Ladies and gentlemen. How do you avoid……

[Juan Reyes]

getting ripped off from an automotive shop? Looking for advice please.

I’m getting tired of getting ripped off. Some repairs I can do myself. But some bigger jobs I can’t. Not enough tools or the know how. I don’t want to make it worse.

I just met through a friend of mine an honest auto repair shop owner. I told him my dilemma on my 1996 Ford Taurus. About the labor for the radiator. He told me it actually takes 3 1/2 hours. Not the 5 1/2 hours they told you.

It got me thinking. How do you avoid getting ripped off? If your vehicle is drive-able it’s easy to take it from shop to shop. Of course that will take time. But what if your vehicle won’t budge?

It’s even worse when you have to tow your vehicle to a car repair shop. I feel like your at the mercy at what they say. Also when your vehicle is drive-able but you leave it overnight at the shop. You give them a call in the morning and they quote you a hefty price to repair your vehicle.

Please any advice you can give me would be appreciated. Also what do you do to avoid getting ripped off at something you are not able to do yourself?

Topic

[Bill]

As anything else that you need to have repaired you should get several estimates. You will not only have the choice but you will get an idea how professional the businesses are. Ask them what the warranties are as well. Ask what goes along with the repair. Some places will quote you for a radiator and then have hidden charges for coolant and clamps etc.

If you have an AAA or CAA membership they can steer you to a shop they have approved to do your repair and if you do have a problem they will go to bat for you.

Hell, I’m a licenced technician and I have a CAA (Canadian Auto Association) membership. Ya think I would wanna change a tire with a suit on?

[Andrew]

either ripped off or they do something to ur car.

My dad whent to jenson tire, and all the sudden he had a powersteering leak.

Another place he got an oil change, and some1 there cut their serpentin belt,

[Bill]

Yeah.. there are places out there that will do unscrupulous things to your car to promote business but they really are few and far between.

I performed a service on an older car recently that blew a brake line while leaving. It was recommended that his brakes needed attention but he said that I created the leak and that I was trying to rip him off and that I caused the leak. Two things that push the wrong button with me is being called a thief or a lier.

He said he was gonna get his Lawyer involved.
I promptly asked him if I could obtain the Lawyers phone number for him.

I also said I was gonna look up the phone number for the MOT so I could phone them after he talked to his lawyer to have his POS removed from the road for being unsafe as it also needed steering, suspension repairs and new tires.

He decided to have his brakes repaired.

The point is that this does happen sometimes. A rotten steel fluid line that is ready to let go will often fail after being on a lift because the vehicle flexes from being lifted.

[Bluesnut]

I agree with wysetech. Another problem that can surface is shocks or struts going bad after a car is raised on the lift and they go to full extension. Once back on the ground the car now has a ping-pong ball ride and the car owner swears the mechanic did this on purpose.

The same goes for suspension squeaks and rattles. On the lift a sway bar may change its stance in the bushings and once back on the pavement may squeak or groan with every bump.

There are a few crooks out there but they’re a distinct minority.

[Pat Calhoun]

I like to believe in this- Cautiously trust people until they give you a reason not to.

A friend of mine texted me a few days ago saying he needed a new cat-back exhaust and a sway bar on his 98 Accord. I had never been to the shop he was at and the quoted him $2700 for just the exhaust. I told him to leave the shop immediately…He took it to my local mechanic that has done plenty of work for me in the past and got everything done for $700. So- If you’re given a quote that seems unreasonable in a shop that you don’t frequently go to, even if you have to tow the car, get atleast 2 quotes and go with whomever seems more competent and has a good price and once you find a mechanic you like, keep going to him.

I also 2nd Wysetech’s comment- Everyone should have AAA (in the US). If you’re not home and need to get a tow and something fixed they can help you, no matter where you are. I do almost all of my own repairs and haven’t had a car towed in a few years but its good to have.

[Author]

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