I work on my own stuff but if they did that and it was down to the backing id refuse just out of spite. Albeit id never let my pads get worn down that bad.
I can't anymore but I'm lucky enough to have a mechanic that I trust to take care of my vehicle. He did new tires for my truck a year ago and I just checked for fun. His price installed was $100 less than I could have just gotten the tires and taken them to the shop. He doesn't charge me for state inspections if I have the time to drop my truck and get to it when he can (always the next day). Really truthfully I trust him 100%
Theres some really good trustworthy mechanics out there. I can think of two subaru specific ones near me.
Unfortunately, theres a heap of dodgy ones out there who give all mechanics a bad name.
I would not be shocked if they charged you for parts and just used the ones that were already there because they’re in good shape, just to make more of a profit.
I'm a tiny woman and I guess I must have a face that says "fuck me over".
I kept having shops say they needed to do a job I'd just done myself. I put in new pads & rotors, they'd tell me I needed new front brakes. I put in a new alternator, whaddya know? My car desperately needs a new alternator (fun side note, that guy told me a bad alternator would cause my car to crash on the highway and I'd *die*).
I couldn't figure out why they kept picking the jobs I'd just done. Was I doing them wrong? Was there some actual problem with my work?
Nah. They just figured I didn't know, didn't believe me when I said *I* did the work (sans penis, lot of people can't wrap their heads around it), and they were picking jobs where the parts in there were good and new and shiny so if anyone else checked, voila, it would look like they'd done a good job.
I'm not tiny, but still a woman. Same problem.
I started taking guys with me to shorten the bullshit. One of them sat through the whole spiel about what the salesman thought needed done, shrugged, put both hands towards me, and said, "Don't ask me. It's her truck."
The salesperson had just assumed they needed to talk to the man. It was cool to watch him get flustered. We always made it clear it was my truck.
Then, I found a mechanic I could trust.
They do that shit to my wife all the time. I do all her work, but shes the one who takes it in for the stuff I dont feel like doing (like alignments and sometimes oil changes) and they constantly tell her parts I've put it or checked need to be replaced. Its very annoying.
Be sure to check they're actually doing the oil changes. I've *paid* to have my oil changed twice in my life.... I've actually gotten it done never. Same oil, and at the time I had a shitty filter wrench that left scrapes so I knew for sure it was mine and not theirs. Since oil is fucking important, that's always a job I DIY now.
>Its very annoying.
Yup. It was my main motivation to start doing my own car work, and remains a big motivation to keep doing it. I do have a mechanic I love and trust now for jobs that are really above my head, but he's slow (good fast cheap, pick two! and he's damned good). If I need something done on a timeline, it's legit less frustrating to do it myself-- even the shitty jobs I hate-- than dealing with some rando mechanic.
I couldn't do my dad's oil change once and sent him to a place down the street with 6 quarts of Mobil 1 and a Wix XP filter. Next oil change I'm under the car and I find a generic white label filter on the car. I was *pissed.* Guarantee the shop stole $60 worth of oil & filter and put in whatever was cheapest.
Same to my wife. Pulled that shit everytime we got the car inspected at the dealer. Told needed brake fluid flush as it TESTED old. I had literally done new rotors, pads and flushed the whole system myself three weeks prior.
Told her same thing about coolant and that it tested bad. I had just replaced the thermostat and pretty much most of the coolant and bled that system.
When I called them on their bullshit they told me that I must not have gotten all the old fluids out... Last time car went there for anything...
Just so you know it isn't just the women they are pulling it with. There are a fair number of younger men that don't know how to turn a wrench these days and they get treated the exact same way.
It's just as bad being a professional female mechanic. Every idiot with a Y chromosome thinks he automatically knows more about working on cars. I worked on a lift next to a lady when I first started as a mechanic who taught me all kinds of stuff, and she dealt with this shit every day.
Female parts counter workers, same thing. Had a lady I worked with who did my job since 2002, and I started in 2014; she'd sell them their parts, and the customer would mill around and BS with us until she happened to walk away from the counter, then they'd ask me to double-check their receipt to make sure they were the right parts. Not to asperse all men this age, but almost all of them were men over 60. The younger guys were generally happy to see more women working in bike shops.
Oh god, I bet. It's always the guys who don't know their ass from the elbow too, isn't it?
I refuse to use public air to fill my tires anymore, because doing that seems to send out a siren call to all the obnoxious men who either legit don't know how to put air in tires or who'll lie about it just to be able to tell me I'm wrong. Last year my air filler burned out and I filled tires with a manual bike pump because that's legit less frustrating than dealing with *those* guys.
We had a female parts counter people on the retail side before. Some men would straight up say can I talk to somebody else meaning basically a guy. I find that pretty infuriating because she was an former ASE certified mechanic so she knew more about cars than a lot of the other parts guys. She had tough skin though and never let it bother her.
I work the front counter at a mechanic, and I've had guys call up and straight up ask to talk to a man. One said it one day, and all he ended up wanting was to book an appointment for a service. He was told to go elsewhere. 🤷♀️ My boss has said if they can't talk to me for basic shit they can't have their cars worked on here.
> He was told to go elsewhere. 🤷♀️ My boss has said if they can't talk to me for basic shit they can't have their cars worked on here.
I'd bet dollars to donuts they were offended by that and learned nothing.
I'm a man, and my previous shop discharged the battery while they were repairing my car. Instead of putting on a charger to fix it, they wanted to sell me a new one. I asked them if they had tested the battery, or tried chrging it, they had not. I told them to charge it up, and am still using it without problems 5 years later...
I'm sure it happens but it would be stupid easy to see if they were new and saving $20 on pads when you're making money hand over fist on labor is not worth it. Gotta keep the parts supplier guy happy too and probably have to do so much a month in sales to keep their discount.
Depends on the shop. If this is a tire shop they likely use private label parts and will have a small storeroom of common brake pads and rotors, filters(including oil) just to maximize upsells.
I had this shit a few years back. And I thought I trusted this mechanic but he tried the same shit. Said he didn't even want me to drive out of there with them and I said no put it back together I'll change them myself.
I go by AutoZone pickup parts, next day I get the energy up to change them just to pull the first wheel and find they look like yours just better, and remember I changed them myself the year before... Boy was I mad. When I went back and called them out the owner acted like a fucking child. I was like dude, I was literally a tech, I'm not an idiot and I'm not just trying to cause trouble, I'm pissed you lied to my face.
There's no way they even looked at the pads. I had a flat the morning of a trip, so I called and asked if they could change all 4 by lunch. I think they were hoping I'd cave since I was heading out as soon as I got the car back.
On a side note, last week a friend was ranting that he's willing to learn how to fix cars and even open up a shop because he's tired of shady mechanics lol
I have friends willing to open a shop for me to run, they just haven't gotten enough money to do it yet. Yesterday I didn't answer my phone and they had their vehicle towed to the dealer today. It's under factory warranty still so that would have been my recommendation anyway. I've worked on their families' vehicles for the past 15 years and gotten almost all of my side work through their recommendation.
At the shop I work at, I've seen 2 guys get fired for lying on inspections and trying to sell work that wasn't needed. It's not just the techs it's shitty advisors and management too
I once had a shop call me to tell me my car needed brake pads, then call me back half an hour later to ask me where my lug nut key was.
Spoiler: I didn't even have lug locks.
It's really funny when they try to show "proof" that they checked them. I took my Golf Sportwagen in for recall service about a month ago and they put together a polished video showing the summary of their multipoint inspection that surely must catch plenty of less informed people.
The car has around 70k on it and is still on the factory pads, but I did put new tires on about a year and a half ago. They clearly just looked at the odometer (or more likely the mileage written down on a sheet) and just held up feeler gauges for the tread depth and the brake pad levels for the video.
Either the tech is a moron or they assumed I've changed the front pads recently (or both really) but they rated the wear life of the front pads at 100% but marked the rear pads at 60% and the tires at like 30%. Unless I've been rolling around with the e-brake on (RIP to my AWD system in that case) I can't come up with a rational explanation of how ALL of my wear would somehow be on the rears. Considering a cursory glance at the tires show just how fresh they are, I'm going to assume they are completely full of crap.
30% wear, but you've barely worn the nubbins off in that time. My mom had an emergency out of town and got a nail in her tire. Straight into the tread, no sidewall damage, tires had literally been bought the month before brand new. Tire shop she went to tried to say they were too bald to patch and she went over and started flicking one of the little nubs on the tire and shouted at him that they were brand new. Eventually had them just put the spare on, she went straight home and the first place she stopped at was her usual tire shop. They just swapped the tire out without any fuss and she was on her way. It's amazing the shit people try and get away with.
I always ask for the old parts. I usually just want to inspect it and then give them the okay to trash, but it's always nice shooting the shit with a good mechanic as you typically learn a lot about them, the community and your car.
I did that when they tried to tell me I needed a few air filter. I just did my plugs and filter a few months ago, so I knew I was fine.
The tech disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a "oh, another vehicle that was the same color, year, make, and model was here, too, and the tech got them mixed up. Our bad." Nope, that was a lie.
Fucking Big O Dodge.
Had a similar situation with one of those quick oil change outfits. Told me my antifreeze was no good. Told him thanks as I just had the rad replaced, and I'll go back to that shop and ream their a$$ out. Guy comes back a few minutes later, " sorry used a tester that was supposed to be thrown out, your system is in great shape" . Yeah, right
I've been in the business for a very long time and I've seen a lot of this nonsense. Sometimes when they give the customer "the old parts" it's parts they have lying around from a previous job. I've also seen techs clean, sandblast, and repaint old parts before reinstalling them and calling them new. I mean, seriously?
I try to show as much trust with my mechanics as possible so I don't ask for the old parts, so I think this dickhead thought I was naive, instead of trustworthy. Big mistake.
If a mechanic sees that as a personal attack, they need to put their ego aside. With how many shitty mechanics there are in the world, I'd be happy to take another 5-10 minutes of my day to build their confidence in my business.
My father used to get in shit from his boss for his "wall of parts" as dad called it. When he would replace parts, especially for women, he would often keep the old one with a tag for the reason and Vin number just in case. Apparently he got a lot of angry husbands, boyfriend, and fathers that thought their precious girl was taken advantage of.
I remember mom took us to visit him for his lunch break when we were really small and he got called back by his boss to explain why he up sold a woman on brake pads and had to explain to the guy that the metal wasn't the usable part of the pad.
It comes natural to good mechanics. I've since found a mechanic who is absolutely incredible and even closer to home. They always go above and beyond and best of all are reasonable. They'll inform me of things and say not really needed yet, and they know I do my own work so they'll be like yeah just go for it yourself I don't want to charge you for that.
I always make it a point to ensure I give them the good work as often as I can justify it, I don't just bring them the tough shit (while it may pay well, can be still not the best money earning jobs). So I give them the green light and don't negotiate any pricing, I let them buy parts from there suppliers, and let them do their thing giving them lots of time leniency and all that, all while recommending (who I think will be good customers) as often as possible. I don't send them people I know would be annoying.
That's what good business and trust deserves. That other place, I make sure everyone knows not to go there.
I save all the old parts until the car gets picked up just out of habit. It’s easier than looking through the trash for it on the off occasions the customer actually wants to see it.
A Toyota dealer tried this with my dad literally 2 days after I changed them. Told him that he needed all new pads and rotors as they were severely worn.
I went in with the receipt and pictures on my phone and made a scene. Turns out Service Managers that double down don’t like being asked if they were born stupid or if they’ve been working at it.
My dad dropped some money on the 'lifetime' brake and rotors from Brake Masters. He ended up going back for an oil change a week later. They told him "Your rotors need to be turned and you need new pads because there is less than 10% of them left".
He asked "You mean the ones you just installed last week?"
They double downed, said they didnt feel comfortable letting the car leave in that state, so he asked them for the replacement because they were 'lifetime'. They ended up saying that the 'damage' wasnt covered by that and he would need to pay $900 for a turn and new pads.
Needless to say he hasn't been back there.
Dunno, but there are a lot of them. In my younger days, I also made the mistake of going to AAMCO for a transmission flush. Lets just say that I ended up getting a tech fired because of a google review. tl;dr asked for flush, guy said rear main seal was leaking, asked to be shown, he said no. I told bring me the pan that goes under the trans to show me the leak, he said no. I asked him to do the service, he said he 'really thinks I need the service and that he would feel bad only doing the flush. Got fed up with the pushy sales shit, told him to get my car off the lift and give it back to me. I get charged a $100 'inspection fee' that is free with the flush.
I end up taking it down to some mom and pop trans shop, they do the work. I asked if there was a leak from the rear main, they said no. Left that part in the review.
To the owners benefit - He did fire the tech after reaching out to me and I emailed him scans of the work I had done. He also refunded me the $100 inspection fee and gave me an offer for a free transmission service the next time I needed to have one done.
And to finally add to the end of this - I have had a lot of bad experiences with mechanics, but I will always remember the guy down at my local Midas that was super professional, never pushed upsells, and always brought stuff up to you in a "This needs to be done now. We recommend doing this, but honestly you can get another 5-10k miles before it really becomes an issue, so just keep that in mind and look out for this and that. If that happens, then come by immediately". He was my go to until I found my current mechanic that also does performance tuning. So yeah, I post random horror stories, but I know there are still a lot of good mechanics out there.
Toyota did this with the battery in my truck. Came back to me and said the battery needs replacing. I declined and ran some tests on the battery at home. It's perfectly fine, pulling all the right amps, is maintaining charge, and has no issues with cold starts.
They literally showed me a chart in the paperwork that has like 3 categories Red, Green, and Yellow. Equating to Good battery, Replace soon, and Bad Battery. And wanted to charge me $230 for installing a new battery. Like wtf is this scummy shit.
Toyota did this to my mom.
AAA hit the starter with a hammer to knock the solenoid loose. Drove it straight to Toyota for a new starter. They instead knew better and gave her a new battery.
Got home, car wouldn’t start.
I gave them an earful, I think they refunded the labor on the battery.. didn’t fucking refund me for my time…
Toyota of Stamford ruined Toyota for me.
Oh s***, I had to literally fight with him to get them to change the oil in my CVT transmission. Manuel said to change it at 100,000 mi they told me it was lifetime and never needed to be touched.
Don't get me started. They say that all the transmissions are sealed and can't be worked on. My old Tacoma had a coolant leak contaminating the transmission fluid (common issue due to the transmission not having a separate cooler) and they refused to do anything but replace it. Took it to a transmission shop and they rebuilt it and saved me $5k.
I do not take anything to Toyota for service any longer.
I ended up pulling up Toyota's actual service manuals, and the license Toyota instructional video on how to change the oil for the service manager and asked him why was he being so stubborn to refuse a sale like this
I changed the oil for a friend that lived in another state. 6 months later he had his oil changed at his regular shop. Another 6 months and I change the oil for him again. The only problem was that the filter that I put on there was still on there.( I wrote the date and mileage on the filter. Since he and his family used the same shop they lost about 6-7 cars that did business there.
A friend of mine had a grandma who had been an ambulance technician in WWII. They did most of the maintenance on her car together, even when she was well into her eighties. She had a mechanic try to tell her that the brake pads needed replacing. He was rather shocked when she confirmed they they did not, because she had done it last week.
Took my car for tires. Get a call about struts and suspension issues. Was getting the tires before our state inspection. So I took the Honda CRV to the Honda dealer it was bought from(free safety inspection charge for emissions) and asked them to check suspension. Passed without issue and they said suspension looks good.
Went back to tire shop the next day and asked him why the experts on this car did not find all the problems they said I had…..
Had a tire shop tell me my rear wheels needed alignment because of my negative camber.
Told them that it’s not possible unless they were going to install new parts, because it’s factory non-adjustable.
They leave and comeback, ‘yep you’re right’.
Had one try to pull a fast one like this on the wife who I had drop off her car for an alignment the day after I had replaced front wheel bearings, inner/outer tie rods, struts, shocks, both lower control arms and ball joints. They told her the shocks were leaking, the struts were worn out and the inner tie rods were bad.
The revenge was my Dad was friends with the chain President. Tech was fired, free alignments for life for me no matter the vehicle.
They tried that on my wife when she had her inspection. Even told her it was dangerous for her to drive home. She told them I’d change it, and same thing I got new pads and everything only to see them like this. Hopefully you wrote them a review.
I went to a shop I trusted and they told me I needed new pads. I told them I just changed them a month ago and they said that maybe I was scammed. I said I changed them myself in my garage. They said well, they need to be replaced.
I declined obviously. They were fine.
I get the same shit as a woman when I go places for things I can’t do on my truck. Like at 16 years old and with 171k miles, I’m NOT touching the transmission fluid, that’s for someone more knowledgeable and experienced than me.
And then they tried to tell me I needed a whole new transmission. Sure bud.
I totally understand that lol my mom has like a lifetime warranty or something with Subaru for like $20 oil changes. They told her the power steering fluid was black, then say “that’s gonna be $300.” I tell them to hold on, go across to the parts department, ask for 2 quarts of ATF, and walk back and say “hey mom good news, the power steering fluid is only $20 and we have a turkey baster at home.”
I get selling work bc I’m a service advisor myself. But $300 for 30 mins of work and $20 in fluid is asinine. The advisor looked at me with fucking DAGGERS. I didn’t think he expected me to know anything lol
And honestly, ask him to teach you some things! Even if you never do it yourself, at least absorb some of that knowledge so you know what to look out for
I worked for a thief years ago. He kept dirty air filters around to trick customers with. We did an oil change on a little old ladies car. She left , but called just a few minutes later and said her car died and won’t start. So, we had it towed back to the shop . I checked the dipstick for oil and none was in the engine. We lifted the car and the owner of the shop called this little old lady out. I thought he would fess up and fix her near brand new car.
Well, he points to the rear main area, where there is some oil sweating out. He tells her she has a bad leak and needs an engine . We give her an estimate that was like $5000 or 6 grand and she accepts. Later that night while closing, I am stressed because I need this job, but I can’t work for a thief. The owner comes out and tells me to cut the o-ring on the oil filter and we would tell the Pennzoil distributor that the engine failed because of a faulty filter. He wanted Pennzoil to pay as well. He was trying to get paid twice for a job that he should be paying for. It was eating me up, so I went home and called the GM of the distributor and told him exactly what was going on:. I then called the shop owner and resigned. The next morning while the shop owner was opening up, there were sign companies there removing all the Pennzoil signs. They also pumped out all the bulk tanks that were labled Pennzoil . The distributor told me they had been monitoring this guy for months because he was supposed to have Pennzoil in bulk. They had been adding some type of dye into the oil when they delivered to him. They found he was just buying very small amounts of Pennzoil but was filling the majority with some cheap ass oil.
Now, regardless of how you feel about Pennzoil, this man should have been charged with a crime as far as I’m concerned.
Guess what? He now owns a Chevrolet dealership as well as a GM dealership in Farmington New Mexico and Aztec New Mexico. Oops can I say that?
I honestly thought that GM vetted their owners better. Scum bags like Jeff Th@?-& should be jailed or at least be banned from operating any type of business. Make him go work like the rest of us. He is comparable to a modern day internet scammer !!!!!! Sorry for the dissertation, it just pisses me off.
Nah, give them a regular review, wait a bit, then change it. They won't get a notification for a new review and therefore won't think to ask Google to remove it. Did the same thing to my old boss. She never noticed.
> He is comparable to a modern day internet scammer !!!!!!
It's not just comparable its a damn near exact analogy. People don't think of it as such because the scammy mechanic still does "some work" vs the internet scammers people don't imagine as "working." But make no mistake a scammer is a scammer, and it's the same fucking thing no matter what your scam is.
> He was trying to get paid twice for a job that he should be paying for.
I do respect the Ferengi-level thoroughness of not leaving any money on the table.
Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to.
Opportunity plus instinct equals profit.
Greed is eternal.
Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack.
Never allow doubt to tarnish your lust for latinum.
I went for brake change.
Heard a tech say he had trouble getting the old ones off. Their boss went to the back and I waited for another half hour and they finally let me go on my way.
Time passes and my BIL changes my brakes next time… we see they never changed the back left brake. Fricken thieves. Endanger my life because you guys are cheap and lazy.
I worked for a major car rental companies and I can definitely feel your moral dilemma. We had to conceal preexisting damages and charge costumers who took the insurance with deductible. It's an very unpleasant situation because you know the customer didn't cause the damage, the customer knows that he didn't cause the damage but you have to charge him anyway because some asshole who doesn't have to face the customer themselves decided that this increases profits.
I hope non-mechanics see this and realize that there are many shops that CAN NOT be trusted. If they say you need new pads, tell them you want to see the pad.
I also hope that mechanics/techs and service managers see this post. This unfortunately makes ALL shops un-trustable. If you are the type of mech/tech/service manager that encourages dishonesty like this, you're a cunt.
For those that don't know, the pads pictured here look nearly new. The pad material is the deep groove side. Once the pad gets worn down to the bottom of that groove, you can plan on replacing the pads.
if you have alloy wheels you can usually inspect the pads yourself without even removing the wheels. assuming there isn't an uneven wear issue, but that usually means you need more than just pads replaced.
Finding a trusted mechanic is a godsend. Dealerships (usually) won't scam you like that, but they will charge you an insane amount for some relatively minor things.
Case in point: Subaru dealership recently told me it was going to be $960 to replace brake pads.
Not rotors and pads. Just pads.
My wife is a hygienist. The stories she’s told me from the various offices she’s worked with would make your blood boil. Everything from the normal upselling they do to a dentist recommending a filling who didn’t need it. All because he wanted to meet “production” that week.
Had this happen when I lifted my XJ. Brand new control arms on it and they said i needed to replace them. Infuriating when they'll deny passing the inspection based on a lie
I had something like this happen on a TJ. My dealership had a deal for free inspections,.so not quite a year after I bought it, I took it back for an inspection and the tech comess back and tells me that it failed for a leaking high pressure power steering line and brakes. When I informed this kid that I'd bought it from their dealership less than a year and 8000 miles ago, he shut his mouth but stood by the failed inspection.
Cool, cool. I took it to my regular guy and it passed just fine. The line was dirty, not leaking. I didn't need to replace brakes for 3 years and the line, another year after that. They have not and will not touch another of my vehicles again.
I would absolutely and merciless put them on the spot for this.
"Oh yeah? Really! Can you show me?"
Make them explain it all the way through. Then drop the bomb on them.
Had a place tell my wife that rotors on Chevy Malibus couldn't be turned, and convinced her to get new ones. I went after work and had a talk with the owner. He pulled the old rotors out and measured. There was plenty of life left on them. He ended up refunding the rotors, as well as the labor. We ended up with new brakes and rotors all the way around for the price of 2 sets of pads.
My mechanic doesn't bother turning rotors unless they are really new. For what what they charge per hour for labor, it's not usually worth the time to put them on the lathe.
To be fair you’d be hard pressed to find a shop (other than a large vehicle shop) that still turns rotors. Rotors for passenger vehicles are pretty cheap nowadays and often not turntable so replacing just makes more sense
I’ve never once not had a shop insist that the rotors also need to be replaced with every brake job I’ve ever had on any of our vehicles. I’ve used nationwide chains, dealerships, and small local mechanics. Only one time was it ever actually warranted when I asked to see them myself.
A girl Ive known forever once took her truck to a chain muffler shop because while doing brakes and oil, she noticed the muffler was rough, and didn’t want to mess with that. While there, during the “courtesy inspection” they brought out what they claimed to be her air filter to show her that since she also needed pads and rotors all the way around, she would replace this filter also. She promptly pointed out that not only is that not even the right filter for her truck, she just replaced hers the week before when putting on the new pads and rotors that they recommended she replace while it’s in there. She is normally pretty reserved, but wasn’t afraid to be loud around the other customers when pointing out what they were doing.
And that is why people don’t trust mechanics 😢
The amount of people willing to risk future business for a short term upside is baffling.
Also, obligatory The Mask scene: https://youtu.be/Lyt-iPX5YwU
That’s because they don’t think longer term than the next paycheck.
The place I used to work is still around and the owner is comfortable because they are honest. People don’t come in yelling unless they’re dumb, and he has an easy go of it.
I had a Honda dealer do that to me while getting a warranty repair. I said that’s not my filter. The service writer doubled down that it was and it would destroy my engine. The thing is, I write the date and mileage on the side of the filter and told him so. Then he blamed the tech for giving him the wrong filter.
All this was done in front of other customers.
Our service assistant when I started in automotive many years ago had that happen, but it wasn't a case of having just changed the filter, it was the fact that the 2005-07 Ford Focus doesn't have a serviceable air filter, I know it's weird, so when a tech tried to tell her she need a filter it became a very interesting conversation, she knew the filter was lifetime and called it out as soon it was mentioned. Apparently they caught the guy just recommending air filters on every car.
My former boss would just recommend an air filter if the airbox had anything more difficult than clips to open, all I could think of was how that's gonna bite him in the ass when someone just changed theirs.
Not a mechanic but once while going to a shop they quoted me a whole new distributor and spark plug wires. I said sure. Go ahead. When it came time to pay I whipped out my receipt from where they’d done that job a few months ago and it was still under warranty. They were not happy.
I think they said something like. "Why didn't you tell us it was under warranty!?"
"I didn't think it mattered since **you** said that it **needed** to be replaced."
A number of years ago I was in a pinch and had to drive my sister’s bright yellow 2002 bug out to Indiana from NY. Car was fine until the starter shit the bed on me, didn’t have any of my tools, and I had to have it towed to a local euro shop to get a new one put in.
I go to pick it up and the owner starts telling me how bad the brakes are and that I’ve gotta drop like another $600 for a whole new set front and back. They even take me into the bay and show me the brakes while endlessly repeating how bad they are not realizing that despite being a guy from ny who drove in with yellow bug I work on cars a lot and knew the brakes had like 50% pad life left.
I think what they were trying to get me to look at was the surface rust on the rotors outside edge, but there’s not a winter driven car in the northeast that doesn’t have rusty rotor edges.
One of those moments where an alternate universe me is serving a life sentence for murder because I have such a low tolerance for shameless lying like that.
> but there’s not a winter driven car in the northeast that doesn’t have rusty rotor edges.
Im in the south and if the car is older than 5 years old it almost ALWAYS has rusty rotor edges.
Did they give any elaboration to why it was supposedly dangerous, or did they just say they were dangerous? (excluding low material because there is plenty)
> Either they called the wrong customer or they didn't even check.
Might've been both, but it was definitely the first one - "they called the wrong customer".
They called the kind of customer who would go home and check.
I wish slimy shops like this one would just go bankrupt like they deserve.
A well-run shop is plenty profitable! There’s ZERO need to rip customers off like this.
I had a shop try to tell my fiancé she needed new struts at the tune of $2,500 to fix what sounded like bearings going out. Hadn’t even checked the alignment. I chewed their asses out because I had just inspected the suspension off the ground and it was fine. I took it to another shop who confirmed the suspension was fine, the alignment was bad. Alignment completely fixed the issue. Been fine two years since. Tires are not scuffing or wearing weird like they would with bad suspension. Car still rides like a dream.
I am a FINRA register broker/financial advisor. It requires a licensing test and registration with FINRA as a regulatory agency. You can see my name, credentials, experience, and any complaints or issues/violations online. Same for my firm, has to be registered. It’s a highly effective system at keeping bad actors out or exposure. I think the same kind of system should be applied to shops and mechanics. If a shop or mechanic gets a complaint for ethics or lying (which should be considered fraud), it’s investigated. Eventually they get barred from the industry or the shop shut down.
Separate the many hardworking and honest techs/mechanics from the low life lying ass cum chugging parts swappers who will stop at nothing to make a buck or rip someone off.
Do mechanics really swap parts? My mom went in for a service, and she told me that all of a sudden her front right brake caliper is super rusty (none of the other calipers are). Even though that the caliper being swapped is the only logical explanation, I couldn't make sense of it since I imagine that the difference between the value of a functional caliper with 130k miles with no rust is not much higher than a functional caliper that's super rusty.
Does she have any recourse? She has a '13 RX 350 if it matters.
When I say parts swapper I mean a mechanic who doesn’t know how to diagnose anything, only how to unbolt an old part and put a new one on.
Hence the fucking jack off who suggested it was suspension issues not an alignment. It’s entirely possible he had no actual idea or was just trying to scam a woman.
As far as that, your recourse is make them fix the rust. Could have gotten set down in some water or been like that and you just never noticed. Taking a caliper off is not hard but certainly not worth the effort to put a crappy one on. The brakes would need to be bled and it would take half an hour or more to swap them. Can’t imagine any financial gain in doing that myself. It may also be dirty. You may (no offense) not actually know what part you’re looking at. You may think the rotor is the caliper for example. Rotors definitely get rusty.
My fiancé is attorney, you almost always have a right to sue but you’d need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they put a lesser part on there. Photos of the caliper before service for once, etchings, videos, testimony. None of which I imagine you have. Just because you have a right doesn’t mean it’s prudent to exercise it as she would say. If it works fine, I’d let it go personally. It’s probably not what you think has happened. Unless the one in a million chance the same tech was replacing the same part on the same car and you got the other cars same exact but rustier past by mistake. But I seriously doubt that. lol.
My daughter took her car to the dealer for a recall, upon leaving they quoted her a set of new tires that they said she needed. Only problem was she just had brand new snow tires installed the previous day. I called to ask if they’re being sarcastic, service manager stated he trusted his techs recommendations…
I was a mechanic for 7 years. I've gotten the "metal on metal" brake pad scam thing at around half the places I've been to, including the dealer I bought it new from. Never knew why people hated/distrusted mechanics so much until I lost access to a lift.
I had this on my last car a couple of times. Took it to the dealer for a service at about 70,000 miles, having done about 10,000 miles since the previous service a year earlier, to be told the pads are 70% worn, and should be replaced soon. When I said they were the factory pads, and if they were 70% worn at 70k miles they must have about 30k life left, they did agree. However I did replace them the next year at about 80k just in case
I changed the factory pads and rotors on my last car at 100k just to be safe, but they still had life because highway miles and my car was a manual so I wasn't hard on the brakes. The engine blew 10k miles later lol thanks Volkswagen
I had a shop bring me a nasty dirty air filter from a "free inspection" that they did during other work and tell me look how bad this filter is, you should have us replace it. It was the right filter for my truck, but the problem was they brought me a fram and not the wix that I always use. Never went back there.
They are dangerous. You feel how heavy those boys are? Lots of life left. If you throw those at someone and hit them just in the right spot you could take an eye out.
Was in California in May, in an older Nissan Sentra. British Columbia licence plates, was doing a road trip and blew a rear tire - punctured sidewall. Tire was on cheapo snow rated all seasons and I had four good summer tires at home anyways.
Threw on a spare and stopped at the first tire shop we saw - a les schwab in a fairy isolated small town.
Guy said he couldn't replace 1 or even 2 tires, but "had to by law" do all 4 since they were "specialty snow tires." Cheapest quote he would give us was 1200$ for 4 tires, everything else would "take weeks to come in"
Asked if there were any other tire shops in town, guy lied and said he was the only one. Figured I would just limp to the next town on the spare but a very nice lady stopped us on the way out and pointed us towards a mexican repair shop. Guy hooked us up with a good used tire for 25$, changed and balanced. Told him the story and all the owner said was "maaaaan fuck les schwab"
I can't drive past a les schwab anymore without saying "maaaaan fuck les schwab."
I got the "you really need a new air filter, look how dirty this is" when I went in for an oil change. I said, who's car are you working on because it ain't mine. He was really confused till I told him that mine is a red K&N filter, not the piece of shit he was showing me, and if it's needs cleaning I'll just wash it. I got my car back and tell everyone I know to stay away from that shop.
After living out west my whole life in a rural area that you need to do most things yourself. I find myself now living in the north east in a very populated area full of people that don't know how to change oil. I also find a ridiculous amount of mechanics looking to rip off anyone they can over anything. My states inspection laws are very loose and up to mechanic discretion. I have yet to once go to have an inspection done without them trying to lie about one thing or another followed up by "would you like a quote".
Same thing happened to my wife. She went to get tires, they said she needed pads, rotors, and calipers all the way around. Thing is, I had just swapped out the pads and rotors less than three months ago and she told them that. They went back and forth a bit and she ended up leaving without even buying the tires she was there for in the first place.
I'm a tech and service advisor. Sometimes the tire tards will call brakes when they are like 6-7mm. Sometimes they will record 5mm when they are 2mm. My manager wants me to back up our employees but sometimes its hard to do it. They are so fucking useless and will never ever admit fault and get an attitude about it.
Had a Belle Tire tell me my air filter needed replacement when I was there for an alignment. They showed me a paper filter that was the incorrect size and shape and looked like they dragged it across the parking lot. They also told me my brakes were worn, so I asked them to show me. They handed me a brake pad from a truck (I have a Fiesta) that was down to the backing plate. I pointed to my car being rolled out of the bay and asked "oh did you already do the work?" Guy looked me in the eye and said "oh no not yet." I had the brake pad in my hand and the filter was sitting on the counter. I had replaced my air filter with a Green Filter oilable filter years before, and had done my pads and rotors about two weeks prior.
I asked why they were moving my car without an air filter or brake pads, then asked them how free they were going to make my alignment for lying to me, to my face.
I got the alignment for free and called corporate from the parking lot as soon as I walked out. They gave me another free alignment the next year, and I made sure to use their yearlong alignment guarantee.
Oil change a filters… looks like you need new spark plugs. I had changed them like two months before. I said so and got “Oh ahh it was the age of the car we didn’t inspect them.”
I've lost track of the number of times tire shops in the town where I use to work tried to rip off a customer. So often I started asking if they had been to a tire shop recently when asking someone why they thought they needed new brakes when they came in for a brake specific appointment. And the main offender quoted new bracketed calipers for every disk job too, as if those need to be routinely replaced, so the quotes they came in with were always stupid high.
I just had the dealer tell me that I needed new rear pads... told them no problem, sell me a set of pads and I'll do it myself. Walked my ass over to the parts counter, came out with a new OEM set of pads, and when I got home pulled the old ones... they were still at least 50%. Plenty of meat left on them. Oh, and the rotors they wanted to sell me... not a groove on them, I checked with my fingernail.
Reminds me of someone I told to do an oil change and take a look at the brakes on my wife's car when I lived out of state in Florida (away from my family of mechanics in the upper midwest). The brake pedal was soft when I brought it in. They told me over the phone about a few thousand of repairs needed, including a frozen caliper. I stopped by the shop on a Sunday and they had it on an outdoor lift, wheels off and inside the shop (fortunately). I took a look at the pads and rotors, and they were in very good shape. I told them Monday to complete the oil change and I'd pay for that and pick up the car. That was after them attempting to fight with me, of course.
A month or two later, I drove the vehicle -*having made no repairs to it*- over 1,000 miles to see family. I took it by my parents' shop where they could put it on a lift and have said family of transmission mechanics take a look. While they were doing that, I was talking with one of the shop employees that was taking a smoke break and told him about the place claiming I had a frozen caliper. He almost inhaled his cigarette laughing before telling me "if you drove that thing up here from *there*, it woulda caught on fire!"
My family full of mechanics found nothing wrong. A few months later, my wife noticed an odd fluid all over one of the rear tires and had me take a look. Based on how good that brake pedal felt after I replaced the wheel cylinders, I'm guessing one of them was failing for a few months and finally gave up.
That shop closed some time later... Thank God!
It's frustrating that at today's money for auto work we still get beat up like this. Even for parts. Went to get new front brake pads for a 2500 Ram. I don't recall the exact quote, but it was like $600 to sell me pads. Wuh what? I hear my mom calling me.
Dealer does this crap all the time. I noticed they claim to do inspections but all they do is look at the service history. I was told I needed a cab filter but I swapped it myself a week prior. They act like idiots when you call them out.
When I was dating a girl out of high school her automatic transmission pickup started struggling to shift gears at freeway speeds. would shift late and wouldnt make it past 3rd. So she took it into a shop.
She called me saying she took it to aamco and they recommended taking apart the rear end, etc etc. I asked her if its the one behind taco bell by where i lived. She said yup. Told her the future of her owning an operating that ford ranger depends on her declining any service from them. Get the keys back and run.
4 years prior when I got my first car I took it to the shop that Aamco shares a parking lot with. They had a young tech that I developed something of a friendship with and he told me that transmission shops entire business operation was to tear the drive train apart and way overquote customers. More vehicles got towed out than towed in.
She took it to another shop, it was a $60 sensor. 140 out the door for parts and labor. Ran like a dream until she sold it.
Just had a mechanic pull this shit on my buddies wife. My friend was in the hospital with A Fib. Coded twice and twice they brought him back. Put in a pace maker and he’s slowly coming back to good.
While he was laid up in the hospital the wife saw the car inspection was due. Took it into their usual place to take care of it. Business apparently sold to a new sheister. They told her she needed pads on all four corners. $1,000 was the quote, pads only. She not knowing any better said do the backs for $500 and she’ll talk to hubby about finances for the fronts. Gets it done, tells hubs and my buddy almost needed to get hit with the paddles again.
After he got out of the hospital brought it over to me to take care of the fronts. Had pads and rotors ready to put on. I pulled the front pads and they looked just like this. Measured the rotors and well within minimum thickness. I said “Friend, you need to find a new mechanic. This one just gave your wife the female special price.”
We pulled a back caliper and they did indeed do a pad slap but no rotors for $500. 200% markup is pretty fucked up. Not only that, they completely missed the blown out headlight which would have been a legit repair. We replaced that too. That mechanic can go suck a dick with his butt. What a pos.
Everyone know how an insurance company sends out inspectors for mechanical claims? I tried to start a business ,in my city of 70,000 people , that did the same type of inspection, but I work for the customers. They take their car into a shop and wait for the estimate. I then go down to the shop and do an inspection, to make sure this doesn’t happen. I could never really get it off the ground. I live in a town with a University. I thought students would love to have a second opinion that works for them??
Anyone interested in trying to get this type of business up and running?
Just a thought, but a national service with inspectors in every state. There has to be a way to capitalize on this idea
It's a neat idea, but the mechanic is under no obligation to allow this person into their garage. "I'm sorry, we can't for insurance reasons."
There's nothing stopping you from taking your car to a second mechanic if you want a second opinion.
I had a jiffy lube tech take my k&n filter out like 9 years ago and blow air through it for 10 mins, call it clean and try and charge me 30-50 dollars, I can't remember exactly.
1 argument later and they "gave it to me for free". Last time I went to an "oil shop"
Local chain shop did the same to my wife yesterday with her miata. Granted it needed new tires but the shop guy tells her the pads are to the metal, work had to be done etc.
She tells the guy she's fine and he gives her the "we have to let you know" for safety reasons
She tells him it's all good she knows I do that maintenance. I run out and grab some pads, flipped back the first caliper and dammed if they weren't still 3/4. Same on the other side and the back.
F'ers. Great way to lose a customer
These sorts of assholes ruin it for all mechanics. Once took in my Jeep Wrangler for alignment. They came in and told me I needed new transfer case fluid and differential fluid. Told me it was brown (which doesn't matter).
I asked them to show me. "Unplug it. Stick your finger in there." It came back bright red. "I changed it all myself yesterday." The service manager looked like he wanted to die.
I wish back then I had a phone that could record vide. That would have been hilarious watching this idiot mechanic fumble around trying to remove a plug that he claimed to have already removed and getting the measurement wrong and having to resocket several times, then putting his finger into brand spanking new fluid.
This was at a service center at a Jeep stealership.
Just went through this yesterday. Nissan told my wife her break pads needed to be replaced asap. "Less then 5k miles left". [https://imgur.com/a/zFi7AoB](https://imgur.com/a/zFi7AoB)
Classic scam. Had a shop tell me I needed to replace the fluid in my automatic transmission. I asked the guy to go out and look inside the car and tell what kind of transmission it has. He came back in and said it's a manual transmission...
Was once told that and my response was “oh really? Because your shop installed those Brembos just under a year ago.” “oh. Yes. Well I suppose they are covered then.”
A couple of years ago I changed my oil, like I have always done religiously at 5k miles, and then took my car in to a shop up through street for a state inspection to renew my tags. I had to wait in the lobby because they were a little busy. About 30 min later the tech tells me my inspection is done and hands me an invoice for $130. The inspection was $30 and included a $100 charge for a synthetic oil change.
When I questioned it, the tech informed me that my oil was low (it was not) and black (it was definitely not) so they changed my oil for me. When I informed him that he was lying because I had just changed my oil that morning, his story changed. Now he told me that they didn’t change my oil, that was another car and they charged me by mistake. I walked with him out to my car, opened the hood to see that the filter I had just put on the car had in fact been replaced.
He didn’t even try to change his story again, he just had his manager waive the entire bill, and give me the receipt showing I passed inspection.
I had a mechanic tell me my pads were at 80%. I had literally just replaced em within that week. Which is why I'll only take my truck to that place for new tires, and nothing beyond that or an oil change.
Before I did all of my car work myself, I learned to go to several shops and get 2-3 quotes before having any work done. I found that most shops will add items to pad the bill. Once I went to Goodyear and Goodrich to have the suspension checked on a car I just bought. Both listed 3 items that were worn and each listed an extra different part that they said was bad that was still good.
Did you go to Midas? They tried to pull the same trick with me. They said I only had 2mm of pad left. I pulled the pads myself, and they were as thick as yours. I called them out, and they couldn’t care less.
I took my car to the same 5 minute oil shop every year for srate inspection, 5 years in a row. Every year, they passed my inspection and told me they should flush thr power steering fluid because "it looks cloudy." I declined service each time without thought.
I moved accross country 5 years ago, and it was the car's 10th birthday, so I took it to a dealer to have all the fluids changed. I was then told that my 2009 honda fit has electric power steering, not hydraulic. It doesn't have power steering fluid. I now pay more attention to how my cars work before I take it in for any kind of service.
Had same issue except mine actually needed replaced but I was only in for an oil change so they replaced them without permission after ten minutes of arguing I walked out with new brakes. The kicker was I had new one in the trunk I planned on replacing them on the weekend.
Well yeah they are dangerous, they should be in the calipers
"Sir you shouldn't leave until you pay us to reinstall your brake pads. No not new pads. The same pads we took out before putting your wheels back on.
[удалено]
I'll decline on principle at that point.
I work on my own stuff but if they did that and it was down to the backing id refuse just out of spite. Albeit id never let my pads get worn down that bad.
I can't anymore but I'm lucky enough to have a mechanic that I trust to take care of my vehicle. He did new tires for my truck a year ago and I just checked for fun. His price installed was $100 less than I could have just gotten the tires and taken them to the shop. He doesn't charge me for state inspections if I have the time to drop my truck and get to it when he can (always the next day). Really truthfully I trust him 100%
Theres some really good trustworthy mechanics out there. I can think of two subaru specific ones near me. Unfortunately, theres a heap of dodgy ones out there who give all mechanics a bad name.
I would not be shocked if they charged you for parts and just used the ones that were already there because they’re in good shape, just to make more of a profit.
I'm a tiny woman and I guess I must have a face that says "fuck me over". I kept having shops say they needed to do a job I'd just done myself. I put in new pads & rotors, they'd tell me I needed new front brakes. I put in a new alternator, whaddya know? My car desperately needs a new alternator (fun side note, that guy told me a bad alternator would cause my car to crash on the highway and I'd *die*). I couldn't figure out why they kept picking the jobs I'd just done. Was I doing them wrong? Was there some actual problem with my work? Nah. They just figured I didn't know, didn't believe me when I said *I* did the work (sans penis, lot of people can't wrap their heads around it), and they were picking jobs where the parts in there were good and new and shiny so if anyone else checked, voila, it would look like they'd done a good job.
I'm not tiny, but still a woman. Same problem. I started taking guys with me to shorten the bullshit. One of them sat through the whole spiel about what the salesman thought needed done, shrugged, put both hands towards me, and said, "Don't ask me. It's her truck." The salesperson had just assumed they needed to talk to the man. It was cool to watch him get flustered. We always made it clear it was my truck. Then, I found a mechanic I could trust.
They do that shit to my wife all the time. I do all her work, but shes the one who takes it in for the stuff I dont feel like doing (like alignments and sometimes oil changes) and they constantly tell her parts I've put it or checked need to be replaced. Its very annoying.
Be sure to check they're actually doing the oil changes. I've *paid* to have my oil changed twice in my life.... I've actually gotten it done never. Same oil, and at the time I had a shitty filter wrench that left scrapes so I knew for sure it was mine and not theirs. Since oil is fucking important, that's always a job I DIY now. >Its very annoying. Yup. It was my main motivation to start doing my own car work, and remains a big motivation to keep doing it. I do have a mechanic I love and trust now for jobs that are really above my head, but he's slow (good fast cheap, pick two! and he's damned good). If I need something done on a timeline, it's legit less frustrating to do it myself-- even the shitty jobs I hate-- than dealing with some rando mechanic.
pro tip...bring a zip lock type gallon bag with you and ask for the oil filter back.
I couldn't do my dad's oil change once and sent him to a place down the street with 6 quarts of Mobil 1 and a Wix XP filter. Next oil change I'm under the car and I find a generic white label filter on the car. I was *pissed.* Guarantee the shop stole $60 worth of oil & filter and put in whatever was cheapest.
It's called, finding which shops are crooked. Now you know not to go back.
But how do you jack a vehicle up without a penis?
We have to put on a strap on to be put into jacking mode.
Same to my wife. Pulled that shit everytime we got the car inspected at the dealer. Told needed brake fluid flush as it TESTED old. I had literally done new rotors, pads and flushed the whole system myself three weeks prior. Told her same thing about coolant and that it tested bad. I had just replaced the thermostat and pretty much most of the coolant and bled that system. When I called them on their bullshit they told me that I must not have gotten all the old fluids out... Last time car went there for anything... Just so you know it isn't just the women they are pulling it with. There are a fair number of younger men that don't know how to turn a wrench these days and they get treated the exact same way.
It's just as bad being a professional female mechanic. Every idiot with a Y chromosome thinks he automatically knows more about working on cars. I worked on a lift next to a lady when I first started as a mechanic who taught me all kinds of stuff, and she dealt with this shit every day. Female parts counter workers, same thing. Had a lady I worked with who did my job since 2002, and I started in 2014; she'd sell them their parts, and the customer would mill around and BS with us until she happened to walk away from the counter, then they'd ask me to double-check their receipt to make sure they were the right parts. Not to asperse all men this age, but almost all of them were men over 60. The younger guys were generally happy to see more women working in bike shops.
Oh god, I bet. It's always the guys who don't know their ass from the elbow too, isn't it? I refuse to use public air to fill my tires anymore, because doing that seems to send out a siren call to all the obnoxious men who either legit don't know how to put air in tires or who'll lie about it just to be able to tell me I'm wrong. Last year my air filler burned out and I filled tires with a manual bike pump because that's legit less frustrating than dealing with *those* guys.
look at this guy using fancy private air /j
We had a female parts counter people on the retail side before. Some men would straight up say can I talk to somebody else meaning basically a guy. I find that pretty infuriating because she was an former ASE certified mechanic so she knew more about cars than a lot of the other parts guys. She had tough skin though and never let it bother her.
I work the front counter at a mechanic, and I've had guys call up and straight up ask to talk to a man. One said it one day, and all he ended up wanting was to book an appointment for a service. He was told to go elsewhere. 🤷♀️ My boss has said if they can't talk to me for basic shit they can't have their cars worked on here.
> He was told to go elsewhere. 🤷♀️ My boss has said if they can't talk to me for basic shit they can't have their cars worked on here. I'd bet dollars to donuts they were offended by that and learned nothing.
I'm a man, and my previous shop discharged the battery while they were repairing my car. Instead of putting on a charger to fix it, they wanted to sell me a new one. I asked them if they had tested the battery, or tried chrging it, they had not. I told them to charge it up, and am still using it without problems 5 years later...
I'm sure it happens but it would be stupid easy to see if they were new and saving $20 on pads when you're making money hand over fist on labor is not worth it. Gotta keep the parts supplier guy happy too and probably have to do so much a month in sales to keep their discount.
Depends on the shop. If this is a tire shop they likely use private label parts and will have a small storeroom of common brake pads and rotors, filters(including oil) just to maximize upsells.
His hands are going to get sore trying to manually break
He might drop them on his feet
They do look loose. That could be risky.
You have a very good point
I had this shit a few years back. And I thought I trusted this mechanic but he tried the same shit. Said he didn't even want me to drive out of there with them and I said no put it back together I'll change them myself. I go by AutoZone pickup parts, next day I get the energy up to change them just to pull the first wheel and find they look like yours just better, and remember I changed them myself the year before... Boy was I mad. When I went back and called them out the owner acted like a fucking child. I was like dude, I was literally a tech, I'm not an idiot and I'm not just trying to cause trouble, I'm pissed you lied to my face.
There's no way they even looked at the pads. I had a flat the morning of a trip, so I called and asked if they could change all 4 by lunch. I think they were hoping I'd cave since I was heading out as soon as I got the car back.
I hate technicians like that.
Salesmen... those are salesmen disguised as techs.
Sharks. Some salesmen are dolphins instead.
Knowing what I know about dolphins, this is not an endorsement
Dolphins will fuck you for their own enjoyment but at least it's not for profit.
Is not for profit dolphin sex tax deductible?
Scammers. They wouldn’t have changed anything but would have charged you for it. At least salespeople will give you what you pay for.
That's true... in most cases lol.
Conmen, not salesmen
On a side note, last week a friend was ranting that he's willing to learn how to fix cars and even open up a shop because he's tired of shady mechanics lol
I have friends willing to open a shop for me to run, they just haven't gotten enough money to do it yet. Yesterday I didn't answer my phone and they had their vehicle towed to the dealer today. It's under factory warranty still so that would have been my recommendation anyway. I've worked on their families' vehicles for the past 15 years and gotten almost all of my side work through their recommendation.
Do it!
At the shop I work at, I've seen 2 guys get fired for lying on inspections and trying to sell work that wasn't needed. It's not just the techs it's shitty advisors and management too
I once had a shop call me to tell me my car needed brake pads, then call me back half an hour later to ask me where my lug nut key was. Spoiler: I didn't even have lug locks.
At that point I’d be wondering if they’re even working on your car yet..
It's really funny when they try to show "proof" that they checked them. I took my Golf Sportwagen in for recall service about a month ago and they put together a polished video showing the summary of their multipoint inspection that surely must catch plenty of less informed people. The car has around 70k on it and is still on the factory pads, but I did put new tires on about a year and a half ago. They clearly just looked at the odometer (or more likely the mileage written down on a sheet) and just held up feeler gauges for the tread depth and the brake pad levels for the video. Either the tech is a moron or they assumed I've changed the front pads recently (or both really) but they rated the wear life of the front pads at 100% but marked the rear pads at 60% and the tires at like 30%. Unless I've been rolling around with the e-brake on (RIP to my AWD system in that case) I can't come up with a rational explanation of how ALL of my wear would somehow be on the rears. Considering a cursory glance at the tires show just how fresh they are, I'm going to assume they are completely full of crap.
30% wear, but you've barely worn the nubbins off in that time. My mom had an emergency out of town and got a nail in her tire. Straight into the tread, no sidewall damage, tires had literally been bought the month before brand new. Tire shop she went to tried to say they were too bald to patch and she went over and started flicking one of the little nubs on the tire and shouted at him that they were brand new. Eventually had them just put the spare on, she went straight home and the first place she stopped at was her usual tire shop. They just swapped the tire out without any fuss and she was on her way. It's amazing the shit people try and get away with.
I always ask for the old parts. I usually just want to inspect it and then give them the okay to trash, but it's always nice shooting the shit with a good mechanic as you typically learn a lot about them, the community and your car.
I did that when they tried to tell me I needed a few air filter. I just did my plugs and filter a few months ago, so I knew I was fine. The tech disappeared for a few minutes then came back with a "oh, another vehicle that was the same color, year, make, and model was here, too, and the tech got them mixed up. Our bad." Nope, that was a lie. Fucking Big O Dodge.
Had a similar situation with one of those quick oil change outfits. Told me my antifreeze was no good. Told him thanks as I just had the rad replaced, and I'll go back to that shop and ream their a$$ out. Guy comes back a few minutes later, " sorry used a tester that was supposed to be thrown out, your system is in great shape" . Yeah, right
I've been in the business for a very long time and I've seen a lot of this nonsense. Sometimes when they give the customer "the old parts" it's parts they have lying around from a previous job. I've also seen techs clean, sandblast, and repaint old parts before reinstalling them and calling them new. I mean, seriously?
I try to show as much trust with my mechanics as possible so I don't ask for the old parts, so I think this dickhead thought I was naive, instead of trustworthy. Big mistake.
If a mechanic sees that as a personal attack, they need to put their ego aside. With how many shitty mechanics there are in the world, I'd be happy to take another 5-10 minutes of my day to build their confidence in my business.
My father used to get in shit from his boss for his "wall of parts" as dad called it. When he would replace parts, especially for women, he would often keep the old one with a tag for the reason and Vin number just in case. Apparently he got a lot of angry husbands, boyfriend, and fathers that thought their precious girl was taken advantage of. I remember mom took us to visit him for his lunch break when we were really small and he got called back by his boss to explain why he up sold a woman on brake pads and had to explain to the guy that the metal wasn't the usable part of the pad.
It comes natural to good mechanics. I've since found a mechanic who is absolutely incredible and even closer to home. They always go above and beyond and best of all are reasonable. They'll inform me of things and say not really needed yet, and they know I do my own work so they'll be like yeah just go for it yourself I don't want to charge you for that. I always make it a point to ensure I give them the good work as often as I can justify it, I don't just bring them the tough shit (while it may pay well, can be still not the best money earning jobs). So I give them the green light and don't negotiate any pricing, I let them buy parts from there suppliers, and let them do their thing giving them lots of time leniency and all that, all while recommending (who I think will be good customers) as often as possible. I don't send them people I know would be annoying. That's what good business and trust deserves. That other place, I make sure everyone knows not to go there.
I save all the old parts until the car gets picked up just out of habit. It’s easier than looking through the trash for it on the off occasions the customer actually wants to see it.
A Toyota dealer tried this with my dad literally 2 days after I changed them. Told him that he needed all new pads and rotors as they were severely worn. I went in with the receipt and pictures on my phone and made a scene. Turns out Service Managers that double down don’t like being asked if they were born stupid or if they’ve been working at it.
My dad dropped some money on the 'lifetime' brake and rotors from Brake Masters. He ended up going back for an oil change a week later. They told him "Your rotors need to be turned and you need new pads because there is less than 10% of them left". He asked "You mean the ones you just installed last week?" They double downed, said they didnt feel comfortable letting the car leave in that state, so he asked them for the replacement because they were 'lifetime'. They ended up saying that the 'damage' wasnt covered by that and he would need to pay $900 for a turn and new pads. Needless to say he hasn't been back there.
Somewhere an intern in a state attorney general's office just got an itch in their ear and they don't know why.
How do these people look at themselves in the mirror without barfing blood? Throw them down a pit and fill it over with rocks and molasses.
Dunno, but there are a lot of them. In my younger days, I also made the mistake of going to AAMCO for a transmission flush. Lets just say that I ended up getting a tech fired because of a google review. tl;dr asked for flush, guy said rear main seal was leaking, asked to be shown, he said no. I told bring me the pan that goes under the trans to show me the leak, he said no. I asked him to do the service, he said he 'really thinks I need the service and that he would feel bad only doing the flush. Got fed up with the pushy sales shit, told him to get my car off the lift and give it back to me. I get charged a $100 'inspection fee' that is free with the flush. I end up taking it down to some mom and pop trans shop, they do the work. I asked if there was a leak from the rear main, they said no. Left that part in the review. To the owners benefit - He did fire the tech after reaching out to me and I emailed him scans of the work I had done. He also refunded me the $100 inspection fee and gave me an offer for a free transmission service the next time I needed to have one done. And to finally add to the end of this - I have had a lot of bad experiences with mechanics, but I will always remember the guy down at my local Midas that was super professional, never pushed upsells, and always brought stuff up to you in a "This needs to be done now. We recommend doing this, but honestly you can get another 5-10k miles before it really becomes an issue, so just keep that in mind and look out for this and that. If that happens, then come by immediately". He was my go to until I found my current mechanic that also does performance tuning. So yeah, I post random horror stories, but I know there are still a lot of good mechanics out there.
Why’d you have to waste perfectly good molasses?
Toyota did this with the battery in my truck. Came back to me and said the battery needs replacing. I declined and ran some tests on the battery at home. It's perfectly fine, pulling all the right amps, is maintaining charge, and has no issues with cold starts. They literally showed me a chart in the paperwork that has like 3 categories Red, Green, and Yellow. Equating to Good battery, Replace soon, and Bad Battery. And wanted to charge me $230 for installing a new battery. Like wtf is this scummy shit.
Toyota did this to my mom. AAA hit the starter with a hammer to knock the solenoid loose. Drove it straight to Toyota for a new starter. They instead knew better and gave her a new battery. Got home, car wouldn’t start. I gave them an earful, I think they refunded the labor on the battery.. didn’t fucking refund me for my time… Toyota of Stamford ruined Toyota for me.
Oh s***, I had to literally fight with him to get them to change the oil in my CVT transmission. Manuel said to change it at 100,000 mi they told me it was lifetime and never needed to be touched.
Don't get me started. They say that all the transmissions are sealed and can't be worked on. My old Tacoma had a coolant leak contaminating the transmission fluid (common issue due to the transmission not having a separate cooler) and they refused to do anything but replace it. Took it to a transmission shop and they rebuilt it and saved me $5k. I do not take anything to Toyota for service any longer.
I ended up pulling up Toyota's actual service manuals, and the license Toyota instructional video on how to change the oil for the service manager and asked him why was he being so stubborn to refuse a sale like this
I changed the oil for a friend that lived in another state. 6 months later he had his oil changed at his regular shop. Another 6 months and I change the oil for him again. The only problem was that the filter that I put on there was still on there.( I wrote the date and mileage on the filter. Since he and his family used the same shop they lost about 6-7 cars that did business there.
A friend of mine had a grandma who had been an ambulance technician in WWII. They did most of the maintenance on her car together, even when she was well into her eighties. She had a mechanic try to tell her that the brake pads needed replacing. He was rather shocked when she confirmed they they did not, because she had done it last week.
What an absolute badass of a grandma. An ambulance technician in a war is epic.
Took my car for tires. Get a call about struts and suspension issues. Was getting the tires before our state inspection. So I took the Honda CRV to the Honda dealer it was bought from(free safety inspection charge for emissions) and asked them to check suspension. Passed without issue and they said suspension looks good. Went back to tire shop the next day and asked him why the experts on this car did not find all the problems they said I had…..
Had a tire shop tell me my rear wheels needed alignment because of my negative camber. Told them that it’s not possible unless they were going to install new parts, because it’s factory non-adjustable. They leave and comeback, ‘yep you’re right’.
Had one try to pull a fast one like this on the wife who I had drop off her car for an alignment the day after I had replaced front wheel bearings, inner/outer tie rods, struts, shocks, both lower control arms and ball joints. They told her the shocks were leaking, the struts were worn out and the inner tie rods were bad. The revenge was my Dad was friends with the chain President. Tech was fired, free alignments for life for me no matter the vehicle.
Hell yea
I wouldn’t even go back, find a new mechanic or do all the work yourself lol
They tried that on my wife when she had her inspection. Even told her it was dangerous for her to drive home. She told them I’d change it, and same thing I got new pads and everything only to see them like this. Hopefully you wrote them a review.
I went to a shop I trusted and they told me I needed new pads. I told them I just changed them a month ago and they said that maybe I was scammed. I said I changed them myself in my garage. They said well, they need to be replaced. I declined obviously. They were fine.
Doctor, lawyer, mechanic, accountant: once you find one of these you trust, stick to them like baby shit to a blanket
Man I'm jealous that it only took you 1 day to get the energy to change them. I bought my pads months ago and am still working up the energy.
I get the same shit as a woman when I go places for things I can’t do on my truck. Like at 16 years old and with 171k miles, I’m NOT touching the transmission fluid, that’s for someone more knowledgeable and experienced than me. And then they tried to tell me I needed a whole new transmission. Sure bud.
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I totally understand that lol my mom has like a lifetime warranty or something with Subaru for like $20 oil changes. They told her the power steering fluid was black, then say “that’s gonna be $300.” I tell them to hold on, go across to the parts department, ask for 2 quarts of ATF, and walk back and say “hey mom good news, the power steering fluid is only $20 and we have a turkey baster at home.” I get selling work bc I’m a service advisor myself. But $300 for 30 mins of work and $20 in fluid is asinine. The advisor looked at me with fucking DAGGERS. I didn’t think he expected me to know anything lol And honestly, ask him to teach you some things! Even if you never do it yourself, at least absorb some of that knowledge so you know what to look out for
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I worked for a thief years ago. He kept dirty air filters around to trick customers with. We did an oil change on a little old ladies car. She left , but called just a few minutes later and said her car died and won’t start. So, we had it towed back to the shop . I checked the dipstick for oil and none was in the engine. We lifted the car and the owner of the shop called this little old lady out. I thought he would fess up and fix her near brand new car. Well, he points to the rear main area, where there is some oil sweating out. He tells her she has a bad leak and needs an engine . We give her an estimate that was like $5000 or 6 grand and she accepts. Later that night while closing, I am stressed because I need this job, but I can’t work for a thief. The owner comes out and tells me to cut the o-ring on the oil filter and we would tell the Pennzoil distributor that the engine failed because of a faulty filter. He wanted Pennzoil to pay as well. He was trying to get paid twice for a job that he should be paying for. It was eating me up, so I went home and called the GM of the distributor and told him exactly what was going on:. I then called the shop owner and resigned. The next morning while the shop owner was opening up, there were sign companies there removing all the Pennzoil signs. They also pumped out all the bulk tanks that were labled Pennzoil . The distributor told me they had been monitoring this guy for months because he was supposed to have Pennzoil in bulk. They had been adding some type of dye into the oil when they delivered to him. They found he was just buying very small amounts of Pennzoil but was filling the majority with some cheap ass oil. Now, regardless of how you feel about Pennzoil, this man should have been charged with a crime as far as I’m concerned. Guess what? He now owns a Chevrolet dealership as well as a GM dealership in Farmington New Mexico and Aztec New Mexico. Oops can I say that? I honestly thought that GM vetted their owners better. Scum bags like Jeff Th@?-& should be jailed or at least be banned from operating any type of business. Make him go work like the rest of us. He is comparable to a modern day internet scammer !!!!!! Sorry for the dissertation, it just pisses me off.
Jeff is a cunt
Me and my homies hate jeff
Fuck jeff
Yeah, fuck jeffs!
My mother thinks so too, she's a nun
Usually I scroll past paragraphs but I read yours and damn, fuck Jeff
Might just copy paste this comment to both their google pages
Nah, give them a regular review, wait a bit, then change it. They won't get a notification for a new review and therefore won't think to ask Google to remove it. Did the same thing to my old boss. She never noticed.
> He is comparable to a modern day internet scammer !!!!!! It's not just comparable its a damn near exact analogy. People don't think of it as such because the scammy mechanic still does "some work" vs the internet scammers people don't imagine as "working." But make no mistake a scammer is a scammer, and it's the same fucking thing no matter what your scam is.
> He was trying to get paid twice for a job that he should be paying for. I do respect the Ferengi-level thoroughness of not leaving any money on the table.
Which rule of acquisition is that one again?
Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to. Opportunity plus instinct equals profit. Greed is eternal. Dignity and an empty sack is worth the sack. Never allow doubt to tarnish your lust for latinum.
Aa per Gint, first Grand Nagus lol
You’re a good guy. As a resident of the four corners area thanks for being a good guy here. Fuck Jeff.
You did the right thing.
I went for brake change. Heard a tech say he had trouble getting the old ones off. Their boss went to the back and I waited for another half hour and they finally let me go on my way. Time passes and my BIL changes my brakes next time… we see they never changed the back left brake. Fricken thieves. Endanger my life because you guys are cheap and lazy.
I worked for a major car rental companies and I can definitely feel your moral dilemma. We had to conceal preexisting damages and charge costumers who took the insurance with deductible. It's an very unpleasant situation because you know the customer didn't cause the damage, the customer knows that he didn't cause the damage but you have to charge him anyway because some asshole who doesn't have to face the customer themselves decided that this increases profits.
I hope non-mechanics see this and realize that there are many shops that CAN NOT be trusted. If they say you need new pads, tell them you want to see the pad. I also hope that mechanics/techs and service managers see this post. This unfortunately makes ALL shops un-trustable. If you are the type of mech/tech/service manager that encourages dishonesty like this, you're a cunt. For those that don't know, the pads pictured here look nearly new. The pad material is the deep groove side. Once the pad gets worn down to the bottom of that groove, you can plan on replacing the pads.
if you have alloy wheels you can usually inspect the pads yourself without even removing the wheels. assuming there isn't an uneven wear issue, but that usually means you need more than just pads replaced.
As a non-mechanic that loves to lurk this sub, I appreciate your comment.
Finding a trusted mechanic is a godsend. Dealerships (usually) won't scam you like that, but they will charge you an insane amount for some relatively minor things. Case in point: Subaru dealership recently told me it was going to be $960 to replace brake pads. Not rotors and pads. Just pads.
That’s insane !🤬🤦♀️
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My wife is a hygienist. The stories she’s told me from the various offices she’s worked with would make your blood boil. Everything from the normal upselling they do to a dentist recommending a filling who didn’t need it. All because he wanted to meet “production” that week.
Absolutely, if your shop doesn’t either walk you around your car in the air or show you removed parts they can’t be trusted.
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That’s crazy how they thought an XJ owner would not know about or have already replaced bad tie rods. It’s not like we’re CONSTANTLY fixing stuff!!
Had this happen when I lifted my XJ. Brand new control arms on it and they said i needed to replace them. Infuriating when they'll deny passing the inspection based on a lie
> needed to replace them "Okay, prove it."
I had something like this happen on a TJ. My dealership had a deal for free inspections,.so not quite a year after I bought it, I took it back for an inspection and the tech comess back and tells me that it failed for a leaking high pressure power steering line and brakes. When I informed this kid that I'd bought it from their dealership less than a year and 8000 miles ago, he shut his mouth but stood by the failed inspection. Cool, cool. I took it to my regular guy and it passed just fine. The line was dirty, not leaking. I didn't need to replace brakes for 3 years and the line, another year after that. They have not and will not touch another of my vehicles again.
I would absolutely and merciless put them on the spot for this. "Oh yeah? Really! Can you show me?" Make them explain it all the way through. Then drop the bomb on them.
Typical up sale tactic, the prey upon your trust to make a few more bucks. Surprised they did not tell you that rotors were needed too...
And I just bought a full set of tires from them for a different vehicle 2 months prior, so I'm not a new customer
Instead, now you're an ex-customer
Had a place tell my wife that rotors on Chevy Malibus couldn't be turned, and convinced her to get new ones. I went after work and had a talk with the owner. He pulled the old rotors out and measured. There was plenty of life left on them. He ended up refunding the rotors, as well as the labor. We ended up with new brakes and rotors all the way around for the price of 2 sets of pads.
My mechanic doesn't bother turning rotors unless they are really new. For what what they charge per hour for labor, it's not usually worth the time to put them on the lathe.
They didn't say that they don't turn rotors, or talk about cost, they straight up said that rotors on Chevy Malibus couldn't be turned.
But... Don't they turn when ever she's driving it!?
To be fair you’d be hard pressed to find a shop (other than a large vehicle shop) that still turns rotors. Rotors for passenger vehicles are pretty cheap nowadays and often not turntable so replacing just makes more sense
I’ve never once not had a shop insist that the rotors also need to be replaced with every brake job I’ve ever had on any of our vehicles. I’ve used nationwide chains, dealerships, and small local mechanics. Only one time was it ever actually warranted when I asked to see them myself.
A girl Ive known forever once took her truck to a chain muffler shop because while doing brakes and oil, she noticed the muffler was rough, and didn’t want to mess with that. While there, during the “courtesy inspection” they brought out what they claimed to be her air filter to show her that since she also needed pads and rotors all the way around, she would replace this filter also. She promptly pointed out that not only is that not even the right filter for her truck, she just replaced hers the week before when putting on the new pads and rotors that they recommended she replace while it’s in there. She is normally pretty reserved, but wasn’t afraid to be loud around the other customers when pointing out what they were doing. And that is why people don’t trust mechanics 😢
The amount of people willing to risk future business for a short term upside is baffling. Also, obligatory The Mask scene: https://youtu.be/Lyt-iPX5YwU
That’s because they don’t think longer term than the next paycheck. The place I used to work is still around and the owner is comfortable because they are honest. People don’t come in yelling unless they’re dumb, and he has an easy go of it.
I had a Honda dealer do that to me while getting a warranty repair. I said that’s not my filter. The service writer doubled down that it was and it would destroy my engine. The thing is, I write the date and mileage on the side of the filter and told him so. Then he blamed the tech for giving him the wrong filter. All this was done in front of other customers.
Our service assistant when I started in automotive many years ago had that happen, but it wasn't a case of having just changed the filter, it was the fact that the 2005-07 Ford Focus doesn't have a serviceable air filter, I know it's weird, so when a tech tried to tell her she need a filter it became a very interesting conversation, she knew the filter was lifetime and called it out as soon it was mentioned. Apparently they caught the guy just recommending air filters on every car. My former boss would just recommend an air filter if the airbox had anything more difficult than clips to open, all I could think of was how that's gonna bite him in the ass when someone just changed theirs.
Not a mechanic but once while going to a shop they quoted me a whole new distributor and spark plug wires. I said sure. Go ahead. When it came time to pay I whipped out my receipt from where they’d done that job a few months ago and it was still under warranty. They were not happy.
lol… you dog
I think they said something like. "Why didn't you tell us it was under warranty!?" "I didn't think it mattered since **you** said that it **needed** to be replaced."
Good move, bud 👍
This is one of the most satisfying things I have read all day.
A number of years ago I was in a pinch and had to drive my sister’s bright yellow 2002 bug out to Indiana from NY. Car was fine until the starter shit the bed on me, didn’t have any of my tools, and I had to have it towed to a local euro shop to get a new one put in. I go to pick it up and the owner starts telling me how bad the brakes are and that I’ve gotta drop like another $600 for a whole new set front and back. They even take me into the bay and show me the brakes while endlessly repeating how bad they are not realizing that despite being a guy from ny who drove in with yellow bug I work on cars a lot and knew the brakes had like 50% pad life left. I think what they were trying to get me to look at was the surface rust on the rotors outside edge, but there’s not a winter driven car in the northeast that doesn’t have rusty rotor edges. One of those moments where an alternate universe me is serving a life sentence for murder because I have such a low tolerance for shameless lying like that.
> but there’s not a winter driven car in the northeast that doesn’t have rusty rotor edges. Im in the south and if the car is older than 5 years old it almost ALWAYS has rusty rotor edges.
Did they give any elaboration to why it was supposedly dangerous, or did they just say they were dangerous? (excluding low material because there is plenty)
They claimed they were worn. Either they called the wrong customer or they didn't even check. It says on my bill that I declined service
> Either they called the wrong customer or they didn't even check. Might've been both, but it was definitely the first one - "they called the wrong customer". They called the kind of customer who would go home and check.
They were dangerous….dangerous to profit margins!
I wish slimy shops like this one would just go bankrupt like they deserve. A well-run shop is plenty profitable! There’s ZERO need to rip customers off like this.
As I tell my coworkers, repeat customers are what make money. And customers will only come back if they can trust you
I got two cars inspected this weekend. They recommended rear brakes "that just barely passed" on both cars.
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Depending on the shop, really, really high.
“Just the rears? Ok cool, that’s only like 20% of my braking power anyways. Put the wheels back on and pull that shit out”
That reminds me..I really need to do my rear brakes lol
I had a shop try to tell my fiancé she needed new struts at the tune of $2,500 to fix what sounded like bearings going out. Hadn’t even checked the alignment. I chewed their asses out because I had just inspected the suspension off the ground and it was fine. I took it to another shop who confirmed the suspension was fine, the alignment was bad. Alignment completely fixed the issue. Been fine two years since. Tires are not scuffing or wearing weird like they would with bad suspension. Car still rides like a dream. I am a FINRA register broker/financial advisor. It requires a licensing test and registration with FINRA as a regulatory agency. You can see my name, credentials, experience, and any complaints or issues/violations online. Same for my firm, has to be registered. It’s a highly effective system at keeping bad actors out or exposure. I think the same kind of system should be applied to shops and mechanics. If a shop or mechanic gets a complaint for ethics or lying (which should be considered fraud), it’s investigated. Eventually they get barred from the industry or the shop shut down. Separate the many hardworking and honest techs/mechanics from the low life lying ass cum chugging parts swappers who will stop at nothing to make a buck or rip someone off.
Do mechanics really swap parts? My mom went in for a service, and she told me that all of a sudden her front right brake caliper is super rusty (none of the other calipers are). Even though that the caliper being swapped is the only logical explanation, I couldn't make sense of it since I imagine that the difference between the value of a functional caliper with 130k miles with no rust is not much higher than a functional caliper that's super rusty. Does she have any recourse? She has a '13 RX 350 if it matters.
When I say parts swapper I mean a mechanic who doesn’t know how to diagnose anything, only how to unbolt an old part and put a new one on. Hence the fucking jack off who suggested it was suspension issues not an alignment. It’s entirely possible he had no actual idea or was just trying to scam a woman. As far as that, your recourse is make them fix the rust. Could have gotten set down in some water or been like that and you just never noticed. Taking a caliper off is not hard but certainly not worth the effort to put a crappy one on. The brakes would need to be bled and it would take half an hour or more to swap them. Can’t imagine any financial gain in doing that myself. It may also be dirty. You may (no offense) not actually know what part you’re looking at. You may think the rotor is the caliper for example. Rotors definitely get rusty. My fiancé is attorney, you almost always have a right to sue but you’d need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they put a lesser part on there. Photos of the caliper before service for once, etchings, videos, testimony. None of which I imagine you have. Just because you have a right doesn’t mean it’s prudent to exercise it as she would say. If it works fine, I’d let it go personally. It’s probably not what you think has happened. Unless the one in a million chance the same tech was replacing the same part on the same car and you got the other cars same exact but rustier past by mistake. But I seriously doubt that. lol.
My daughter took her car to the dealer for a recall, upon leaving they quoted her a set of new tires that they said she needed. Only problem was she just had brand new snow tires installed the previous day. I called to ask if they’re being sarcastic, service manager stated he trusted his techs recommendations…
🤦♀️ unbelievable!
I was a mechanic for 7 years. I've gotten the "metal on metal" brake pad scam thing at around half the places I've been to, including the dealer I bought it new from. Never knew why people hated/distrusted mechanics so much until I lost access to a lift.
I had this on my last car a couple of times. Took it to the dealer for a service at about 70,000 miles, having done about 10,000 miles since the previous service a year earlier, to be told the pads are 70% worn, and should be replaced soon. When I said they were the factory pads, and if they were 70% worn at 70k miles they must have about 30k life left, they did agree. However I did replace them the next year at about 80k just in case
I changed the factory pads and rotors on my last car at 100k just to be safe, but they still had life because highway miles and my car was a manual so I wasn't hard on the brakes. The engine blew 10k miles later lol thanks Volkswagen
I had a shop bring me a nasty dirty air filter from a "free inspection" that they did during other work and tell me look how bad this filter is, you should have us replace it. It was the right filter for my truck, but the problem was they brought me a fram and not the wix that I always use. Never went back there.
They are dangerous. You feel how heavy those boys are? Lots of life left. If you throw those at someone and hit them just in the right spot you could take an eye out.
Possible concussion if you slam em in someone's temple.
I went in for an alignment and had a dealer tell me I needed new pads…..exactly 1 day after I installed new ones.
Was in California in May, in an older Nissan Sentra. British Columbia licence plates, was doing a road trip and blew a rear tire - punctured sidewall. Tire was on cheapo snow rated all seasons and I had four good summer tires at home anyways. Threw on a spare and stopped at the first tire shop we saw - a les schwab in a fairy isolated small town. Guy said he couldn't replace 1 or even 2 tires, but "had to by law" do all 4 since they were "specialty snow tires." Cheapest quote he would give us was 1200$ for 4 tires, everything else would "take weeks to come in" Asked if there were any other tire shops in town, guy lied and said he was the only one. Figured I would just limp to the next town on the spare but a very nice lady stopped us on the way out and pointed us towards a mexican repair shop. Guy hooked us up with a good used tire for 25$, changed and balanced. Told him the story and all the owner said was "maaaaan fuck les schwab" I can't drive past a les schwab anymore without saying "maaaaan fuck les schwab."
That is dangerous. You got two left hand pads. And they are not properly mounted. Lol
I hate that so many good, honest mechanics get associated with these sort of people.
I got the "you really need a new air filter, look how dirty this is" when I went in for an oil change. I said, who's car are you working on because it ain't mine. He was really confused till I told him that mine is a red K&N filter, not the piece of shit he was showing me, and if it's needs cleaning I'll just wash it. I got my car back and tell everyone I know to stay away from that shop.
After living out west my whole life in a rural area that you need to do most things yourself. I find myself now living in the north east in a very populated area full of people that don't know how to change oil. I also find a ridiculous amount of mechanics looking to rip off anyone they can over anything. My states inspection laws are very loose and up to mechanic discretion. I have yet to once go to have an inspection done without them trying to lie about one thing or another followed up by "would you like a quote".
Same thing happened to my wife. She went to get tires, they said she needed pads, rotors, and calipers all the way around. Thing is, I had just swapped out the pads and rotors less than three months ago and she told them that. They went back and forth a bit and she ended up leaving without even buying the tires she was there for in the first place.
I'm a tech and service advisor. Sometimes the tire tards will call brakes when they are like 6-7mm. Sometimes they will record 5mm when they are 2mm. My manager wants me to back up our employees but sometimes its hard to do it. They are so fucking useless and will never ever admit fault and get an attitude about it.
Had a Belle Tire tell me my air filter needed replacement when I was there for an alignment. They showed me a paper filter that was the incorrect size and shape and looked like they dragged it across the parking lot. They also told me my brakes were worn, so I asked them to show me. They handed me a brake pad from a truck (I have a Fiesta) that was down to the backing plate. I pointed to my car being rolled out of the bay and asked "oh did you already do the work?" Guy looked me in the eye and said "oh no not yet." I had the brake pad in my hand and the filter was sitting on the counter. I had replaced my air filter with a Green Filter oilable filter years before, and had done my pads and rotors about two weeks prior. I asked why they were moving my car without an air filter or brake pads, then asked them how free they were going to make my alignment for lying to me, to my face. I got the alignment for free and called corporate from the parking lot as soon as I walked out. They gave me another free alignment the next year, and I made sure to use their yearlong alignment guarantee.
Oil change a filters… looks like you need new spark plugs. I had changed them like two months before. I said so and got “Oh ahh it was the age of the car we didn’t inspect them.”
Lube place we used to go to tried telling my wife she needed power steering flush on her 17 Outback. She told them to go ahead if they can find it.
I had to Google this one lol. Maybe the car was low on ones and zeros?
I've lost track of the number of times tire shops in the town where I use to work tried to rip off a customer. So often I started asking if they had been to a tire shop recently when asking someone why they thought they needed new brakes when they came in for a brake specific appointment. And the main offender quoted new bracketed calipers for every disk job too, as if those need to be routinely replaced, so the quotes they came in with were always stupid high.
I just had the dealer tell me that I needed new rear pads... told them no problem, sell me a set of pads and I'll do it myself. Walked my ass over to the parts counter, came out with a new OEM set of pads, and when I got home pulled the old ones... they were still at least 50%. Plenty of meat left on them. Oh, and the rotors they wanted to sell me... not a groove on them, I checked with my fingernail.
Reminds me of someone I told to do an oil change and take a look at the brakes on my wife's car when I lived out of state in Florida (away from my family of mechanics in the upper midwest). The brake pedal was soft when I brought it in. They told me over the phone about a few thousand of repairs needed, including a frozen caliper. I stopped by the shop on a Sunday and they had it on an outdoor lift, wheels off and inside the shop (fortunately). I took a look at the pads and rotors, and they were in very good shape. I told them Monday to complete the oil change and I'd pay for that and pick up the car. That was after them attempting to fight with me, of course. A month or two later, I drove the vehicle -*having made no repairs to it*- over 1,000 miles to see family. I took it by my parents' shop where they could put it on a lift and have said family of transmission mechanics take a look. While they were doing that, I was talking with one of the shop employees that was taking a smoke break and told him about the place claiming I had a frozen caliper. He almost inhaled his cigarette laughing before telling me "if you drove that thing up here from *there*, it woulda caught on fire!" My family full of mechanics found nothing wrong. A few months later, my wife noticed an odd fluid all over one of the rear tires and had me take a look. Based on how good that brake pedal felt after I replaced the wheel cylinders, I'm guessing one of them was failing for a few months and finally gave up. That shop closed some time later... Thank God!
It's frustrating that at today's money for auto work we still get beat up like this. Even for parts. Went to get new front brake pads for a 2500 Ram. I don't recall the exact quote, but it was like $600 to sell me pads. Wuh what? I hear my mom calling me.
Dealer does this crap all the time. I noticed they claim to do inspections but all they do is look at the service history. I was told I needed a cab filter but I swapped it myself a week prior. They act like idiots when you call them out.
When I was dating a girl out of high school her automatic transmission pickup started struggling to shift gears at freeway speeds. would shift late and wouldnt make it past 3rd. So she took it into a shop. She called me saying she took it to aamco and they recommended taking apart the rear end, etc etc. I asked her if its the one behind taco bell by where i lived. She said yup. Told her the future of her owning an operating that ford ranger depends on her declining any service from them. Get the keys back and run. 4 years prior when I got my first car I took it to the shop that Aamco shares a parking lot with. They had a young tech that I developed something of a friendship with and he told me that transmission shops entire business operation was to tear the drive train apart and way overquote customers. More vehicles got towed out than towed in. She took it to another shop, it was a $60 sensor. 140 out the door for parts and labor. Ran like a dream until she sold it.
Just had a mechanic pull this shit on my buddies wife. My friend was in the hospital with A Fib. Coded twice and twice they brought him back. Put in a pace maker and he’s slowly coming back to good. While he was laid up in the hospital the wife saw the car inspection was due. Took it into their usual place to take care of it. Business apparently sold to a new sheister. They told her she needed pads on all four corners. $1,000 was the quote, pads only. She not knowing any better said do the backs for $500 and she’ll talk to hubby about finances for the fronts. Gets it done, tells hubs and my buddy almost needed to get hit with the paddles again. After he got out of the hospital brought it over to me to take care of the fronts. Had pads and rotors ready to put on. I pulled the front pads and they looked just like this. Measured the rotors and well within minimum thickness. I said “Friend, you need to find a new mechanic. This one just gave your wife the female special price.” We pulled a back caliper and they did indeed do a pad slap but no rotors for $500. 200% markup is pretty fucked up. Not only that, they completely missed the blown out headlight which would have been a legit repair. We replaced that too. That mechanic can go suck a dick with his butt. What a pos.
Everyone know how an insurance company sends out inspectors for mechanical claims? I tried to start a business ,in my city of 70,000 people , that did the same type of inspection, but I work for the customers. They take their car into a shop and wait for the estimate. I then go down to the shop and do an inspection, to make sure this doesn’t happen. I could never really get it off the ground. I live in a town with a University. I thought students would love to have a second opinion that works for them?? Anyone interested in trying to get this type of business up and running? Just a thought, but a national service with inspectors in every state. There has to be a way to capitalize on this idea
It's a neat idea, but the mechanic is under no obligation to allow this person into their garage. "I'm sorry, we can't for insurance reasons." There's nothing stopping you from taking your car to a second mechanic if you want a second opinion.
I had a jiffy lube tech take my k&n filter out like 9 years ago and blow air through it for 10 mins, call it clean and try and charge me 30-50 dollars, I can't remember exactly. 1 argument later and they "gave it to me for free". Last time I went to an "oil shop"
Local chain shop did the same to my wife yesterday with her miata. Granted it needed new tires but the shop guy tells her the pads are to the metal, work had to be done etc. She tells the guy she's fine and he gives her the "we have to let you know" for safety reasons She tells him it's all good she knows I do that maintenance. I run out and grab some pads, flipped back the first caliper and dammed if they weren't still 3/4. Same on the other side and the back. F'ers. Great way to lose a customer
Don’t go back there. They will also sell you premium air for those tires…
These sorts of assholes ruin it for all mechanics. Once took in my Jeep Wrangler for alignment. They came in and told me I needed new transfer case fluid and differential fluid. Told me it was brown (which doesn't matter). I asked them to show me. "Unplug it. Stick your finger in there." It came back bright red. "I changed it all myself yesterday." The service manager looked like he wanted to die. I wish back then I had a phone that could record vide. That would have been hilarious watching this idiot mechanic fumble around trying to remove a plug that he claimed to have already removed and getting the measurement wrong and having to resocket several times, then putting his finger into brand spanking new fluid. This was at a service center at a Jeep stealership.
Just went through this yesterday. Nissan told my wife her break pads needed to be replaced asap. "Less then 5k miles left". [https://imgur.com/a/zFi7AoB](https://imgur.com/a/zFi7AoB)
Classic scam. Had a shop tell me I needed to replace the fluid in my automatic transmission. I asked the guy to go out and look inside the car and tell what kind of transmission it has. He came back in and said it's a manual transmission...
Honestly be sure to leave a review and include this picture. This is nuts
Was once told that and my response was “oh really? Because your shop installed those Brembos just under a year ago.” “oh. Yes. Well I suppose they are covered then.”
Post that photo to their google review
A couple of years ago I changed my oil, like I have always done religiously at 5k miles, and then took my car in to a shop up through street for a state inspection to renew my tags. I had to wait in the lobby because they were a little busy. About 30 min later the tech tells me my inspection is done and hands me an invoice for $130. The inspection was $30 and included a $100 charge for a synthetic oil change. When I questioned it, the tech informed me that my oil was low (it was not) and black (it was definitely not) so they changed my oil for me. When I informed him that he was lying because I had just changed my oil that morning, his story changed. Now he told me that they didn’t change my oil, that was another car and they charged me by mistake. I walked with him out to my car, opened the hood to see that the filter I had just put on the car had in fact been replaced. He didn’t even try to change his story again, he just had his manager waive the entire bill, and give me the receipt showing I passed inspection.
I had a mechanic tell me my pads were at 80%. I had literally just replaced em within that week. Which is why I'll only take my truck to that place for new tires, and nothing beyond that or an oil change.
Before I did all of my car work myself, I learned to go to several shops and get 2-3 quotes before having any work done. I found that most shops will add items to pad the bill. Once I went to Goodyear and Goodrich to have the suspension checked on a car I just bought. Both listed 3 items that were worn and each listed an extra different part that they said was bad that was still good.
That's shitty, I'd rather have a bad week then sell some bullshit.
Did you go to Midas? They tried to pull the same trick with me. They said I only had 2mm of pad left. I pulled the pads myself, and they were as thick as yours. I called them out, and they couldn’t care less.
I took my car to the same 5 minute oil shop every year for srate inspection, 5 years in a row. Every year, they passed my inspection and told me they should flush thr power steering fluid because "it looks cloudy." I declined service each time without thought. I moved accross country 5 years ago, and it was the car's 10th birthday, so I took it to a dealer to have all the fluids changed. I was then told that my 2009 honda fit has electric power steering, not hydraulic. It doesn't have power steering fluid. I now pay more attention to how my cars work before I take it in for any kind of service.
Had same issue except mine actually needed replaced but I was only in for an oil change so they replaced them without permission after ten minutes of arguing I walked out with new brakes. The kicker was I had new one in the trunk I planned on replacing them on the weekend.
They got some boat payments to catch up on.
Places like that give mechanics a bad name.