An all-female garage outside Paris, France, that offers manicures, massages and lessons in car mechanics is doing a roaring trade since opening last month, challenging stereotypes of car repairing being a masculine domain.
Only Girls, in the suburb of Saint-Ouen-l'Aumone, caters to women who feel they have been taken for a ride by male mechanics who bet on them showing little interest in what goes on beneath the bonnet.
"When you're a woman, it's like you've got 'sucker' tattooed on your forehead," said Sandrine Hautenne, 42.
"Once I went to three different garages and got three different estimates. Since then I've sent my uncle to get estimates and - guess what? - the prices dropped!" she said.
From spark plugs to shock absorbers, a female mechanic outlined the trouble spots on Hautenne's car.
In addition to a "beauty corner" that includes a nail bar and massages, other uncharacteristic features at the garage include a children's playroom.
The "gender marketing" trend has now spread to areas such as sports clubs, insurance companies and even credit cards.
Aurore Dabireau said the macho world of car repairing had put a spanner in the works of her career, despite having a degree in car mechanics.
"Garage owners are sceptical [about hiring me] and I've often been told, 'You've got no place here'," she said.
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