Is Your Car Mechanic Scamming You?
If you are a new car owner, there is a greater chance that your mechanic will take advantage of you because you still don’t have an idea about the car you drive. Chances are they will keep on telling their clients whatever they prefer, even if it’s not part of your car’s problem just to inflate your bill.
It’s an excellent move for car owners to read a car blog like this one for them to be educated about how mechanics do different scams to their customers. It is because no one can save you from this kind of situation, but only yourself, especially if you don’t have a companion who knows well about cars.
Here are the top signs when your mechanic is trying to rip you off.
Changing the Spark Plugs
To experienced drivers, this could be the oldest and most common scam that a mechanic can do. Your spark plugs can only possibly be replaced at least once a year, and that happens if you have old engines, the fuel doesn’t burn efficiently compared to new engines. It causes carbon build-up that destroys your spark plugs. However, due to the continuous innovation of car engineers, this kind of problem rarely happens, especially if your vehicle hasn’t reached more than 100,000 miles.
If you heard these from your mechanic, maybe you should start questioning how that happened, and it’s either there’s another problem with your car or the mechanic is trying to take advantage of you.
Charging Full Price for Used Parts
It’s never a problem to use remanufactured car parts, especially if this part is still in good condition. However, you should ensure that you won’t be paying a mechanic at an almost identical price when it’s new. Some mechanics will charge you for brand new parts only to replace the faulty parts of your vehicle with old ones. What you can do is to make sure to ask them for the price of these remanufactured parts and compare it to new ones on online stores that you can access on your browser.
Also, never forget to get the old parts replaced from your car before you leave their shop. In that way, you can personally check if it’s damaged and ensure that it won’t end up being placed on other cars. Never let a mechanic work on your vehicle if they don’t allow you to get the old parts. Always remember that it is still your property and not theirs.
Unclear Charging and Labor Calculation
This one happens when your mechanic doesn’t do grouping repairs when calculating labor. It means they are charging you additional labor on other parts, even if it’s already part of the major repair. The best example of this is when you need to replace your water pump, which requires removing other parts to get to the water pump. And if some parts are old and damaged, changing them together with the water pump is acceptable. However, it becomes unacceptable when they start charging you labor for other parts that were replaced.
Offering Free Inspection
One of the many ways a mechanic would rip you off is when you came across an auto shop and offered you a free inspection. Never fall for it because it’s just an excuse for them to go over your car and start offering repairs and even tell you that some parts must be replaced already.
The reality is that most of these recommendations aren’t necessary to do. So make sure that before you agree with these unexpected recommendations, try to ask for a 2nd opinion first from another trusted mechanic.
Going to a car shop just because of free inspection is a waste of time, and worst of all, you end up spending your cash on unnecessary repairs.
Air Filter Replacement
Always remember that air filters rarely need to be replaced. Take note that the air filter is a part of your car where most people can do this job easily. However, this is one of the parts that a mechanic enjoys to tell their customers that it needs to be replaced, on which they’ll fill your air filters with leaves. After that, the mechanic will tell their customer that they must replace it already; it’s also ridiculous that they’ll hit you with unreasonable labor.
We promise that replacing an air filter can be learned quickly, so if you think it needs to be replaced already, you can install it by yourself.
Scare Tactics
Worst comes to worst, your mechanic will use this tactic to sound like a sales clerk by pressuring their customer into purchasing their product. Some of the lines that you’ll hear from them are, “Your family would be in great danger if you use that car in that condition.” Some of them will even act like they care for your safety by telling you that it’s against their will to let you out of the shop without doing the repairs. Unfortunately, some customers fall for this scam since they will get alarmed about the possible danger that can happen on the road.
Always remember those common sick lines of mechanics because it’s an outright lie. Never get pressured to spend cash for a mechanic repair recommendation if you are unsure about it or don’t have cash on hand to use for the repair. Always ask for a 2nd opinion, especially if you are a new customer from their auto shop.
Conclusion
It’s never wrong to make sure that your vehicle is in good condition for your family’s safety. However, there are times that because we become too conscious about our car, we easily fall for these kinds of scams. These are just some of the things that you should remember, so the next time you visit an auto shop, you’ll know what to do already.
Remember that we can avoid too many repairs if we know how to take care of and maintain your car. So always be a responsible car owner and driver.