A Girl Scout or Girl Guide badge workshop provides the opportunity to show young women why car maintenance is important to ensure safety, dependability and greater return on investment. This event allows you to start early in creating tomorrow’s customers, and is a great way to reach out to your local community. With the help of AskPatty Marketing’s handy guide, it should only take two hours of prep time, and less than three hours of workshop time on a weeknight or Saturday morning. What could be easier?

Why An Automotive Badge Workshop?

According to the Car Care Council Women’s Board, women make up 50-80 percent of service provider customers. What can your repair facility or retail store do to promote its products and services to this market? Host an automotive badge workshop for local Girl Scout troops!

A badge workshop provides the opportunity to show young women why car maintenance is important to ensure safety, dependability and greater return on investment. This event allows you to start early in creating tomorrow’s customers. With the help of this guide, it should only take two hours of prep time, and less than three hours of workshop time on a weeknight or Saturday morning.

Example Girl Scout Clinic information: https://smartdriveusa.org/students/girl-scout-car-care-badge/

Overview:

Our goal is to provide the students with a comprehensive, basic understanding of how a car works, how engines function, how tires operate, and how to care for and maintain these various systems to keep cars in proper running order. This will be accomplished by way of hands-on, instructor assisted exercises in which the students will learn to identify, check, and change various fluids, check tire pressure, change a flat, and other basic maintenance tasks. In addition, students will be instructed in valuable driving safety tips, keeping them safe on the road. Finally, we will strive to empower and inspire the students with an overview of some successful women in the automotive industry.

Curriculum:

Car Care:

  • How to safely change a tire.
  • How to check fluids & add if necessary.
  • Basic understanding of how an engine works.
  • Basic knowledge of the braking system.
  • Battery maintenance.
  • How to safely jump start a dead battery.
  • How to create a vehicle emergency kit .
  • How to locate and replace fuses.
  • How to replace wiper blades.
  • Simple Safety Checks you can do yourself!

Car Safety:

  • Texting and Driving: don’t do it! A real explanation of the dangers.
  • What to do when you drop 2 wheels off the right side of the road
  • Are cars with ABS better, or cars without ABS? And how does ABS work, anyway?
  • What happens when you try to stop on a wet and slippery surface?
  • What percentage of all crashes involve a single car?
  • The real truth about roll-overs, and how to avoid them.
  • What’s more important — the car’s brakes or your reaction time?
  • Why locked front wheels won’t turn the car

Women in the Auto Industry:

  • In 2012, 24.2% of jobs in the Motor Vehicles and Motor Vehicles Equipment Manufacturing industry were held by women
  • In 2012, women made up:
    • 1.8% of automotive body and related repairers,
    • 1.2% of automotive service technicians and mechanics.
  • Volvo is one of a few motor companies that have had a women-majority team (80%) design a car (a concept car).
  • Women are approximately 30% of the global design staff for BMW, and 20% of the design staff at GM.

Women in Auto Management

  • Percentage of women corporate officers in the Motor Vehicle and Parts industry: 11.5% (37 of 321) – this is up from 11.2% (39 of 349) in 2002,7 and 7.5% (25/332) in 1998,
  • Percentage of women on the boards of directors in the Motor Vehicle and Parts industry: 12.4% (23/186) – this is up from 8.4% (20 out of 239) in 200110 and 9.5% (13 out of 137) in 1998.

Dealerships and Sales

  • According to CNW Marketing Research, women-owned dealerships were just 2.8% of all dealerships.
  • In 2010, women were 13.0% of all Sales Workers in the Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Industry.
  • Women made up nearly 19.7% of all employees at automobile dealers, and 17.3% of all employees at other motor vehicle dealers in 2012.

Women’s Influence in the Industry

  • In 2010, CNW Marketing Research found at 47.3% of women car shoppers prefer women dealers, while 38.5% have no preference.
  • Women made up 44.1% of primary vehicle buyers in 2010, compared to 19.5% in 1990.