Alicia Holland was always curious about cars, passing up Barbie dolls for toy trucks when she was a child. Her father spent afternoons tinkering with the family’s station wagon – a tan-coloured Volkswagen with floral curtains. He died when Alicia was 12 years old, so when she reached driving age, there was no one to show her how to change a tyre, fix a windscreen wiper or check for oil.

Years later, while heavily pregnant, Holland’s car broke down on a busy highway. It was an “embarrassingly” simple fix, she says. The petrol tank had run dry, yet she waited, flustered and sweating, for roadside assistance to refill it.

Afterwards, Holland made it her mission to learn basic car maintenance. She participated in Women On Wheels, a program that runs free car workshops for women across Australia, which she later took over in 2017.

Despite learning the ropes, Holland, 46, still gets sold short at the garage. “I’ve had mechanics say to me, ‘Get your husband to call’,” she says. “Why would I get my husband to call when it’s my car?”

The thought of taking a car into a garage is enough to make many women bristle. In August 2024, Sydney lifestyle influencer and dietitian Alice Bleathman went viral with a teary TikTok post in which she claimed she was swindled by male mechanics. Other women flooded the video’s comments section, complaining of a ‘girl tax’ applied to their car repairs.

It’s hard to find concrete data from Australia, but various surveys from the US, UK and Australia reveal that women consistently worry they are being overcharged. In a 2024 survey by US journal Consumer Affairs, only 15% of women said they trusted their mechanics.

“Most females have either been ripped off or felt like they’ve been ripped off,” says Holland. “Most importantly, they feel like they haven’t been heard.”

Finding a female mechanic is difficult – ABS Labour Force figures for January 2024 show that only 900 (0.82%) of all motor mechanics in Australia are women.

But Melissa Hardwicke, a mobile mechanic in Sydney’s inner west, says her business is usually “flat out”. More than two-thirds of her clients at TLC Autocare are women and queer people, who approach her for an honest, judgment-free service.

“I hear stories all the time of women getting the wool pulled over their eyes,” she says. Hardwicke’s clients say male mechanics do not give them the same treatment they offer straight men. “It’s about money,” she says.

Hardwicke, 48, was turned away from countless apprenticeships when trying to cut her teeth in 2004. Knocking on garage doors across Sydney, she was told “No, you’re too little,” she says.

She finally got her break in a show of brute force – and brains. “The owner said ‘Whoever can lift this Land Cruiser tyre and put it on the car bonnet without struggling has the apprenticeship’,” she recalls. Hardwicke lifted it correctly, bracing her legs, and the job was hers. “They thought, ‘This girl is smart’.”

She wants to start an all-female mechanic workshop – if she can ever afford Sydney rent. “I would train female apprentices to do it the right way, to be honest,” she says.

According to Rachel Butler, the director of Women in Automotive, demand for female mechanics is outpacing supply. “Workshops are calling for them because it brings about a better workplace culture,” she says.

Mechanics are trying to clean-up their image. “Women don’t want that old, grotty, nude calendars in the toilet environment any more. That’s dying out but it’s still there,” Butler says.

Caitie Cornford has just started an apprenticeship at Thirroul Service Station. The garage is a time capsule of the 1970s, often with a Triumph or Holden Gemini parked out front.

The 22-year-old began her career as a primary school teacher, before having a lightbulb moment while travelling in a van she dubbed Bessie. Her pride and joy – a white Toyota with orange racing stripes – repeatedly broke down. “I was sick of paying these old, grumpy men to fix it,” she says.

She started a six-month automotive servicing course at TAFE, where only two of the 17 students were women. Except for the occasional sarcastic comment, the men were welcoming. “There’s stigma and fear of treatment of women in this industry but there’s a lot of support too. I’ve been offered lots of women mentors,” she says.

When she saw a sign for an apprentice at a nearby garage, it felt like fate. “I’d drive past and think I’d love to work there. It’s always got the sickest vintage cars hanging out front.”

Cornford accepts the physical aspects of the job can be demanding. “But there’s always a way around it,” she says. “If I can’t undo a bolt, I’ll just get a bigger ratchet. If I can’t lift something, I’ll add leverage. The more I work, the stronger I’ll get.”

Cornford and Hardwicke encourage women to learn basic car maintenance, so that they have some ammo when they visit a garage.

Women on Wheels runs free evening workshops across the country. Hosted by dealerships, up to 50 participants rotate through a circuit of workstations guided by a facilitator. Mothers, daughters and friends learn how to jumpstart a car or inspect its undercarriage. “It’s more fun to learn in a group, you don’t seem as silly,” Holland says.

“Having confidence in yourself will help you when you’re speaking to mechanics about your car because you’ll have insider knowledge.”

Holland, Cornford and Hardwicke say that bit of knowledge emboldens clients to push for a fair price on repairs – and could help reduce the unfair ‘pink tax’ on services.

“We had one participant recently who made me particularly proud and emotional,” says Holland. “This young girl said that cars used to scare her as she didn’t know anything about them. Now she wants to get a flat tyre – just so she can practice changing it.”