UK garages are being accused of “pink pricing” after a blind survey conducted by car management app Caura found that garages are charging female customers an average of 5% more than their male counterparts for the same job.
The investigative survey was carried out by the Caura team using the alias Edward for the male customer and Emma for the female customer. They then contacted 100 UK garages and requested an MOT and/or servicing quote, each time for the same car with the same mileage – the only difference being, of course, the name attached to the quote request.
Three different cars were used for the survey: A 2019 Porsche Cayenne S with 67,000 miles on the clock; a 2019 BMW 3 Series 330i with 45,000 miles; and a 2013 Ford Fiesta Zetec 1.0 EcoBoost with 91,000 miles.
From the 70 garages who responded to both requests, Edward was quoted on average £229, whilst Emma was quoted £241 on average. This represents a 5% increase for the female quote, despite the requested jobs being exactly the same.
One garage even had the audacity to quote Emma £475 for work which they priced at £130 when dealing with Edward.
Janice Pang, Head of Vehicle Maintenance at Caura, said: “A one per cent increase in price in either gender swing is wrong, but when our research shows a five per cent increase [on average] on like-for-like pricing, we were shocked by prejudice in pricing for women.”
