Why Are So Many Auto Repair Shops Dishonest?   

The price you paid for the test could have been done for about nothing at a parts place, darn it I cannot think of the name. Then 4 hours is not bad for all that they wished to do. Am glad it worked out, I prefer to work with a local littler guy. He knows me and that I pay and he does not have to charge me to make all his money. I drive by and see all the customers that he has. He explains things to me and answers all my questions. Also can show me parts that he has had to replace. We had Firestone for a while back when young. Find yourself a local guy that everyone says they know and suggest you try. Good luck since keeping a car in repair can be a costly enterprise.

i have always thought id rather go to a shade tree mechnic than the big boys all theyre after is your money!and you think they did you bad try being a woman they will roast us cause they think we dont know anything they get a surprise on that score when they talk to me!LOL

Hello Lloyd,

Arrggghhh! That is so frustrating. I'm really glad that it all worked out, without draining your wallet.

Generally, I tend to stick with local repair shops. Their reputation is their lifeline. If they scam folks in a small city, then word gets out, and they end up having to close their doors.

Fortunately, our local dealership has a service manager who is all about integrity. I either take my car to him, or to a local service shop, if the dealership is too busy. Both are very good, honest, and reliable.

Of course, if Mario ever left the dealership, I would probably no longer take my car there for service. I think it really depends on the individual at the helm. Which is why it's so helpful to get referrals from friends and relatives for auto service with integrity.

Thanks for the 'heads up' about Firestone. I've never been, and now will make sure to keep it that way.

I think they are pushed to sell whatever they can. It could be that the machine registered something not knowing the connection was loose. Maybe they weren't really being dishonest, but only going on a reading and then quoting you the price of the job if they do it. Of course they want to do the job and get more money.

I know by going to a dealer rather than smaller mechanic they will charge an arm and a leg. Like if we go to Ford, we will get charged twice what a small guy mechanic will charge. You can buy the parts at NAPPA and save a whole lot of money.

I do believe if they see a woman coming, they will try to pull one over on us, because they know we probably don't know squat what they are talking about...LOL.

Do you think we can send our complains to someone like a president or something? Because you know, my dad got scam too about $200. They even didn't touch or fixed my car. Tsk tsk. Why in the world there are bad guys like them?

Even small business owners of automotive repair will try to put one over on you if they can. We are at their mercy. It irks me that they take advantage of people. We should get second opinions where repair is concerned for our autos. But, that can't guarantee that we won't get taken to the bank.

You are probably exactly right. You probably had a loose fitting and when they completely disconnected it and reconnected it they fixed the leak. My husband was a mechanic for 30 years. He use to gripe so much about the bad name that some companies give to everyone. But I think every business has those sort of people. Now the fact that it was a Firestone Store disturbs me badly. My oldest son is a Manager for Firestone. The secret is, is this a company store or a owner store? I'd take it to the district Manager.

I hear of stories like this all the time , I live in Scotland and I always go to a local guy we have been going to him since he started his own place years ago , all of my family go to him and if he replaces something he wraps up the old one and leaves it in the car ,
I stopped him doing this as I really trust him . At the moment we aren't going to him as I bought a new car and the franchise garage services it fot 3 years ( the rules under the warranty( but when the 3 years are up next year I will be back to IAN ,
He is just so trustworthy and I tell everyone about him ,

He is MMV (McWatt motor vehicles)) Stirling

Why do they do it... the only explanation is that they don't actually do the work... and charge you for it. It is the only way that they can make some extra money out of you.

Most motor mechanics have more work than they can handle... so it would be ridiculous for them to create more work which is not required.

It is a common problem all around the world. In Australia... you need to wait several days before a mechanic will have a look at your car. Meanwhile you are off the road... and if you need your car for working... you are losing money big time.

You take your car in for service and they don't do half of the work they said they did... and charge you $500 or $700 for your trouble. It is highway robbery... but as most people know nothing about cars... we cannot do anything about it. Even the home mechanics like me who could fix their cars 25 years ago... cannot do it today because there is nothing simple under that bonnet anymore.

I don't think they were dishonest, they must have just misdiagnosed your car based on what their machine told them. It is true that many auto shops are dishonest, mostly because people don't really know what is wrong with their cars so they are taken advantage of but not everyone is money hungry (even though it seems most mechanics (and lawyers) are) I'm glad to hear your car is working fine and hope you don't run into anymore car problems.