Something wonderful and unexpected happened to Joanne Stephen on the way to buying a spanking new 2006 Mazda3 GT hatchback: she had a good time. She'd been reluctant to replace her aging Volkswagen Golf for many reasons — including the "arduous" nature of the entire process — but the experience of buying a new car turned out to be not just painless, but pleasant.
"Yeah, it became kinda fun," says Stephen, whose PhD in psychology from York University is testimony to the fact that she knows how to defend a thesis — even one about what she wants in a car, what she wants from a car seller and what that seller should offer on the service side after the deal is done.
"You know, I sort of dreaded it more than shopping for clothes," Stephen says. "But just driving the cars was so much fun. But it is an arduous process; it's a big deal."
Not surprisingly, in an industry dominated by men, Stephen never once came across a female salesperson in all her visits to various dealerships.
The key areas of importance to female buyers, according to General Motors research:
Visibility all around the vehicle
Interior storage, roominess, seating comfort
Driving enjoyment, handling and manoeuvring, acceleration
Quality of workmanship
Quiet interior
Value
Fuel economy
Interior controls that are easy to use and understand
Occupant protection
Ease of entry/exit, cargo loading/unloading, door closing
Photo credit: Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
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"But I spoke to a bunch of different men. There was a complete range," she says. "I never felt condescension, but one guy both tried to flirt with me and dominate me. He was just so sexist. So I turned around and left."
Stephen, like most buyers these days, had done plenty of homework before she set out for the dealerships. Using the Internet, articles from various publications such as Globe Auto and personal recommendations from friends, she'd narrowed her choices down to a couple of models within her $20,000-something budget. When she hit the showrooms, she knew what sort of fair price she'd be willing to pay and she had researched the value of her trade-in, too.
She settled on the Mazda3 because it fit her needs and wants as a stylish and affordable commuter car with good power, a decent quality history and a hatchback at the rear. The hatch and a big cargo area were must-haves, required to hold Happy, her family's big, black Labrador. And the salesperson who scored the deal?
"I would buy from him again. That's why I bought the car where I did. I wanted him to get the business," she says of a smart fellow who stayed late one Saturday evening so Stephen could do a test drive. All the way through, he was ready to answer questions, but he wasn't pushy.
"Nothing puts me off more than aggressive salesmen," Stephen says.
Stephen is more than typical of today's female buyer; she's prototypical. She's confident, knowledgeable, prepared and unwilling to suffer foolishness on the showroom floor.
Richard Cooper, who heads the Canadian auto practice of the consulting firm J.D. Power and Associates, says buyers such as Stephen present a big challenge to both auto makers and auto dealers. Stephen may be happy with her final purchase, and where and from whom she bought it, but in getting there she took a road designed by men primarily for male buyers.
"My family is from the automotive retail side and it doesn't seem to have changed that much, quite frankly, in many years," says Cooper, from his Toronto office. "[Change] is proceeding at a snail's pace. And when I look at the way vehicles are coming to the market and the way vehicles are sold we see some confrontation happening again."
Yes, women are different than men, in case you hadn't noticed. According to Power's research, men and women generally agree on the importance of safety, reliability and styling, regardless of age. However, younger women are particularly style conscious: a whopping 73 per cent of females 30-39 — younger women buyers, as Cooper describes them — are concerned about the looks of a car, while about 60 per cent of all buyers focus on design.
But beyond safety, reliability and styling, men and women part ways.
Women tend to be more concerned with comfort, fuel economy, cargo capacity and quality of workmanship, in that order. Men, on the other hand, fuss about quality of workmanship, power/performance, comfort and fuel economy, in that order.
