Your Boyfriend doesn't Scare Me!!! (long-ish)

[blas]

I would like to think I know more about cars than the average female, so no, I don't really need to learn more about cars to prove myself. And as someone else already pointed out, a woman can know a lot about cars and still get jerked around. It's always been and probably always will be a stereotype that men know more about cars than girls. I could bring a man who knows nothing about cars to a dealership with me, and the salesman won't look me in the eye and will only speak to the guy and will think I'm an idiot.

It's for protection. It's sad that it has to be that way. Although when you can catch them off guard and show you know what you're talking about, it's just classic.

[freaktard]

Okay, somebody please tell me what the hell the deal is with women who think that their man is going to get results where they themselves couldn't. I mean WTF!! Learn how to handle your own problems and stop running to your man who'll end up dealing with someone like me that will strip him of his manhood while you stand next to him!

Could you explain this to my wife while you're at it?

[Umingmaq]

We've seen the problem from the other end many times. My wife would get an endless runaround, but when I went in there would be no problem. My wife is not at all confrontational, and is probably the nicest person I have ever met. Some people just don't take women seriously, or need to demonstrate to themselves that they are somehow superior. And yes, the guilty parties have been of either gender.

On the other hand, the last time she bought a car the salesman was so impressed that he tried to recruit her as a salesperson.

[wagegoth]

My favorite revenge on a car salesman who is pissing me off is to take him for a test drive. Fear on a saleman's face is a beautiful thing.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm obviously lucky; the garage I take my motorbike is run by two guys who are really cool with me. They even told me once that they much prefer a customer like me who brings a bike and says, "I don't know what's wrong with it, please fix it" having not touched it to a person who tinkers with their bike, makes a huge cockup and expects them to fix it. Once a guy spent hours taking his bike engine to pieces cuz he thought there was something the matter with it; in actual fact, it was the exhaust but by the time he'd found that out, the engine was crapped up, too.

[sportsmom]

I can explain this one, as I have been screwed over by mechanics and men at auto parts stores in the past, and have needed my father or boyfriend to set the assholes straight.

It's not always right to use your man as ammo, in this case the girl was just being a bitch and trying to throw her weight around, but I just figured I'd try to explain why some women, over the years, have needed men to help them out.

I try to be independent and not need a man to stand up for me, but in some cases (not yours though, you were TOTALLY in the right!) sexism is alive and well.

Of course, sometimes, it works the other way.

In Virginia a state vehicle inspection is required every year. My dad would always get me to take the cars and trucks over to get them inspected because they always passed me. If he took it over, half the time they failed it for some stupid reason.

He seriously had a car fail one year because the horn wasn't loud enough. WTF?!?

[protege]

He seriously had a car fail one year because the horn wasn't loud enough. WTF?!?

WTF is right! PA makes you get an inspection every year, along with emissions tests in some areas. Getting an older car to pass can be a bitch--my old car failed *twice* simply because the "check engine" light kept coming on.

Gone are the garages that would pass anything--Dad's '79 Volvo was a car that should *not* have passed. It had a huge crack in the windshield, multiple holes in the floor, exhaust held together with tape, some inoperative lights, etc. Yet the garage passed that POS, even though they could have gotten into some *serious* trouble for doing so. Now, with the state clamping down, many garages have signs saying "we will not remove your catalytic converter or modify your emissions system."

[Camry178]

Gone are the garages that would pass anything--Dad's '79 Volvo was a car that should *not* have passed."

LOL....Some of those garages are still alive and well in NY...

[aniwahya]

On a related side-note: I also am a female who knows a fair amount about cars (sometimes the lingo escapes me, but I have taken my cars engine apart, put it back together, and the car has worked well since). Also, before going to a dealership i research things thoroughly. It is not uncommon for me to ask questions about the cars they are showing me that 2/3rds of the salesmen cannot answer, despite that fact that it is a relevant question regarding popular features in the car. Also, I am short, have a medium build but I can be very aggressive (even when i don't think I am, I project it), I do not get intimidated, just pissed off. I do not display overtly feminine qualities when doing things like car shopping, which has led me to the conclusion their behavior is not based upon approaching them in a way that makes them condescending (i.e. a doctor responds less dismissivly when talking about a reaction to a medication when you say it is an "adverse reaction" instead of saying "allergy"), but rather the fact that I possess ovaries.

In spite of said knowledge I cannot count the number of times I have simply walked off a car lot, never to return. I have even had car salesmen try to be indirectly threatening to me, trying to intimidate me with the presence of handguns and pointed references made to hunting.

However the one experience that most illustrates the point that how much you know doesn't change how they treat you. When my mom and I were looking for a new car for her, we were going around doing test drives. The lot we drove into this time is one of the biggest lots in my area. I drove us there in my car, which is a stick shift, note this because it is important. The salesmen kept pointing out cars, ignoring that my mom had a particular vehicle in mind to test drive. Finally cornering him, he told us that it was impossible for us to test drive it because it was a stick shift. While it isn't a comment that I would tolerate form someone else, my standards in what I expect from a car salesman are much, much lower. So I tell him there is no problem, both my mom and I are more than proficient in driving a stick. Even after I pointed out to him the the car i *DROVE THERE* was a stick shift, he and his manager both continued to tell us there was no way we'd be capable of driving it. That was the day I stopped even trying to broaden their horizons.

There are some guys who don't even listen to women long enough to hear that they know anything about what they are talking about. Or if they do hear it they don't care, so I can understand why some women choose to bring along a guy. Also consider that they may not be bringing a guy because he has boy-parts but because he is simply the only one she knows who has knowledge about what she is buying.

Also, in regards to the boyfriend calling, it is something that is worth a brief moment of "What the hell? Does he cut her food up for her too?". Although also worth considering, there are some times where i make phone calls for my mom. Not because she wants me to be rude to people, but because she has a temper where with some things she just completely loses it (though shes good about knowing when she needs to go somewhere else before she blows), there is no reasoning with her until she calms down, which is usually pretty fast. It is not something that she wishes to inflict on people, therefore she sometimes asks me to call if she feels she is at risk for getting that upset.

I apologize for the length. Sometimes my loquaciousness hits me over the head, ties me up, locks me in a room and then takes advantage of my restrained restraint.