Queens mechanic teaches car owners what they 'auto know'

Transmissions, timing belts, taillights -- you name it and Audra Fordin has tinkered with it.

Though the auto repair business is a male-dominated field, the car gene is in her DNA. Fordin's great-grandfather, Oscar Fordin, founded Great Bear Auto Repair & Body Shop in Flushing in 1933, and some of her earliest memories are of her dad at work under the hood of a vehicle.

"Cars -- that was always the conversation in my house," said Fordin, who grew up in Merrick. "It was like being in a house that spoke a second language. We talked 'car.' And by just listening, I picked up on it."

Fordin, 42, who lives on the North Shore with her husband and three children, is the fourth-generation owner of that Great Bear shop and the first woman in charge.

But she doesn't just fix cars. She preaches about them.

Fordin hosts free monthly "Women Auto Know" workshops at the business, teaching simple tasks from popping the hood to changing a tire, hoping to empower those women (and men, too) who feel intimidated by mechanics. Workshops are held the third Saturday of every month at 3:30 p.m. and vary from individual to group sessions, with some seminars geared to seniors, new drivers and even Girl Scouts. It helped boost business during the recession and set her Great Bear apart from the rest.

Great Bear was a leading automotive franchise in decades past, but it splintered, and of the few that still exist only the original shop is run by a Fordin.

Now she's taking her one-woman crusade on the radio, TV and online. And what started as a way to boost business may help transform an industry in desperate need of an overhaul.

Promoting empowerment

Fordin's initiation into the world of automobiles came early. On Saturdays, starting when she was 8, she'd rise at dawn and accompany her father to work. She was eager for quality time, and Bill Fordin, who had no sons, happily put his daughter to work, filing papers. Eventually, she got under the hood.

She didn't always grasp the technical jargon, she admits, so Fordin came up with metaphors to explain how cars worked, simple images she uses to this day with customers.

"I talk about the car like it's your kid, or pet," she said.

Problems with your car's air induction is like asthma, Fordin explains. "If you can't breathe, you tense up. Your body has to work harder. Same with your car. When it's not breathing properly, it wastes gas and needs help."

In Fordin's lingo, tires are like shoes, the exhaust system is like excretion, the suspension like muscles, absorbing shocks.

"When you break it down, it's like . . . 'Ohhh, OK, I get it,' " she said of some of her customers.

Combating the bias that women know little or nothing about cars has been tough. Even after taking over the business in 1998, Fordin said she still got flak. On one occasion, when a customer called and insisted on speaking with a man, Fordin put the janitor on the phone, whispering to him what he needed to say.

"I'm used to it," she said. "I don't think about it now, I just take care of business."

There are no hard stats on this gender divide. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 723,400 automotive service technicians and mechanics in the United States as of 2010, and unofficial estimates suggest women make up perhaps 1 percent. Of the more than 330,000 automotive technicians certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) -- of which Fordin is one -- about less than half a percent are women.

With odds like that, Fordin said it's no wonder some female customers feel so uncomfortable in the automotive world.

She started her "Women Auto Know" workshops in 2007 to counter that intimidation factor. The message is simple: "You can put in your own wiper blades, light bulbs, fuses," Fordin said. "You'll save money and build self-confidence. When you need a timing belt or brakes, that's when I'm here for you."

Her website -- WomenAutoKnow.com -- is like a Zagat guide for repair shops, where consumers review auto mechanics. Included on the site is "The Pledge," a promise mechanics can make to explain issues clearly, recycle, maintain clean bathrooms and keep racy pictures off the walls.

Setting the wheels in motion

About two years ago Fordin took her crusade to the airwaves, offering car repair tips on "Auto Lab," a Saturday morning call-in radio show on WMCA-AM 570, and segments on Verizon FiOS TV Channel 1.

She had hoped to get insurance companies on board, offering Women Auto Know classes to drivers in exchange for insurance discounts, like the discounts given for defensive driving courses.

She called corporate offices, and went door to door at local agencies. But no company was willing to test her idea, and she began to worry her efforts were just a big waste of time.

"I don't get it, I really don't," she said. "It'll pay off a hundredfold. You offer drivers an education. They're gonna feel better, less intimidated and they'll take better care of their cars, which means insurance companies will pay less in the long run. It's a no-brainer . . . and yet they don't bite."

Things, however, are looking up. In recent months, Fordin has appeared on NBC's "Today" show, MSNBC's "Your Business" and ABC's "The Lookout," where she went undercover with a hidden camera at a Goodyear shop in Commack to document how women can be ripped off by unscrupulous mechanics.

Fordin and ABC reporter Elisabeth Leamy posed as customers and were charged more for a simple $4 fuse repair than a pair of men were charged a few days earlier. They were also pressured to repair other car parts that workers claimed were damaged and hazardous. (Goodyear subsequently issued an apology and fired two employees.)

Today, Fordin spends less time working on cars. Much of her time is taken up running the business -- handling administrative work and strategic planning -- and maintaining her website, which boasts reviews of more than 400 auto repair shops in 43 states. She also works with young drivers, sharing her knowledge with college students from Adelphi University in Garden City, Farmingdale State College, Queens College and elsewhere. She worked with the Long Island Children's Museum to create an automotive exhibit, and she continues to host her women's workshops.

Aware of such efforts, American Express in October added her to its #PassionProject, an online initiative chronicling the good works of entrepreneurs. She was awarded $2,000 and is featured on videos on YouTube and other social media sites.

"I used to think, am I really doing the right thing, am I crazy?" Fordin recalled. "But having this giant come in, believing in what I do, has put a fire in me to keep going, be stronger."

And she can't help but laugh at the name: #PassionProject.

"Sometimes, when I get caught up in worries and bang my head against the wall, I stop and think . . . well, yeah, that's me. I've sure got passion."

THINGS YOU 'AUTO' KNOW

Tires: "The sidewall is the weakest part of the tire," Audra Fordin warns. Cracks can lead to blowouts and losing control of your car. Her tip: Glance before you go.

"As you approach your car in a driveway or parking lot, check your tires," she says. If you see cracks, replace them.

Coolant: It protects engine temperature and is your car's most important fluid, Fordin said. Change your coolant (per your owner's manual) and you won't have to change your engine. "Now that'sexpensive," Fordin says.

Battery terminals: "The way cars are designed now, batteries play hide and seek," says Fordin. Know where yours is, and how to jump-start it. "Why wait and pay for a tow truck when in five minutes you can get yourself out of a bad situation?"