Happy New Year. Here’s a Picture of Me

Agirlsguidetocars Team
The AGirlsGuidetoCars Team: (clockwise from top left): Robin Hutson, Shannon Entin, Mary Moore, Kim Tate, Kirsten Maxwell, Meagan Wristen, Jana Seitzer, Scotty Reiss, Kim Orlando, Terri Marshall Holder

Really, it’s a picture of you.

Over these last four years (Yes! Four years!) we have been on a mission to shift the conversation about cars to one that is about you, not the one that guys who are obsessed with cars have. Because they don’t buy as many cars as you do. Never forget this fact: Women buy or influence the purchase of 85% of all cars. And women flat out BUY half of all cars.

The auto industry needed a picture of you.

Agirlsguidetocars Team
Meagan Wristen in the VW Pink Beetle

Who are you? What matters to you? What do you want and need to know? How do you use your car? What do you wish for? These are the key questions auto designers and manufacturers need to know. But the media, well, they’re chattering about torque vectoring, CVTs and dual clutches —(and we hear blah blah blah; don’t you?).

But we hear you: you’re trying to muster the nerve to take a test drive before your car expires in the middle of the road. You’re asking your friends for advice on a new car. You want to be sure you don’t overpay, that you’re not a victim when you buy a car. You’re trying to make sure your kids are happy, your mom is happy, your significant other is happy and of course, that you’re happy too.

The auto industry wants to talk about cars with you—on your terms

2016 Ford Mustang
Reconnecting with an substantially upgraded version of the Ford Mustang! Photo: Terri Marshall

To make the car conversation one that is meaningful to you, that is relevant, helpful and accessible, we’ve put ourselves out there in the car world: we’ve met a lot of people, made a lot of friends, asked a lot of questions and learned a lot.

And then, we bring that information back to you. We share what we’ve learned here, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Periscope. We share our experiences at auto shows (in 2017 we’ll go to Detroit, Boston, Washington, DC, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, New York and Los Angeles) and create ways for you to get involved.

We want you to put your hands on cars, get a feel for what it’s like to live your life in each one, understand the finances and the finesse of negotiating for a new car, and make the smartest decision possible. Because we want you to be a smarter, happier car owner.

That was our mission in 2013, and it’s our mission for 2017. We hope you’ll join us.

We really do want a picture of you

Paddle Shifters
Gail Truess (left) and I, ready for a lesson on track driving; photo: Scotty Reiss

If you wonder why we run so many photos of ourselves in our cars, it’s because we want you to be able to see what you might look like in these cars. But we’d love to see more photos of you.

Share your photos on social media: follow us on Instagram and tag us; follow us on Facebook and tag us; Tweet us and comment on our posts and let us know what you’re thinking. To encourage you, leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win a brand new wireless UE Boom speaker.  Additional entries can be made via the entry box below. Help us to shape the conversation in 2017.

Happy New Year!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest rules: No purchase necessary, open to residents of the United States only. Winner will be chosen via random drawing on March 1, 2017 and notified by email. Qualifying entries include comments submitted in the comments section below and entries submitted via the Rafflecopter entry form, above.

Scotty Reiss
Scotty Reiss

Journalist, entrepreneur and mom. Expertise includes new cars, family cars, 3-row SUVs, child passenger car seats and automotive careers and culture. A World Car Awards juror and member of the steering committee, Scotty likes to say the automotive business found her, rather than her finding it. But recognizing the opportunity to give voice to powerful female consumers and create a voice to match their spending power, her mission became to empower women as car buyers and owners. A career-long journalist, she has written for the New York Times, Town & Country, Adweek and co-authored the book Stew Leonard, My Story, a biography of the founder of the iconic grocery company Stew Leonard’s. Her love of cars started when her father insisted she learn to change the oil in her MG Midget, but now it mostly plays out in the many road trips taken with her family.

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