What happens when you put a dozen women from the car business in a room, add mimosa, bloody mary, wine and enough savory and sweet nibbles to thwart inebriation? The dam breaks, it all comes out, every story and situation that has happened over the last year spills into the room with laughter loud enough to move the Richter scale.

To be correct we are women in the automotive industry but nobody calls it that… let’s face it it’s the car business. And we have be aptly named car hags by one of the funniest and inclusive men that was ever in the car business. He was generous with his knowledge when men were still calling us Hon (men still call us Hon) giving us the secrets of the trade, letting us in on the real deal and telling us how to get around “the boys”.

The percentage of women in the car business is still pretty small but seated around the table were CFO, Team Leads, Inventory Manager, General Sales Manager, Area Manager, IT Manager, Marketing Event Planner, Center Development Coordinator, Customer Relations, Service Department Expert and Center Assistance Manager from both the regional and dealer level. These dozen women brought to the table experience from the last forty years…we have seen it all.

Here’s what we’ve learned:

When conducting a meeting do it from the head of the table.

Learn to use the word “careful” when looking to stop an errant 24 year old from calling you Hon.

Insist that your time be respected as valuable.

Work as hard as the men, but smarter.

When trying to explain something start with the word “perhaps” instead of going with your first impulse to slap…

If you must slap, slap them so hard (verbally that is we don’t have access to bail money) they think they got a kiss.

When all else fails, call another car hag. We have no twelve step program, we have no formal association, and we have no rules or guidelines. What we have is shared experience, incredible depth and breadth of knowledge and a willingness to help a sista out of a situation. If not for this tribe, women in the car business would still be getting coffee and getting their asses slapped. We might never rid the industry of the word Hon but we can certainly “identify and discuss” the offenders to the point where their ears are ringing off their heads.

Hopefully as we move forward there will be more and more women identifying themselves as car hags, I know the name’s not pretty and many have tried to change it but it’s strong and able. In an industry still so heavily dominated by men we owe it to ourselves to put our hands out to each other to assist and uplift rather than demean and compete with each other.

My time in the car business is nearing a close. As I get closer and closer to retirement I know like I know that I will remain a car hag well into my old age and will do everything I can to insure there is a safe place for the others to vent and share and keep this time honored alliance going.