Well sometimes some mechanics are a bit overzealous on what they recommend,because they know the part in all probability will fail soon and the rotten apples,I feel its my duty to warn people about them.Hate catching a load of BS when I’m over a barrel,I truly respect a honest decent repair person man or woman(used to be some pretty fair woman tire changers around here)had one guy who worked on my Volvo and couldnt find out what was wrong with so he towed across it across town to the Volvo whiz at his expense,I made this Guy at least accept his normal towing fee.(He always got my business)Do you tolerate the ones that tell white lies?-Kevin
Old 544,
The deal with the alignment was that this particular tire chain/repair shop sold a “liftetime alignment” service that I bought when I first purchased the car used. So I technically wasn’t out anything other than my time.
I certainly didn’t pay for a second set of ball joints. I then realized I probably got ripped off the first time around, though.
What’s funny is that the OEM ball joints were riveted and the replacements bolted…so a diligent crook should have known better!
I spent 100 bucks on blinker fluid last week!
Yep. Took my 2004 Tacoma to a garage to get a set of brake linings put on. The manager of the shop informed me that I was going to need new drums on the rear. When I expressed serious incredulity that a 50,000-mile car might need new drums, I was informed that my pickup’s rear drum brakes were “out of adjustment.” When I further expressed incredulity, in the form of asking, “You mean to tell me I have drum brakes that don’t have auto-adjusters?” I was told that I had gotten it exactly right. Further, my drums were going to be upwards of $350 EACH because they’re “…made into the hubs.” On hearing that, I insisted that I be taken into the bay, so I could see these amazing drum brakes that featured integrated drum-hub assemblies and no auto-adjusters. Upon walking up to my truck, I reached out and pointed to the auto-adjuster, and asked the manager if he could please identify that part for me. While he hemmed and hawed, I informed him that it was, in fact, an automatic brake adjustment mechanism. I then pointed to the brake drum which was lying on the ground next to the truck, and then to the wheel hub which was (of course) still mounted on the pickup. I then told him to get my wheels put back on, to get my truck around front immediately (if not sooner) and that no, I would not be paying their twenty-buck fee for “diagnostics” (read: lies).
Yes. Years ago, 1997 or so, I took my car to a shop because of a failing alternator and the mechanic said I needed to have my carburetor rebuilt. I asked him if he was sure that it was the carburetor, because I was pretty sure it was the alternator. He said that no, I was wrong, and that it was in fact the carburetor. I asked for my keys back and let him know that my car had a fuel injection system so there is no carburetor to re-build. I then politely suggested he may want to go back to mechanic’s school to learn about these new-fangled car fuel systems as I walked out the door. I went to another shop, had the alternator replaced, and never had another major issue with the car.
Yess! I took my Acura Integra 5-speed to have the oil/filter changed at a nationally known business. After a few minutes the mechanic came back and showed me a gallon of filthy oil, said it came from my car, and told me -concerned look, etc- it was time to change the transmission oil too. At the time the car had only 10K miles, and I do not believe that the volume of the transmission oil present in in stick shifts is that large. I checked the manual in front of him, said no thanks, and left forever. It still works, in spite of the oil loss it sustained. And ,of course, I’m a woman.
Not to me specifically, though I had my suspicions about my brake guys and switched, and it was horrible and certainly benefitted me but here goes:
In 1993, I was living in Seattle and a woman who just moved there from Texas started working with me, and was paying $20 a day for the parking for her car, a 1970 Plymouth Fury III, which she said had (a) 40K miles, and (b) an overheating problem. She took it to a mechanic who did a compression test and told her it needed a new engine. She offered to sell me the car for $200. I was young and broke and snatched it right up. Fast forward a couple months, and it turned out the timing was way off (the cause of the overheating.) But the most horrific part was she gave me copies of all the paperwork, and the compression test versus the specs for that 390 V-8 were dead-on: They were identical, in other words. The mechanic not only flat out lied to her, but gave her paper proof that he had. Amazing. By then, she’d returned to Texas, and I couldn’t even help her.
I once had a mechanic try to sell me a ball joint job on my Ford Maverick. When I followed the recommended method of checking for play in the ball joints he told that I was doing in wrong. I put another 60,000 miles on those ball joints before the engine went.
Another shop had my mother afraid to drive their Caddy Coup deVille home. She went in for tires and they told her that the car was so unsafe that the wheels could fall off.
In 1993, a salesman at a dealer told my wife that Ford doesn’t put a manual transmission into the Explorer. He DID have 15 automatics that he was happy to show her!
Hahaha…that’s funny! I can’t believe everyone HASN’T been lied to by a mechanic, unless they’re related…and even then I would be suspicious. The most recent outright lie I’ve endured was from a mechanic that I hired to fix my power steering pump, which I would’ve done myself in the driveway if it weren’t for the 5 degree wind chill factor that day. The guy tried telling me that he got me a “brand new” power steering pump, for the mere price of $200 + labor = $470 total. I told him that I called the Jeep dealer, and the most expensive one they sell is reconditioned for $120, and that no one sells brand new replacement PS pumps. (This was for my 99 Wrangler) I called the mechanic on it when I went to pick up my vehicle, and asked him how he paid $200 for a new pump, when the dealer doesn’t even charge that much, or even sell them other than a special order. He admitted that it wasn’t brand new, but rather rebuilt, and asked me what I wanted to do. I said I don’t want to pay $200 for a rebuilt pump, that I could find for much less than the dealers cost…I found some in the $60-$70 range at NAPA and Auto Zone. I then put away my debit card and broke out the credit card, to which he finally gave me a break if I paid with debit instead of credit, saving him a fee. Total cost $400. Needless to say, I won’t be going there again.
Years ago my Mom took her Camry to a body shop to have a part fixed. They said they replaced it because it couldn’t be fixed. But, she caught them in a lie because she had marked it. I didn’t know my mom was so savvy! Apparently they had just found a very simple solution and had cleaned it up a bit. They threw away a customer for short term gain. Pitiful and shameful AND STUPID!
A dealer once tried to add on new wiper blades to my tune-up. He claimed they were “torn”. Really? Because I may have to take your word for it on all the other extra work you tried to sell me, but seeing as how it was RAINING when I took it in, I’m pretty sure the wipers are just fine. (Also, do people really pay $35 for wiper blades?)
Yes, but this was not about something they were trying to sell me that I didn’t need. It was something I DID need.
I bought my Chrysler Town & Country used and my husband looked at the tires and all were in good shape. But for some reason, he did not notice that they were different sizes on the front and back.
Not long ago, I took the van for an alignment that is really needed and asked about the tires as well. They did they alignment and marked that the tires were ok. A couple of weeks later, after about a week of rain, I finally got a chance to look at the tires myself as the front end kept slipping in the rain. One of the front tires was completely bald. It even failed the penny test.
I called the manager of the shop because they have done a lot of work on our cars before and said “What’s the deal with this? You know this is the car I drive all the time with the kids, etc and I specifically asked about the tires and you just don’t tell me, but mark it as ‘ok’ on the paper? And why didn’t you tell us that the tires were two different sizes? You had them all off the car.”
Well, needless to say, the mechanic got himself in a lot of trouble over that one and I don’t think the manager ever did figure out if the tires were really like that on my car when they got it to do the work or not.
I can believe it came from the dealer with two different sizes on it though because on car I had the spare did not fit and that was how I got it from the dealer when I bought it. Didn’t figure that out until I needed it.
@aday: Yes people really do pay $35 for wiper blades. I didn’t believe it either but that’s what they cost me for my Pontiac G6 because of the squeeze connectors. The bill was $70 for a set. I put the old ones in the trunk just in case I need one in an emergency.
I also had to buy those little plastic windshield washer nozzels that mount in the hood. Apparently the paintless dent removal guy broke them. I was a little shocked when the pair cost me $60 but what do you do?
I took my Mustang out to a Jiffy Lube one time to get an oil change and a tire rotation. I usually change my own oil, but it was January and freezing outside, and I needed the tires rotated anyway. I had my doubts about this and sure enough those doubts were confirmed. When I was sitting in the waiting room a guy comes out with an air filter in his hand, the paper air filter was quite dirty and looked like someone had smeared used motor oil on it. The guy tells me that it came off my car and that I should definitely have it replaced. I told him I’d think about it, but to let me know when they were doing the tire rotation as there was something on the front passenger’s side I needed to check when they had the tire off. A couple minutes later, the guy comes in to let me know that the front passenger side wheel was off, and I sauntered out there and asked to see the air filter again. The guy again produced the same air filter, I motioned him over to the car and told him there was something I wanted to him to look at. I then showed him the cold air intake with an inner-fender mounted K&N filter that was still attached to the car. Then I just stared at the filter he was holding in his hand. He then said that the filter must be from another car. My car was the only one in the shop at the time. The guy clearly knew he had just got caught. I asked for him to please finish the tire rotation so that I may be on my way, which he did. They ended comping me the oil change, though I didn’t request it or anything.
@aday a quality set of wiper will run $50+ a pair, at most autoparts stores. The cheap ones tend to wear out fairly quickly.
@snapz007 : There is a lot of outlandish parts of your story, like the prices for replacement drums and integrated hubs and what not (those do exist, but not on your truck). The bit about your drum brakes being out of adjustment was most likely legitimate. All drum brakes on any car made within the last several decades have self-adjusters, but they are very limited in what they can do and periodically need manual adjustment. This was imperative on cars from the '50s and '60s with four wheel drum brakes if you wanted to be able to stop, but is less imperative now. Benefits of manually adjusting your rear drum brakes include better stopping power, better parking brake function, longer wheel cylinder life, better brake pedal feel, less chance of front brake rotor warpage, and longer front brake pad life (you may no longer get 200k miles out of a set of rear shoes, but may also double the life of your front pads and rotors). I usually manually adjust the rear brakes on my vehicles about once a year, and notice a difference every time.
@aday : Wiper blades can be torn and still work well enough to see. They usually start to tear apart at the very end of the blade, where you may not notice it unless you are looking for it. If you look for this and see it, you better replace them ASAP because you don’t want them falling apart while you’re driving through a thunderstorm, or worse, a snowstorm with salt all over the roads. Been there, done that, not fun. Personally, I replace mine at the first sign of streaking or deterioration of the blades, but I also consider wiper blades to be a safety item since I believe you have to see where you are going to drive (I know some people will disagree with me on this point, especially the ones who don’t know what a snow brush or ice scraper is). If you want to save money on wiper blades, buy them at Walmart and install them yourself. If installing them yourself sounds unpleasant or daunting, spend a little more for them at Autozone or any similar store where the counter person will go out there and install them for you.
@kvn1234 : A Ford 390 in a Plymouth Fury? Who would do such a thing? Maybe you meant 383?
@FoDaddy: I seem to get the most life out of the utterly cheap Tricon blades. Ancos don’t seem to last on my cars, and I haven’t been pleased with Bosch blades either.
I have been using Rain-X Weatherbeater blades for the last few years. They work well, but start to streak after about a year. Ancos work well, but have plastic frames, which is no good in a climate that sees regular ice storms. The best blades I ever had, though, were a set of Bosch Micro Edge Excels (sadly discontinued) I bought and installed in 2005 on one of my cars. Those blades absolutely would not chatter, would not streak, and would not wear out. I sold the car last year, and it went to the crusher a couple months ago due to rust with those same wiper blades installed.
My list is long but I am not going to type it all, just my most recent event.
On a Saturday 3 months ago, I changed the engine oil on my Camry, and at the same time did a couple of times of drain and refill on the power steering fluid until it was completely fresh.
On Sunday, I went to this shop to replace my front tires as they were getting old. The tech comes out and tells me I need a PS fluid flush because it is extremely dirty. I asked if he has really looked, and he says yes. The shop foreman started giving his regular lecture on how important this is and how they happen to have a special today. I declined, told him I did the PS fluid yesterday, of all times. Also reminded him that one of my front struts is in somewhat borderline shape. So if anything, during the tire change they should have checked that and also earned a potentially bigger job.
@oblivion :I’ve had the exact opposite experience, my neighbor was a Trico rep for many years, and he would offer me free blades constantly. I used them because they were free. I still remember him being particularly proud of their “Windspoiler” line of blades when they first hit the market. However, they never lasted more than 6-9 months before being rendered nearly useless. Once he retired, a few years ago, I switched to Bosch blades and they are much better IMHO. I had a pair of Bosch ICON’s last over two years, and I really didn’t have to replace them either, as they still worked pretty well (Advanced Auto had a BOGO offer, so I got a new pair). I understand the Rain-X branded blades are pretty good too.
I had a chain store mechanic tell me I needed new tie rod ends one time when I went in for a free tire rotation from another chain store where I bought the tires. I was on a trip and about 500 miles from home so he probably figured I’ll fall for his scam for safety reasons and being away from home. What he didn’t know is I’d just checked the tie rods a couple weeks earlier and everything was tight. I drove the car about another 100K miles and when I sold it it still had the same set of tie rod ends on it I’d been told were bad several years earlier. Such sh-t as this is why I do 98% of my own diagnosis and repairs. There are also too many shops out there that will blindly start throwing parts at a problem with out doing any diagnosis and often results in the car going back multiple times for the same issue.