For a product accessible to diverse consumers, advertisements primarily targeting specific audiences through gender stereotypes can alienate others who also make similar car-buying decisions. According to a 2021 survey conducted by Are Media, 61% of women expressed the belief that a car brand should embody specific values when considering a purchase. However, only 20% of women feel adequately represented in car advertisements on a regular basis. When people don’t see themselves represented accurately in advertising, they are easily alienated from the entire experience and may feel less inclined to buy from that particular brand. Following this, there is a reluctance to visit a dealership to acquire a needed car, leading some individuals to delegate the task to a male parent or partner they deem ‘better suited’ to handle the transaction.
Dreading dealerships
The good news is more and more women are feeling confident going into the sales process, with 66% in the same survey feeling comfortable speaking with sales staff at a dealership. However, 43% of women still found that sales staff tried to speak to their partner more than to themselves, and 36% felt pressured to sign the contract on the day.
For many women, the prospect of visiting a dealership can be a source of anxiety. “I honestly felt like I was getting cornered and pushed into signing my life away,” recalls Neave, a Carma customer who visited a few dealerships before buying her Volkswagen Tiguan. “My parents have helped me buy a car before, and I wanted to do it myself this time,” she adds, “but the experience at dealerships nearly put me off buying a car, so I just started looking online.”
67% of women believe women are generally as knowledgeable as men when it comes to deciding which car to buy for the family, but they may not be met with the same sentiment at the dealership. Neave says “I dealt only with male salespeople and they made assumptions such as ‘you’re probably not looking to go very fast’ or ‘you can put all your shopping in the boot’, which made me feel uncomfortable as a young woman by myself”.
On the dealership experience, we also caught up with Sydney FC women’s players for their thoughts. “Going to a dealership with all the information that they give you, and all the things that come with buying a car made it quite stressful and overwhelming," says Mackenzie Hawkesby, "having to spend so much time going from dealership to dealership also added to the pain of it all.”
Creating an experience that empowers informed decisions
