What Does Lady Driven Mean? | Toronto & Mississauga

If you’ve ever checked out used car ads in Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville or Toronto, you may have seen the quaint phrase “lady driven” and wondered what it meant. Was it a good thing, or ? Back a few decades, when women were less likely to drive their own vehicles on a regular basis, it was meant as a good thing. If a lady owned it, the car had obviously been driven ever so gently, if ever. Maybe she even wore lace gloves, creeping along the side streets at a very graceful speed? All jokes aside, the mileage was automatically assumed to be low, the wear and tear on the car less pronounced. You know, maybe she drove it to her Tuesday bridge game once a week, or to the grocery store right around the corner. With 1.4 million more women than men licensed to drive, the term lady driven has a mixed meaning. Some car buyers will actually head the other way if they see an ad that uses the phrase, believing those old stereotypes that women can’t drive as well as men, or that we don’t take excellent care of our vehicles. Is it all true?

First, let’s mull over the statistics. Traffic violations: nearly double the number of men to women. Guys are more likely to get into or cause fatal or serious accidents. Men (not all men, we know) are less risk-averse, with roughly a 3:1 ratio with regard to skipping the seatbelt, reckless driving and DUI charges. Red light running, speeding, it’s a not that women never do these things, because we know they do. But women do such things less often. Granted, the more often women hit the road, the smaller that risk-taking gender-biased gap becomes. Theoretically, women are more safety-conscious in all areas of life. But hear this: female drivers have a tendency toward their own dangerous behind-the-wheel behaviours too. Women respond to texts while driving 5% more often than guys do; we love to snack behind the wheel 11% more than our supposedly-hungrier male counterparts, and our pesky addiction to multi-tasking comes with us when we drive, too. While women drivers might tend to be less overtly reckless and aggressive, we are, according to the stats, in serious denial about how truly dangerous texting while driving can be. Unless you have Bluetooth hands-free capability, that chat can wait. And that goes for you too, fellas.

Women have more fender-benders than men, who tend to wind up in more serious crashes. More and more women seem to be opting for SUVs or mid-sized crossovers, and safety is one big reason. While guys are said to lean more toward pickup trucks and exotic luxury sedans, women tend to purchase more practical wheels like Jeeps, such as the Compass, Wrangler or Grand Cherokee.  We also really like our Ram 1500s. Being seated above the traffic, able to safely transport passengers, possessing the tech that helps us avoid potential hazards and getting decent fuel economy are a few draws of these vehicles. In our own showroom, Jeeps and Ram Trucks are turning the heads of female car shoppers at an increasing rate.

Reliability and warranty matter to women. We tend to purchase new more often than used, with an impressive 62% of new cars in the USA being purchased by women. Millennial men are a little less old-school than their dads when it comes to how they view women drivers:  they see their female counterparts as better negotiators who are much more logical when it comes to the choice of which car to purchase. The average woman takes about 75 days to make a decision about a car purchase. Females are much more likely to consult official authorities about the pros and cons of various vehicles before making a purchase. In other words, women no longer opt for whichever car their father or husband tells them to buy. Hmmm…is that why we’re also ok with asking someone else for directions when we’re lost?

In the rough and tumble world of off roading, you might imagine that it’s the exclusive terrain of guys. Google again. Women drivers have been racing in Baja, Morocco and beyond for decades? As a Jeep owner, I’m often more than a little tempted to put my 4×4 Cherokee up to some muddy mischief on back roads. When I read about this rally, happening since 1990, I immediately texted my BFF, who also loves her Jeep. Because Jeeps aren’t just for commuting to work and taking the kids to soccer. A fabulous number of the women who race in the Gazelles Rally in the Moroccan desert are moms. Age is no real barrier in this off road rally, open to women 18-71 years of age. Now, I just need to sort out how to get my Jeep to Morocco from Ontario…

It’s more dangerous for women to find themselves stranded on the side of the road, and so regular maintenance and basic knowledge are super-important. It’s not enough to have a CAA Premier membership or other roadside assistance program. Read the manual that came with your vehicle, sign up for seasonal maintenance check-ups with your dealership or other trusted mechanic, and keep your tires full and gas tanks topped up before heading out anywhere. If you’re brand new to cars and car ownership, ask your dealership to walk you through the vehicle in more detail. Your comfort and safety really do matter to us when we sell you a car.

More stereotypes: Women clean the house, men wash their cars, inside and out. Uh-oh: this one might be true, women. In my own social circle, only one guy has ever had to sweep junk off his passenger seat so that I could sit down. Yet one of my dearest gal friends might just have a collection of stuff in her car to rival the Smithsonian collection. Another guy I know routinely removes half-eaten sandwiches from his wife’s car. But then again, she has to ride with his hockey bag sometimes… According to more than one report, women can shamelessly go months without hitting a car wash, and as for the stockpile in the trunk, well, let’s not go there. I’m going to blame multitasking, which is a skill that is both a blessing and a curse. Gender-wise, there are always exceptions, and how you keep your car is none of my business or anyone else’s. But keep in mind, if tendencies are true, lady-driven might not automatically mean spotlessly clean.

While more men than women seem to be the ones to handle the actual purchase transactions, 85% of car-buying decisions are made by…women. If that’s not lady driven…?! At Team Chrysler, we service our customers equally, no matter what your chromosome combo is.

The most popular Jeeps at Team Chrysler are Jeep Grand Cherokees, Jeep Compass, and Jeep Wranglers.

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