A guide to going to the mechanic for the girls and the gays

“For those who exist outside of the ‘boys club,’ the display of machismo was especially confronting.”

It’s a familiar story. You’re pottering through the week when you realise that most facets of life are running smoothly. Work has been surprisingly productive, your social life is thriving, and you’ve somehow avoided breaking your budget. ‘Wow,’ you think to yourself during an Oprah-level epiphany, ‘life is going swimmingly!’. You hop into your car with a smile shiny enough to refract life’s obstacles. ‘Heck yeah!’ you exclaim, ‘nothing can stop me!’

That’s when you encounter a fate so predictable it could be the plot of a Marvel film. Life is running according to plan, so your car – an agent of the universe’s humbling force – decides to well and truly shit itself. Alas, the days of simply blasting the radio’s volume to muffle that indecipherable rattle are gone. Your once-productive week is thrown into a tailspin of sputtering engines, missed appointments and perhaps most egregiously, an inevitable visit to the mechanic.

For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.

Indeed, the only thing more anxiety-inducing than acknowledging car issues is the thought of bumbling your way to the repair shop. When my 2001 Subaru Liberty said “peace out” to the world earlier this year, I summoned a level of panic reminiscent of Meryl Streep in Big Little Lies. As a gay driver, the demise of my car (RIP, ‘Lady Liberty’) was somewhat expected.

Years of kerbside mishaps and misplaced trees (who put that there?) made Lady Liberty’s failure an inevitability. Having long driven as frantically as Toad (arguably the gayest Mario Kart character), I had said preemptive farewells long before Lady Liberty slipped on her final banana peel. I had even envisioned what her future tombstone might read: ‘A gay person drove me, need I say more?’

@dmichaelburke It’s the code switching for me… #mechanic #car #codeswitch #gay #cars ♬ original sound – Michael Burke

Setting aside the science around gay people and questionable driving (I’m assuming limp wrists affect steering?), acknowledging Lady Liberty’s flaws was but one hurdle en route to her revival. Next, I’d have to make an appointment with a mechanic, visit said mechanic, and try to nod along agreeably as said mechanic diagnoses the car’s defects. “Are you telekinetic?” he might ask, “because there’s a dent here that defies physics.”

I’m not the only person who equates the mechanic with Streep-like unease. A 2016 study found that 72 per cent of drivers feel anxiety around visiting an auto repair shop. If my anecdotal experience and that of numerous Reddit and TikTok users are to be believed, then this anxiety is especially pronounced among LGBTQI+ people. Women, too, are no strangers to so-called ‘repairophobia’, with the same study finding them to “consistently have more negative experiences with auto-repair professionals than men.”

Much of the repairophobia among these demographics boils down to the hyper-masculine environment of both the repair shop itself and the automotive industry more broadly. Say the word ‘mechanic’ and you’ll probably imagine an older man with a Bunnings tool belt, greasy fingers and a brow so furrowed you could drink soup from it.

He probably quotes The Fast and The Furious, will undoubtedly call you “sheila,” and might have a screenshot of Megan Fox’s Transformers scene as his phone background. Statistically speaking, he is also part of an all-male team, since women account for just 1.4 per cent of all Australian mechanics as of 2018.

Audra Fordin, founder of Women Auto Know and author of End Auto Anxiety: No Fear Car Repair and Maintenance for Busy Women, is familiar with the masculine undertones inherent in visiting the mechanic. “I used to say that there were pinup calendars [in the repair shop] of women wearing very little clothing,” Audra tells me. “It was a boys club.”

@actressbecc every person there is named Rob actually #cardealership #car #salesman #sales #comedy #relatable #women #viral #fyp #pov #povs #carsalesman #sale ♬ original sound – Becca Bastos

For gay and female drivers, the separation from this ‘boys club’ is partly responsible for repairophobia, since “the perception that you need to be a hyper-masculine person in order to be in auto repair is still true,” Audra says. These perceptions informed my experience when arriving at the mechanic, where I was greeted by the familiar markers of straight male-ness; namely in the scent of body odour and three-in-one shampoo, and the unending parade of flannelette shirts.

It was a sensory overload that might’ve perplexed any visitor, but for those who exist outside of the ‘boys club,’ the display of machismo was especially confronting. As AC/DC blasted through the speakers (you’d think that band is more for electricians), the mechanic began tinkering before listing a range of defects. That’s when the repairophobia really took hold.

“People become frozen and mentally block out any common sense when it comes to automotive maintenance,” Audra says. “People think their car is going to blow up. They are afraid to touch it, and they’re afraid to open the hood.” A similar reaction arose as the mechanic – let’s call him Vin Diesel – diagnosed my car, mostly because the language he used was on par with NASA-level astrophysics.

@dmichaelburke True Life: I’m scared of car dealers. #car #cars #cardealership #cardealer #gay ♬ original sound – Michael Burke

There are only so many times someone can mention “break modulation” and “control systems” before it begins to feel like a gibberish crossword, but my ignorance of these matters isn’t totally my fault. I felt my agency in asking questions was diminished by the ‘boys club,’ and I believed myself to be totally uneducated in the face of this ever-resourceful handyman (emphasis on the man).

When something as essential as a car is equated with ‘men’s work,’ the potential expertise of everyone else feels implicitly less valuable. It’s why Audra recalls facing “more hurdles than [her] male counterparts,” and why I, when staring into a bonnet that looked like a jigsaw on acid, would be totally unaware if Vin were to overcharge me for his services.

But even beyond the fact that women are, in fact, more often overcharged for auto repairs, it’s the obliviousness to our cars – aided by the members of the ‘boys club’ who repair them – that Audra cites as the source of repairophobia. “The reason auto-anxiety occurs is because of lack of education and awareness,” Audra says. “Fear stops education.”

@adrian_levels_up♬ original sound – Adrian Shaw

It’s why Audra suggests reading your owner’s manual as the most efficient way to overcome repairophobia, since “education allows drivers to let go of the apprehension”. While the boys club might not expect it, arriving at the mechanic with a well-versed knowledge of cars not only allows you to understand Vin’s diagnoses but also provides a basis for you to question certain repairs or challenge costs, if necessary.

In this way, a basic knowledge of mechanics can serve as an ultimate power play. Defying the boys club’s expectations of your education – whether they’re based on your acrylic nails or limp wrists – is a level of empowerment similar to Julia Roberts’ shopping spree in Pretty Woman. “Big mistake,” you might quip when Vin tries to overcharge you, “huge!”.

Alongside education, Audra suggests finding mechanics tailored to your demographic. In Australia, services like Galmatic provide car education specifically for women, while resources like Rainbow Flag provide listings for queer-friendly repair shops near you. These services are probably the closest we’ll get to a ‘toolbelt,’ with education and empowerment in lieu of hammers and other thingamajigs. “Find a workshop in your area that wants to educate, show and tell you,” Anna says.

@chrisisainmdom♬ original sound – That Irish Gay 🌈☘️

“[This way], the driver is taking the driver[‘s] seat of their life.” With this in mind, go forth with the knowledge that while daunting, car repairs are a necessary fact of life, and it pays to be just as educated on your Subaru as on the latest season of The Real Housewives. Find a boys club that’ll welcome drivers like you, or better yet, arrive at the mechanic with unexpected car wisdom as a means of sticking it to the man.

Above all, be wary of the times when life seems to be running smoothly. That’s exactly when your car will decide to do the opposite.

For more tips on navigating car jargon, head here.