MyCarGossip aims to make sure you don’t get scammed by garages

Have you ever been sceptical of whether you’re getting wrongly charged at a garage, because of your gender? Do you worry you’re having to fork out more because you’re a ‘naïve’ woman? MyCarGossip aims to stop this from happening, by helping women find female-friendly, reliable and trustworthy garages, dealerships and other car services.

Focused on providing women with knowledge about cars and building their confidence around paying the correct prices for car repairs, the website now boasts 40 paying garages including branches of BMW/ MINI, Toyota, Volkswagen, Suzuki, Ford and Alfa Romeo and has grown from a local database in Hampstead & Golders Green to become a UK-wide resource with 600 reviews.

Charlotte Leuw started up the business last year, after turning to another garage when her usual was closed, and she had a puncture. In an all too familiar move, the new garage exploited her lack of knowledge about cars, telling her that she’d also need to replace a worn out tyre to comply with the law which they promptly fitted and billed her for. Calling her trusted garage in the morning to ask why they hadn’t spotted this, she quickly discovered that she’d been scammed.

Charlotte said: “Whether it’s about hair products or clothes, women like to talk but there was nowhere for them to talk about cars. Knowledge is power and I want to give women a more powerful voice in motoring with the best information and deals out there.”

It may sound sexist, but there definitely is a worry for women when it comes to cars, because of the stereotype, so we think this website is a really great idea to help get rid of that prejudice.

Hayley Minn