Free Flat Change? Not for You, Sir

When stranded motorists call up the Bituach Yashir insurance company for roadside assistance, towtrucks or repair vehicles, as required, are dispatched. Not a small number of those service calls are for flat tire changes, and when the tire is changed, drivers hand over NIS 80 for the service – if they were men.

Female drivers, on the other hand, get their tires changed for free – and that, according to a lawsuit filed at the Lod District Court, constitutes discrimination. The plaintiff is seeking to get the lawsuit accredited with class-action status, in which the company will be liable for millions in refunds if it loses.

According to the plaintiff, the company told him that the reason for the rule was that “women need more assistance, because changing a tire is harder work for them.” While perhaps laudatory, that attitude did not take into account physical and/or age issues among men that call for assistance, the plaintiffs say. The company has not yet responded to the petition.