s Automotive Solutions, and we’ll do all the haggling and get you the best deal. We make car buying easy!
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