Knowledge is (horse) power

Some women have a tough time telling a carburetor from a car seat. Opportunistic auto mechanics prey on this lack of knowledge. Enter Karen Valenti, fender feminist and champion of the automotively challenged. She holds an auto repair workshop for women every third Sunday of the month at her shop, North Hollywood Discount Auto Service. “Look Who’s Under the Hood!” is a three-hour tutorial in basic maintenance.

“When women take their car into the shop they’re scared because they know nothing,” Valenti says. “I talk about the oil pan being like a turkey roaster and the radiator being like a pressure cooker.” Sure, many women nowadays might have as much trouble relating to culinary lingo as automotive jargon, but Valenti manages to “relate car repair to things that they understand.”

Valenti helps her pupils locate and check “the five fluids” (engine oil, radiator coolant and transmission, power steering and brake fluids). They also learn to check radiator and heater hoses for cracks and leaks.

She also gives them advice on how to shop for a car. “Women are involved in over 80% of all car purchases, yet many feel alienated and clueless when purchasing a vehicle,” she says. A handout outlines the basics, but serious students may also buy a copy of the motor matron’s tome, “The Women’s Fix-It Car Care Book.”

Like many of her students, Valenti started out knowing nothing about cars. She and her third husband, an auto buff, opened the shop in 1986 with Valenti’s inheritance. When the marriage ended and the business continued, she went to night school and immersed herself in the subject. Thanks to one of her clients, she got the idea to start the course, which is advertised through community colleges.

Even some men have asked to attend, and Valenti welcomes this curious minority as well. Of all her students, she says, “They’ve been empowered by the knowledge.”

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-- Shana Ting Lipton