Amy

Amy Mattinat: A driving force for women

MONTPELIER - Amy Mattinat knows her way around a car engine.

From The Times Argus
(Barre-Montpelier, Vt.)
June 18, 2007

"I've always really loved cars. I went out with gear heads in high school," said Mattinat - one of the few women across the United States who own or co-own automotive shops - seated in her office at the Auto Craftsmen on Route 2 last week.

"Backhoes, bulldozers, you name it, I think it's so much fun to drive giant machines around," she added.

Mattinat doesn't just help her business partner Chip Tremper run the shop and used-car business. She's a leader in a national movement to get more women into this male-dominated industry, and to make sure women have the information they need to buy the right car at the right price, and keep their vehicles in top shape.

"My theory is that the problem with this [automotive] industry is a lack of communication."
Amy Mattinat

Mattinat is on the advisory board of automotive experts for "Ask Patty," a national blog where women write in with questions about their automobiles. One recent entry, for example: "Tire Tips; Do You Think You're Under Pressure?"

The site recognizes that women purchase the majority of the vehicles sold in the United States each year, spending billions of dollars on new car purchases.

"Yet, shopping for and buying a car can be a challenge for women who are first-time car buyers or for women who had a bad experience in the past with a car salesman or dealership," the site states. "The Ask Patty.com, Inc. web site is a safe place for women to get advice on car purchases, maintenance and other automotive related topics."

The site also certifies dealerships as "female friendly" based on an in-depth survey, and helps women locate a nearby dealership that is focused on working with and communicating well with female consumers.

But the automotive industry is still a strange land - as both job seekers and consumers - for many women.

Mattinat said she recently received a letter from a female mechanic who is trying to build an all-woman staff at her shop - a challenge given the small number of women moving into dealership or automotive tech jobs. Mattinat doesn't have specific numbers, but she said there are too few.

And, she said, women consumers often don't understand what's going on under their car's hood.

"My theory is that the problem with this industry is a lack of communication," Mattinat said. She said men start in the industry as mechanics, narrowly focused on the machinations under the hood or the chassis.

"Their skill is not communication," she said. "They need us women to teach them to communicate."

Mattinat sees examples of the problem frequently in her shop. She'll look up at the front desk and see the mechanic using "techie talk" to explain a brake problem to a female car owner.

"I can see her eyes are glazed over and she doesn't understand," Mattinat said.

Mattinat goes out to the desk and uses an Oreo cookie to explain the brake problem: The white filling between the two chocolate cookies is gone and needs replacing, she says. Plain English; problem solved.

It's not just women who struggle with the techie-talk - men often get lost in the explanations, as well. But this has never been an inviting arena for girls and women, and females are often very different consumers when buying and maintaining cars, Mattinat said.

Women often don't like to dicker over car prices when buying a car, for example. "It doesn't have to be a game," she added.

Women are a powerful consumer group, Mattinat said, and dealerships and mechanic shops are increasingly responding to that reality. She said an Ask Patty team attended a recent international car show wearing Ask Patty badges, and they were frequently approached by attendees with questions.

"It is happening," she said. "The automotive industry is looking at Ask Patty and saying, 'Who are these women?'"

Mattinat is also a member of two organizations that promote women in automotive fields, including the Women's Car Care Council (which educates women about how to care for their vehicles so they'll be safe) and the Women's Automotive Association International (which helps women in the industry network).

She's written a book for women - good for men, too - called How to Buy a Great Used Car, with easy-to-use information on financing, negotiation, warranties, buyers' needs assessment, and more. And she helped create a Car Care Guide for the Women's Car Care Council that provides clear and simple advice for women on automotive maintenance.

Mattinat also travels the country talking to high school girls and young women about opportunities in the industry.

"You can make a lot of money and make a huge difference," she said.

The industry is changing so rapidly, she said, and there is a place for women in this increasingly high tech profession.

"Techs have the perception of being 'grease monkeys.' The grease monkey is the stupid guy who can't read or write, so he becomes a mechanic," she said.

But that's a misperception, Mattinat quickly adds. Automotive technicians must know math and computers to function in the industry today. She recently sent her technical staff to a four-day training course on hybrid vehicles - cars that require several computers for their operation - because hybrids are the wave of the future in Mattinat's view.

In previous years, cars signaled when they needed a tune up by skipping or otherwise giving drivers a hint that things under the hood needed work. Today, she said, computers carefully balance problems for as long as possible so that drivers don't get obvious performance clues when it's time for a tune up. That often leads to drivers waiting too long to perform routine maintenance and ending up stranded on the side of the road with a catastrophic problem that could have been avoided.

And, she said, the cars themselves are changing. Just one example she loves: vehicles that will automatically parallel park for the driver. She sees a day when drivers just climb into their cars, tell them where to go, and sit back and read while the vehicles drive to the destination.

"This industry is changing so fast," she said and women need to be a part of that.

Female consumers need to be able to firmly and clearly communicate their car needs when they visit dealerships to buy; they need to listen and ask questions when their cars are being serviced; and they need to recognize the opportunities for higher-paying jobs in the industry.

There are good-paying jobs for women as mechanics, service writers (the front-desk person who explains the issues to customers) and sales people, Mattinat said. The mechanics will still need wrenches, but they will also increasingly need to know computers and electrical systems.