One of the things that has frequently bothered me is how many times I feel that some industries still treat women as if they are easy marks for being ripped off. Take auto repair, for example. Not long ago I took my car to a Speedy Oil Change shop and the mechanics there tried to convince me to spend a lot of money on repairs that I am absolutely certain that I don’t need. If it were up to them, I would have spent hundreds f dollars on unneeded repairs!
So, what is a woman to do? Smart women get estimates, and this is where the Internet can help. There are websites, such as repairpal.com that you can use to plug values into their search engine to determine fair rates for different types of repairs, and then find out where different local repair shops are located. So you could, for example, find out how much you could expect to pay to replace the timing belt on a honda accord in the San Francisco auto repair market. You can switch it out to match your own needs. I think that this kind of help is a great advantage to all of us consumers – you can get a good idea of the value of the repair so that you are not treated like “fresh meat” at the repair shops!