The Auto Repair Shop Scam!
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We can share some repair shop scams and save you some headaches. The Auto Industry is not the same anymore. Money is needed left and right. The Mechanic around the corner lives of his job, he has to "fix" your car and no matter what, he will tell you something like, "If you want to change the air filter it will be quick, you save gas mileage and is only $ 9.99.."
If you went to this 'mechanic' that you found out of an emergency and not as a friend referred to you, then be careful. He will try to get the most from you at the same time that he changes your Oil.
LIST OF QUICK TIPS:
Your Oil is due every three months or 3000 miles, which ever comes first:
Yeah right! Is the first scam of the list. Cars are good for another 2000 miles, unless you have a 1978 Ford Pinto. Is like telling you, your flashlight doesn't work anymore, you would know better by saying: Excuse me? The batteries got thrown out yesterday!
Yeah Ma'am! Your Radiator is leaking and needs to be changed!
Is weird that after coming for an Oil change, you kept coming back for something else. What happened? If you see the sign at the Shop it would read like this, "Insurance regulations prohibit the Customer from being next to his/her car being whacked" If you notice, most have coffee and donuts for 'free', while your car is being 'inspected.' What did he do this time? in just 3 nanoseconds he inserted this nice screwdriver on a typical corner of your radiator, so it would leak slowly and, as expected, after 2 days your H as in over hot, will blink its 'Danger Will Robinson'
Your car breaks down on the Highway
Nice of the State trooper to call the Towing truck in turn. You think they care about who you choose? Nope. Your car broke down this time. What could've happened? This cunning Mechanic did this on your last check up; he just happened to have time, while you drank your free coffee, to loosen up your Battery terminals, just to make sure that when you run over this well designed pothole by the Brotherhood Union of Highway Workers, you lose all the power from your car. You don't have any idea what happened, you think the worst. When you get to the Mecanic, again??? He will invent the tale of the day..."Okay ma'am, seems that your water pump just broke, you know is the wear and tear issue, you know?" Mother trucker!! No wonder they always clean their hands with a rag every time they close this extra 400 dollars deal!
THE MODERN HIGHWAY BANDITS
These modern robbers, like their great grandparents, usually prey on travellers close to their shops. The night before they set this beautiful nails on the road, designed to stay just straight up. If you missed the puncture, the next one will get it. Or easier then, "Why don't spread some deer skull under a bridge, we need to pay our shop repair rent!" They will help you out by slashing hoses, break fan belts and if they have time, loosen up a sparkplug. The prices are overinflated, but you need to get back on the road...and they are just saving your life..you know?
THE REPAIR ESTIMATE RIP OFF
If you happen to leave your car for the day. Just be ready, the 233 dollars that they told you it would cost to flush your Transmission fluid and change your brake pads..will be added to any other 'Bull thing' like this gasket or your tires needed to be changed, or maybe you were due a tune up. Of course, you will say, "really? I will have to come again then...Take care Tony!"
THE COUNTERFEIT PARTS
If you go to AutoZone or AA autoparts, you will be offered a choice. High Quality parts or the ones from Taiwan, that might save you those extra 40 dollars needed for your kids.
When you go to a Mechanic, if dishonest, he will order the cheaper parts. You won't see anything, because you are busy drinking that expensive free coffee. Now he will charge you those 80 bucks an hour for labor. he'd make sure you his Certificates and Diplomas right on your face. Most likely you will be back within a month, because these parts are of lower quality and...this mechanic needs to take care of his wife and the other woman, right. You don't want to break his heart, would you?
IF YOU THINK THIS IS A SCAM
- Contact the Better Business Bureau closer to you
- Collect all evidence and repair estimates, the one before the repair and the overinflated
- Do not keep it to yourself: tweet, Face Book and report these Mother Truckers.
- Buy your coffee and your own donuts before making it to them
- If you have time, check with a friend mechanic about the reasons why your car is already acting up.
- Just google the question, right Melbel?
- Buy, if you think is worth it, your own automotive diagnostic computer
This is just a funny one...take your 4 minutes! and listen...
- Driving green means not changing your oil until you need to - Yahoo! Autos
From Yahoo! Autos: More modern motor oils, better control of the combustion process through vastly more powerful electronic circuitry, and the persistence of generations-old auto advice have combined to lengthen oil-change intervals. Yet many of us c
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Lord this is good info! (Head light fluid?) omg! LOL I have learned lots of good tips because I have driven lots of crappy cars...I know how to check my own battery cables for a good connection. Every girl should learn and have her own tools! Right on!
Hi Crystal,
You should learn basic preventive check ups like RHW. A woman is more vulnerable to be deceived by these scammers. A real shame, since most are real moms and don't need to spend this extra cash.
LORD
Hi Kelly!
Godd to know that you are taking these basic steps, especially on winter time. Thanks for your Comment my friend!
LORD
If you want to find a honest mechanic, then find one who agrees to you providing the part. If they adamantly oppose, then their motives and intentions may be questionable. If you want OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) quality parts for a lot cheaper than Autozone, Advance Auto, Pep Boys, OReilly's, etc., go to www.rockauto.com. Expect to save from 75 to 300%. That's right. Even the auto retailer is ripping you off. Rockauto is where I order around 75% of my parts for my customers. I pass on the savings to my customers which is around 40 to 50% off what they've been quoted.
Excellent tip from a real Mechanic and I Recomend, and pass on the site to our followers. Shame that so many are out there to rob our hard earn money.Thanks my friend!
LORD
Great informative hub! Around here in Latvia it's a nightmare to get cars repaired cause everyone has a scam just to make more money. My husband therefore learned everything there is to know about repairing cars but now that at the moment we don't have a car he can take a break.
Gypsy Rose,
I was wondering if this was a worldwide problem and you just gave me your side of the story. Shame on these crooks. Makes sense for them. They make over the 40/hr fee and can have a 'decent living'
Thanks for your comments!
LORD
I don't like these new computerized cars. I understand the "need" for them but they are in no way as simple as the ones I grew up fixing. Until the late seventies there was nothing I couldn't fix. Years of schooling in mechanics made sure of that. I still work on classics occasionally but send my computerized junk to the shop and get raked over the coals. In reality the overall dollar per mile remains the same. The newer vehicles last longer between repairs. I recommend finding a shop by word of mouth then if you get good service use it to check things over before going on any long trips. A respectable mechanic won't want the vehicle to break down until it's close enough for him to fix.
Hi there Wheelinallover,
Your comment is very important for us. Unfortunately this hub has been wrritten from experience and research. Hope you have wonderful day/night
LORD
I do understand that there are many shops who will take advantage of even people who know a lot about vehicles if they trust too much. I personally won't use a shop that won't let me "watch" them do any work to my vehicle. This was learned by experience. Too many things went wrong within days of being in the shop until I took this approach. Many times I have had to sit outside an open door in the snow just to make sure the only thing being done was work which was ordered. I did however find a mechanic that I never had to worry about. He was found by word of mouth, and lived up to the recommendation he was given. Any time I chose I was welcome actually in the shop while my vehicle was worked on, but I found it unnecessary. In the three years I used his shop there were only two break downs which happened too far from the shop to be repaired there. This was for the five vehicles we or the children drove. Neither could have been foreseen even by the best mechanic in the world.
Whether it was being careful or just lucky I don't know for me the truth is it cost no more per mile, per year in parts and mechanic fees to drive a '99 Dodge Grand Caravan van than it cost to drive my '63 Ford Econoline van. I owned them 20 years apart. I put within 500 miles of being equal for each vehicle. For the Econoline the only time I paid a mechanic was for California smog standards and when I needed rear wheel bearings pressed.
I also researched this information before posting.
Good day wheeelinallover,
Seems that you are a good mechanic by yourself and that is good. Your stories add interest to the topic, personally I Believe that more than often, a mechanic is out there to get you somehow. And is not only here in the U.S. is beind done overseas like Gypsy Rose told us a few days ago. Thanks for taking your time my friend.
LORD
Thank you for exposing this tip. I had a mechanic try to scam me last year by telling me I needed new rotors for my breaks when I knew I didn't. He said they were scratched. I said I would like to take a look at them while he had them off. Of course he hadn't even taken them off at this point. I guess he figured blonde mean dumb and uneducated. I did not allow new rotors.. mine didn't even need sanding. Great work!
Yes Tammy,
They are out there..and if you let them, they will tow your car away..just to pay for the extra damage...Sure there are honest mechanics than went bankrupt, sadly for being too honest. Thanks Tammy!
LORD
that video woman sounds too much like me, it was funny though. I went in for a $30 oil change and almost ended up with a new $700 BMW oil pan for a total of $1400, charged to their easy payment plan automotive credit card. when I finally woke up to the logic, that it was my oil plug that broke, not the pan, so logically all I needed was a new plug, I had to tow my car out of the garage to a trusted mechanic who informed me it was a common scam I was suffering. the shop wouldn't let me tow the car until I forked over 266 cash, saying they had begun to dismantle the car and I owed for that as I'd given permission for the job. yet I'd towed the car away before the new pan had arrived..so I did not expect they would dismantle a car 3 days before arrival of a new pan. as it turned out my new mechanic says no dismantling took place and he took pictures underneath. as well the first shop stated on the receipt "removal of pan and gasket applied." the pan was never removed and no new gasket is there, and still the first shop will not admit to anything deceptive, saying I authorized the work of dismantling charges. I paid, but only because they were holding my keys and to add insult to injury the guy wouldn't take my debit card but drove me the atm to get him the cash, then I was able to tow the car away at last. the driver who drove me to the atm divulged the pan had never been removed as the receipt would say. he did not like being a part of this scam. the whole time I thought the pan had been removed to look for a broken piece of the drain plug, so I don't think anything was done to the car and we are going to a court hearing soon then perhaps I can forget this experience and all the grief it has caused me. to tell the truth, I figure I already won by towing the car away before he could put a pan on. I did not need a pan. going to check Rockauto just for fun to see what they charge for one. oh, the mechanic refused to give me my old plug back saying he lost it. that alone is not very clever of him.
Hi Laughing Rain,
What a ride of painful joy! How can these crooks decieve honest customers and don't even care. Seems that they never cared about their morals and upbringing. And this is not only in the Technical area; we can go from Wall St. to our Airline industry. We all are part of this ball game.
CrystalSingleton Level 1 Commenter 4 months ago
This is a good article. Its so true. I am hoping my son becomes a mechanic when he gets older, He loves cars, he can run his own shop and I can trust he wont screw over his mother.