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This is one time I wish I had a video of what happened when taking my daughters 2000 Honda Odyssey in to get her FOREVER ON brake lights repair quoted. If we had videoed this it would have runied the moment as the camera would have been obvious.
Now I had a chance to prove to my daughter a mechanic she had been going to had been ripping her off so she played along with my plan to catch the guy in the act of scamming her.
My daughter went before me and we ask the mechanics to give her a minimum repair cost quote to have the brake lights fixed so they would go off when the peddle was not being pressed and the igniition turned off. Immediately the guy peeked under the dash and said he knew what the problem was and it would be at least $175.00 labor and parts. He also said it could be more depending on the brake pedel assemblies condition. He talked about needing to locate and replace shorted wireing in the van, and potentially replacing the break pedal assembly which would cost even more, upward of $300.00+.
About 15 minutes had past and I met my daughter at the mechanic, the mechanic had not expected me to show up. That was when I had my moment with the auto repair shop we knew had been ripping my daughter off in the past for repairs. What they did not know was I already had purchased the replacement part and had it in my pocket. After being told the repair cost we told the mechanic I wanted to take a quick look at the brakes, that I thought I might know how to solve the problem. I had my daughter press the brake pedal while I popped in a new brake peddle stop pad (the old one had worn out and fallen off). THEN WE SHOWED THE MECHANIC THE REPAIRS WERE COMPLETE. Total cost $6.08 for the part at the Honda dealer and likely less at an auto parts store. I ask the mechanic why he would quote such a high minimum repair cost for something that did not even require a tool to repair?
The look on the mechanics face was amazing, he had just been caught trying to rip my daughter off again like he had done a few times before. Then he started getting mad and abusive because I butted in and accused him of ripping people off (something I never said to him). I suggested getting the Sheriff to help us resolve the problem if it bothered him that much. At that point he settled down but still tried to imply the problem may not be permanently repaired. We left never to return again to his dishonest shop.
What tipped us off on the repair shops dishonesty was they never looked closely at any problem prior to coming up with a high minimum cost quote on repairs. A probelm which seemed more pervasive if a woman brought a vehicle in for repairs than a man, this had also happened to my wife once.
If you have a shop that quotes repair cost minimums without taking the time to closely look at and inspect a problem beware, you may be a victim of an intended repair scam and subsequent rip off. Men, never let your ladies go to a repair shop alone, go with them instead. I do not recommend trying to catch these guys in the act, the wrong bad mechanic may do damage to more than your car.
Now my daughter understands that when someone tells her they will keep the cost at a minimum, not pressuring her too much but coming up with all kinds of safety reasons why the work should be done immediately does not necessarily mean they are honest. She was surprised to see the mechanic get angry at being caught in the act. She said he never acted that way before. Of course he didn’t, he was in full scam mode at that time.
If only I could figure out a way to catch these bad mechanics and get them into the legal system I would. Unfortunately it’s your word against theirs and they are the self proclaimed experts. In fact they are the ones who give the entire industry a bad rap and cause us to be overly cautious of any mechanic we deal with.
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Such a sad story…
I bet that they have few clients, or that guy will be fired soon…
Something similar happened to me with my automatic transmission (was stuck in 3rd gear, the shift lock didn’t work and was doing the only avaliable shift (N to 3rd) very hard. I just bough 3 little fuses and it fixed everything. At one shop, the guys told me that they will dismount the entire transmission for a possible repacement (the cheapest ones cost around 250 bucks and the best ones for my car were about one grand) and I just invested like $3.00 for high quality 10A fuses and fixed it myself.Your story makes my blood boil. The tech should have never given an estimate without a diagnosis first. That said, and I’m not sticking up for the tech but sometimes techs are not 100% certain that they have found the whole problem when coming up with a diagnosis and I understand him explaining the price could be higher than a minimum cost but this is very rare. We sometimes have to cover our butts however.
I really do believe that there more honest people in the trade than there are rip offs. It’s at least no worse than any other trade.
wysetech, I agree with you, I also want to believe there are more honest mechanics than dishonest. The worst part, outside of taking criminal advantage of customers, is the after effect it leaves with customers every time they encounter a repair facility. Until several visits customers have a difficult time trusting anyone in the trade.
None of the folks in the forum would be here if they were not interested in getting things done right. This is a quality the vast majority of scam artist could care less about and I point this out because nothing in my writing is addressing anyone in this forum.
The mechanic I wrote about is one of those in Tampa, Florida (there are MANY here) who don’t value the trade and intentionally rip customers off, including large national auto repair companies. These people and companies value quick cash for little or no work in exchange. I believe we generally call those operators con artist. I and scores of others have found these unreputable operations in nearly every service trade you can name. When ever there is a job which requires knowledge, skills, and labor anyone can find a con artist ready to ply their lies on those who are lacking in any one or more of the three areas pointed out.
This reminds me of when the TV networks produce undercover televised stings of service trade repairmen. The results are more people caught being dishonest than offering and doing honest work when those stings are aired. With this in mind I agree all of us would like to believe the auto rtepair industry is mostly on the up and up but given what we have seen room is certainly left to make those not in the industry wonder if this is really true.
Today was one of those rare days when I could help a daughter learn what to look for and that part went well. She had been falling for a seemingly genuine concern for her safety and vehicle although it was only a well played out act. Fortunately she is not a kid anymore and will listen to dad instead of deciding she knows best all the time. I don’t fault her for her childhood ways, we all went through those years, but now she has a family and needed to learn this lesson about the shop she was unintentionally covering for, given their record of poor and or non-existant work charged for.
As things evolved today I realized I likely knew what the problem was with my daughter van, verified it, and got the part to make the quick repair (15 seconds work at most, no tools required). Prior to that we had discussed her finding a good shop to do the work (she was not near my home) and she suggested going back to this shade tree scam artist housed in a nice shop. A shop I strongly suspected of ripping her and my wife off in the past. That was when I came up with the plan to expose the shop staff in front of my daughter so ask her to go along with my plan. My suspicion was right and we caught the guy dead in the act of attempting a rip off of more than $100.00 with potential to go hundreds of dollars higher.
Like most young ladies my daughter has a bunch of friends who talk constantly with each other. Knowing how they tend to listen to each other when one recommends or complains about someone to do work I would bet this guys business goes down from that aspect alone. Not to mention each of those friends mentioning this to others my daughter is not acquinted with.
My wife also knows about this now and she also talks everyones ears off daily. All in all this may be a much better outcome than I had even hoped for. The word will soon spread about this shop and what happened with us today.
OTHER PERSONAL TIPS THAT MAY HELP AVOID A BAD SITUATION LATER.
There are still things we can do the help insure we came to the right place for repair work. Most of us do not demand the right kind of guarantee for work performed. Instead of accepting a gurantee for work done we should ask for a written GUARANTEE THAT REPAIRS WERE MADE TO CORRECT THE PROBLEM along with any specific parts gurantees they offer.You can search the web and find guarantee text that you can print, fill in, and attach to service documents prior to work starting. Ask the shop owner or manager to sign with title, date, and attach this to your service invoice also. Be sure to provide a copy for the shop as well as yourself. Get a signed copy of the gurantee before work begins along with a signed estimate of preliminary charges and other repair cost.
Note: I am not an attorney, these are my ideas of what should work but bear in mind wording is important. You will need a document to describe what is being repaired and or replaced, the shop where work is done, shop invoice number, date, and length of time your gurantee is effective from the date of work completion along with the person authorizing the gurantee. It is important that the guarantee be recognized as the primary repair work gurantee and that it states it superseedes all other conflicting product warranties and service gurantees. Ask an attorney if your not certain what you want written in your gurantee.
Lastly, many shops do not provide a SIGNED written copy of preliminary estimates for work to be done. This is an important thing that you must have in your posession prior to work begining. The reason is to insure the understanding between you and the repair shop. Many states have laws regulating the amount of charges above the estimated price that a shop can legaly charge for work performed. In Florida I believe this is $100.00 for example, if a shop estimates parts and labor of $200.00 but charges you $400.00 after repairs are complete they have violated state statutes and your rights limiting what they can charge without your ADDITIONAL written consent.
DO NOT BE SHY ABOUT PROTECTING YOURSELF. If a shop complains politely ask why they protect their interest in writing but do not want you to protect yours? It is a fair question and being up front on this will get the best results. If you have difficulty take your vehicle elsewhere, when you find a shop that will allow this you have likely found a shop you know you can trust. Large national or Regional shops will usually decline these agreements because they do not have anyone authorized to make them on site. What I prefer is a financially sound locally owned and operated shop with a stellar reputation and qualified staff or a local new car dealer who depends on his reputation for sales. These shops are around and I have had wonderful experiences with most of them.
Remember a bad apple can go sour in a good barrel, be careful before you condem the entire shop because of one persons greed. Sometime it takes a short time before management catches them, a case where management and the shop are also victims along with their customers.
Hey n9zn-extra You have some very good points there. I’m glad you caught that scammer and it’s too bad that there aren’t more people like you out there that have the savy you have to catch more of them in the act.
Here in Ontario Canada you are entitled to a written estimate and a copy of the warranty. If the repair cost is over 10% of what was quoted without getting authorization you don’t have to pay for the extra cost.
After reading your story and several others I’m almost ashamed to be a Technician sometimes. I might be a lot of things and I do have my faults but dishonesty is not one of them.
I would sooner tell a customer that I don’t know about something than rip them off.THE PROBLEM IS NOT THE MECHANICS! (I hope this did not post twice, when I looked I did not see the first one I sent)
The problem is more likely the imposter mechanics, greedy large national repair shops, along with the states lack of enforcement, and oversight. This is all about bringing in more money than is deserved and many times earned.
wysetech, if you searched out the few post that I have made here you will soon realize this has been an on-going problem for our family in Tampa. We used to live in California, Texas, and Oklahoma but we never had the quantity of repair rip off problems we have seen here in Tampa.
Without knowing for certain, I have come to think this must have something to do with local and state regulations / enforcement in Florida. Seldom do we hear anything on our news about Law Enfiorcement stopping any of these bad operations in our area. The last time I remember was when they did a story on Pep-Boys when the Highway Patrol went in during a Law Enforcement Sting. This was around 15 years ago.
Given the lax enforcement, anyone is pretty much able to do as they wish in our state, the industry they operate within makes little or no differance. On the other hand, in Oklahoma, we heard of service shops across several industries getting caught from time to time and the problem did not seem to be nearly as rampant.
Now to my point, I AM NOT SO CERTAIN THESE CROOKS ARE CERTIFIED MECHANICS. They are likely just criminals who have figured out how to beat getting a real job and get their hands on a lot of cash. Anyone can rent a service bay, get a uniform, ASE patches on the shirts, and a great deal of men in general know how to do quite a bit of basic auto repair work. Those things combined can make a scam artist seem credible when first talking with them.
Florida simply seems to have more than our share of this nonsince going on. Unless I am mistaken I believe they found organized crime involved in the vending machine, limousine, and taxi industries a couple of decades back. Tampa has a history of organized crime going back over a century. The Trafficanti family called Tampa home for decades.
I believe we have a flood of criminal service field imposters. I think we have a flood of imposters, who can do light auto repairs, posing as mechanics in this state. In fact I am certain of that and the problem is not only mechanics, it is any business sophisticated enough for the general population to not be able to tell if they are legitimate or not. There are also a few legitimate businesses who have become greed struck from lack of regulation invloved in this too. These places are nearly paid by individuals, many times in cash only so they can hide the income from IRS.
For those like yourself who believe in an honest days work for a full days wages you should be proud of what you do and your profession. At the same time you should be just as angry as I am with those who rip off consumers and damage your hard earned educationand professional status through association of falsely being in the same field of work.
I will be one to readily tell anyone a genuine mechanic who has gone to school and obtained their certifications is far from the shade tree or criminal type. Even a shade tree mechanic has more integrity than the criminals ripping us off. Well educated and certified mechanics are very intelligent, professional people, who have knowledge and skills the rest of society does not have. It is the very reason why they do such a great job for us and why we have no problem paying them for the value of their knowledge and skills. Without these skilled professionals none of us would drive a dependable auto.
Wysetech, I want to clean this problem up as much for people like yourself as I do for consumers. Everyone is affected by it including the nation being cheated out of millions in tax collections.
As an aside, our state Physicians are suffering the same thing trained mechanics are in Florida. I bet you have heard about all the pain clinics dispensing prescriptions to anyone walking in off the street. This went on for years without the threat of criminal action against them. It was only after surrounding states and states in the north east realized the narcotics problem in their areas had significantly increased because of the problem in Florida. When the problem was seen nation wide Florida began to crack down, arrest, and close those clinics down.
We are also the state where numerous medical supply operations are fraudlently taking billions of dollars out of medicaid and medicare. OUR VERY OWN CURRENTLY SITTING STATE GOVERNOR’S COMPANY WAS FINED THE LARGEST FINE IN U.S. HISTORY AFTER THE COMPANY WAS CONVICTED OF MEDICARE FRAUD AMOUNTING TO BILLIONS OF DOLLARS. He still managed to buy his way into the Governors office, Google it if you think I am exagerating.
With this kind of history in the state of Florida I am certain you can understand why we have such a large problem. Be glad your business is in Canada and be thankful for any regulations Canada has to keep your industry clean. MOST OF ALL BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU DO!
As a girl, I totally agree with you that women are more likely to be ripped off at a shop (and also when buying used cars). I decided to learn how to fix my own car after I got a $1,000 quote from one of those chain brake repair places on my first car (the brakes worked fine for the next 50,000 miles after I changed the brake pads). Many years later, I’ve learned firsthand how disc brakes work from brake pedal to rotors. Is there even such a thing as a $1,000 brake job??
[quote=”Schatzie” post=101589]As a girl, I totally agree with you that women are more likely to be ripped off at a shop (and also when buying used cars).[/quote]
Yeah, it is true that women are often taken advantage of. Good for you for learning how to work on your car.
Back in the days before anyone cared if A/C systems leaked my friend was having A/C problems. I hooked up my gauges and found he needed a recharge. He came back to me all mad because the shop said he needed a compressor. I said, “Did you go over there or was it your wife?” Answer = wife.
[quote=”TheXDS” post=101625]You can take those same $1000 and buy a whole engine pretty much…[/quote]
a used engine for my car costs about 800 that’s in good condition, a new one i think is about $1,500 $2,000 so almost yes… for that price you can buy a new engine maybe for a smaller engine you could get a newer engine for 1,000
its amazing how fast shops will rip people off, it really frustrates me because these are the kinds of things that give mechanics the bad and false reputation as “crooks.”
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