With Steph Savill’s background in marketing and sales, backed by an executive MBA, and husband Paul’s experience in both IT and motoring journalism, setting up an online business to assist drivers may seem an obvious choice.

However, it was only when an unscrupulous garage ripped off their daughter, plans for a new business began to take shape.

Following a fruitless discussion with the owner and having complained to her local Trading Standards, who told her that they were legally prevented from disclosing information they held on local garages – good or bad, Savill was left frustrated.

With a little research a pattern quickly emerged – most women did not enjoy the garage experience and many complained of having been billed for goods and services that were either not necessary or not carried out.

“When we realised that garages didn’t have to be licensed and their mechanics, unlike electricians and gas fitters, didn’t have to be qualified despite being potentially responsible for a driver’s safety, Paul and I decided to take it seriously, “ Savill says.

Convinced that they had a viable business idea the Savills raised £10,000 of start-up capital from family and friends in the first quarter of 2004 and, with a lot of hard work, FOXY Lady Drivers Club launched six months later.

The online club helps members run safer cars, reduce emissions, save money and to make motoring and vehicle maintenance a more female friendly experience. For a £20 annual subscription, members get quarterly vehicle fitness checks at an Office of Fair Trading approved garage, access to a list of other approved garages that offer maintenance, repair and MOT services, a telephone helpline, online motoring forums and advice pages and accident claims assistance.

All approved garages must sign the FOXY Promise - We strive to be a female friendly business and will never knowingly overcharge, patronise or sell our customers services they do not need or want - and woe betide those that do not deliver on the promise. “We don’t go running to the press,” Steph Savill says. “In a female way we just spread the word.”

Although initially slow to get moving, the company saw a jump in registrations after Savill was inadvertently introduced as the founder of the Sexy Lady Drivers Club on the Jeremy Vine programme on Radio 2 in early 2005.

“It raised a laugh and brought us a surge of new members. I often wonder whether it would have been so good for us if they had got our name right in the first place,“ she says.

With applications on the up and renewals approaching 70 per cent, by mid 2007 the Savills began to turn a profit. The Sussex-based home business now boasts more than 10,000 members and, with plans to investigate the wholesale and insurance markets and having recently launched a new B2B platform, the future for FOXY looks bright.

As a result of the company’s success, Steph Savill is now a speaker on the Sussex Women’s Institute circuit and a regular guest at motor trade conferences, where her talks help others understand their garage choices, while encouraging those within the industry to improve the forecourt experience for women.

www.foxyladydrivers.com

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