Revving up female car owners’ confidence to bring trust to auto repairs

Stefanie Bruinsma at a recent AutoCate workshop in Toronto. Velocity company AutoCate aims to thwart discrimination and fraud in auto repair industry AutoCate, a newly-launched membership-based platform geared toward women, aims to reduce fraud and discrimination in the auto repair industry. The platform, created by Stefanie Bruinsma, a mechanic and engineering grad from the University of Waterloo, connects people in need of car repairs or advice with trusted experts and educators. While membership is open to all, the company is focused on helping women car owners, who are sometimes charged more than their male counterparts for auto repairs due to the assumption that they are not well educated with automobile-related issues.   "Women are more susceptible to being oversold, patronized and underserviced, but they are absolutely capable of understanding everything about their car," Bruinsma said. "There should never be an opportunity to be swindled, especially based on gender."-  When an AutoCate member needs help or has a question about car purchases, maintenance or repairs, they are triaged depending on the severity of their issue. An expert walks them through the issue and answers questions to instill car owners- confidence in making the best decision. For example, the company found that 27 per cent of auto services are unnecessary, they are purely upsells, and excess services can cost consumers in the U.S. and Canada an extra $12 billion a year.