As we all know, there are many dodgy (and good) mechanics. Sometimes people don't even know if there car has actually been serviced or not.
What are your experiences with mechanics that you've been to?
Ever Been Ripped off by a Mechanic? What Did You Do
immrnonamehello on 25/11/2021 - 09:35
Comments
My 81 year old mechanic keeps changing my tyres every year for the last few years.
Keeps saying 'i need to retire'
Laughed so hard I spat my coffee out hahaha
Geez people are strange sometimes.
The question from OP is "What are your experiences with mechanics that you've been to?".I answered the question.
Was the wrong answer i guess
My mechanic has never ripped me off, I supply the OEM parts and all he charges is for labour.
And they're happy to do the job, wow.
Why is this surprising? If they used aftermarket parts then maybe.
Most of the time it's surrounding warranty - whether the customer supplied part is correct and warranty related problems. If the mechanic spends 4hrs removing parts to get to the part that needs replacing to find it was the wrong item….who pays for downtime? Also if the part fails, who claims warranty, pays for labour for removal, re-installation etc. It is pretty straight forward, but most mechanics wouldn't want to deal with it especially with strangers who walk off the street asking them to work on their car.
who pays for downtime? Also if the part fails, who claims warranty, pays for labour for removal, re-installation etc.
Customer obviously, since they supplied the wrong part.
Well it would be similar to bringing your own steaks to the restaurant to have the chef cook it…
He's an 'old school' mechanic, not a 'swap parts until it works ok' mechanic.
Would have been better off avoiding VW cars.
Buys used, shitty, unreliable, expensive euro trashwagen for pennies
Car starts falling to pieces
"aLL mEcHaNiCs aRe ScAmMeRz"well, the mechanic checked it out and recommended the purchase …
i actually suggested he not buy it (missing battery plate in the engine bay and a few other worrying things) …
but VW isn't that bad, my polo has no problems :)
well, the mechanic checked it out and recommended the purchase …
Lol… Of course he did. That is like a guaranteed revenue stream.
@pegaxs: Which means he might be dodgy, since he was happy to recommend it. In 4 years at my mechanic I have paid for pinks slips and a couple of bulbs only, and when I mentioned Kia last time I was there he still recommended I get a Toyota
Sounds about right for a VW CC
Brazilian mechanic probably happy to never see that car again too.
Friend will get reamed at the dealership.
Pass on my best wishes.
"avoid Brazilian mechanics" = text book racism. Nice.
I love brazilians….! 😁
We love Brazilians down under!
Perhaps straight out of the mouth of a failed One Nation candidate.
Since when is Brazilian a race ? It's like saying anti Muslim things is NOT racist, Islam is a religion not race as is being from Brazil not a race but a nationality.
Eg Muslims from Middle East aren't same race as Indonesian Muslims
Eh!?!?!?!
@AMLagonda: Nope
"are the citizens of Brazil"
"The world population can be divided into 4 major races, namely white/Caucasian, Mongoloid/Asian, Negroid/Black, and Australoid"
@Wayne7497: Dude, there's no such thing as race anyway, it's a social construct:
"Modern science regards race as a social construct, an identity which is assigned based on rules made by society. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race does not have an inherent physical or biological meaning."
Which means brazilian as a race makes as much sense as causasian or anything else.
@Charmoffensive: Wrong totally, check all existing legislation in your state for said racist laws, there all identified
Except that a lot of local VWs in south america are built in factories in Brasil, so they are probably better suited to fix VWs than any dealership in Australia
The only VW sold in Australia build in South America is Amarok - Build in Argentina.
avoid Brazilian mechanics
Racist much, you ********?!?
The car could have been a lemon well before it even saw the mechanic.
The car could have been a lemon well before it even saw the mechanic.
The car was a lemon well before it even saw the mechanic.
Fixed it for you there
2 months (and subsequently 4 months) is a long time in 'car years' for a problem to arise. A mechanic can only fix the problems that are presented to them at that point in time. They can't look into the future and determine the next part that will fail, nor pull apart an actuator and somehow determine it's service life.. it just doesn't work that way.
I wouldn't say this is a case of being ripped off by a mechanic but more a piece of crap car that had a laundry list of problems ready to happen at any notice
WIth respect to the dash warning lights, did you friend return the car back to the mech to have it checked over again and rectified?
Hypothetical question? or you are ripping us off by not tells us everything?
bikies
I enjoy reading post where OP asks people what their experience, or their thoughts on a particular internet article, and not share their own.
Lol… Wow, never seen this thread before…
How I read these threads…
Once a mechanic charged me for work they did that I said ok to without understanding it, because I didn't do my due diligence, therefore all mechanics are scammers…
I am with you on that statement apart from the "I didn't do my due diligence", since the previous guy got the mechanic to look over the vehicle.
However I agree that unfortunately most people treat cars like an appliance and know nothing about them, so invariably have no idea when they are getting shafted
Exactly, isn't the whole reason mechanics get paid the big bucks because they understand it and we don't?
Pretty much applies to any type of skilled labor lol.
Only 1 bad experience a long time ago. Had an older sports car break down a long way from home. Used RACV roadside assist to tow to the local mechanic and since it was a very small job, a belt I think, decided to get them to do the job to avoid a very expensive tow back home (RACV had km limit on tows).
They fluffed up the job, if I recall something to do with a dampener, and I didn't get far before breaking down again. They were useless on the phone. Paid the money to get it towed back home to my trusted mechanic. This time the repair bill was $3000. Trusted mechanic said the other mechanic's work caused it but good luck trying to prove it unfortunately.
I was (almost) ripped off by a mechanic once.
Took Honda Accord 1998 in for a service, he changed the oil filter ($18.99), headlight fluid ($54.99) and then tried to sell me a million dollar slot ($1,000,000.00) in what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
Luckily I noticed all the extra beeps when he was keying it into the card tap terminal. No thanks to item #3, please. I'm not stupid.
How this usually goes;
Mechanic: "Your car is going to need brakes. They are worn out and need replacing."
Owner: "Oh ok, and how much is that?"
Mechanic: "$1,200 Inc parts and labour."
Owner: Oh, ok, no problem, go ahead and get that done."Mechanic: "Car is done and ready to go."
Owner: *pays invoice.jpg*Three days later…
Owner: "Hey OzBargain, did this mechanic rip me off??"
OzBargain: "LoL YoU gOt RiPPeD OfF. mY uNcLe DiD MiNe fOr $50…"
Owner: "aLL mEcHaNiCz ArE sCaMMeRz!!2!1!!1"
I think we know the same mechanic.
Got angry and yelled at him for charging me for the blinker fluid when I told him not to. He ended up giving that for free. But I did accept the $1,000,000.00 share in his Limited Time service, which was stupid of him. Luckily the banks reversed that charge since I'm a broke bargainer :\"headlight fluid"
:D
Always cracks me up Halogen headlight fluid , or " your cigarette lighter was missing we replaced it NO charge, only $50 installation " lol
Weirdly enough, in some cases, there can be an issue with right tyres on left and left on right, but it's not a $50/wheel job and still funny af.
Subaru dealership in the Shire, more they charged way above market average, then told me I needed to replace my brake pads when I put in new ones week before. DIY'd from there on that car since the warranty was almost over anyway.
My local Kia dealer will send SMS you a link to a short video showing them draining the oil, showing old filters they taken out, do a walk around the car on the hoist showing any issues if found, showing brake pad and tyre wear. Brilliant from customer service POV
Not my favourite POV style of video but sounds good anyway.
Its dirty though
And there is oil involved so there is that I guess
@Muzeeb: its a stick tranny, which I like.
Last video was an oil change of the tranny, Kia recommend 100,000km, had it done at 50,000km since I found it hard getting it in sometimes. Now smooth stick, feels way better.
I believe they accept a few different types of payments
yep never buying another subaru again, the stealership service centres are absolute rip off merchants
stay away from the parramatta one
They introduced capped priced servicing think to counter that. Still rather pricey, found Roseberry and Artarmon ok
Some dealerships also charge surge pricing on labour depending on how their daily budget is looking at that time. I know Mosman Toyota used to do it, brake jobs that sold for $300 in the morning could be $500 in the afternoon because they were projected below budget.
Beware cos my local almost charge me 1k for a service that was meant to be capped. I pointed it out in the manual and refused to pay.
Only then did they apologised and adjusted the invoice.
stealership 🤣 🤣 🤣
What Kia dealer was this? Sounds like they're pretty good. Is the video evidence part a standard Kia practice?
Not sure if standard practice but software is available to all dealerships
https://www.infomedia.com.au/service/digital-vehicle-inspect…
They subscribe to a program called Superservice Triage, It can add photos or video's to ROs and be sent to you showing your vehicle and the worn parts. Kia Australia has it as an approved workshop tool and also links to the DMS and other parts and service software like Microcat EPC and Superservice Menus
My local Kia dealer will send SMS you a link to a short video showing them draining the oil, showing old filters they taken out, do a walk around the car on the hoist showing any issues if found, showing brake pad and tyre wear. Brilliant from customer service POV
Nice. I got my car serviced the other week at the dealership (under warranty, fixed price, couldn't be arsed with an alternative ATM) and found the dashcam power cord unplugged. Not sure if this is a common thing?
they prob took your car for a spin around the old block
Yeah obviously they are trying to limit their exposure and potential liabilities, but what a waste of potential to build up goodwill. When I found the camera unplugged it was an immediate flag to rethink repeating taking my car there. Imagine if they actually left it on with a note saying "feel free to see how we did" - it'd be like the best incentive to come back again, even if I never ended up watching the video.
dashcam power cord unplugged
Mine is hardwired. So, they pulled the fuse and plugged it back in before returning the car. I could tell easily by the missing recording timestamps and device logs.
Won't be returning to this stealership next year.It's more likely they disconnected the car battery as a safety precaution.
@spaceflight: install a backup dedicated dashcam battery so even if they pull the main battery, dashcam will still record what they're doing….
I beleieve so. Both the times I took my Mitsubishi Outlander with dashcam to Dealer Service center, always returned with dashcam cord unplugged
Same here. It certainly makes you question what they’re up to.
AVOID dealer servicing for Subaru, Peugeot, Citroen. Inchcape are absolutely shocking. They tell you one price and charge another and do not do a proper job at all. Find a specialist.
AVOID dealer servicing for ALL brands unless you have free service included. There fix it for you.
You legend, you mentioning Inchcape reminded me when I purchased my Hyundai years ago and the 'Fifth Dimension' car-care package BS the Inchcape rep sold me. God, being reminded of how yound and dumb we can be is cringe inducing.
Any good and inexpensive mechanics for the euros in Melbourne?
My local Kia dealer will send SMS you a link to a short video showing them draining the oil, showing old filters they taken out, do a walk around the car on the hoist showing any issues if found, showing brake pad and tyre wear. Brilliant from customer service POV
I was going to ask who this dealer is, but I see you are located in Sydney.
Damn! That is some top notch customer service.Brother paid $850 for a new alternator for an outback at Subaru, they did the job and found there was still a problem, had to take it to a local auto-electrician for $1200 to work out what was wrong. Never really found out if the original alternator had an issue and a $1200 job became $2050.
Thats typical of dealerships, misdiagnose and replace parts hoping for the best, you paid for their guesses.
If you're in Sydney, the only shop I trust to tune and problem solve my Subaru. Manged to solve issues that dealers told me "its going to be expensive even if we dont find it" he fixed for free while upgrading the turbo on old car. I had him tune my new STI as well, increased economy, increase power and torque almost all over 25%. Stock map is trash, run much better now, car is brutal in 3rd.
This guy is good. I used to take my liberty gt there every year to get serviced.
Unfortunately auto electronics can be that way. I've seen $3k+ bills for chasing electrical issues or roughly 3 days labour, all of which can result in literally a $5 module going bad.
I am sympathetic to many mechanics who are trying to do the right thing in changing out alternators etc but because of the number of electrical parts on modern cars there's so many possible causes for a single symptom.
I don't think it's necessarily getting ripped off, although the bill could be brought down significantly if say it were a specialist electrical/euro/japanese etc mechanic working on it (higher hourly rate but may find the issue faster from experience.)
Similar to how we'd work in our bike shop where the more expensive and complex builds/bikes were worked on by our head mechanic who could troubleshoot problems far quicker than a standard mechanic.
I offered to change the alternator for him, I found recos for about 135 exchange and the labour is free of course, but he was going on road trip in 3 weeks and he couldn't risk a home job. He would have saved a whole week because the Subaru dealer took a week to do his alternator and I was going to do it same day. Since then he has a bit more faith in me, as in the last 12 months on his other car I have done his exhaust, brakes, rotors, and tyres for him, all for the princely sum of about $400 (Elantra xd)
And a good auto elec is worth their weight in gold.
CLK350 the other week windows / controls stopped working. Oh yeah probably the module, orders module. Nope still (profanity).
After a lot of dicking around worked out there was no power getting to it. Replaced the power wiring through accordion into the door and all was well.
A good auto elec would've known what to check and been in and out in 30 minutes problem solved. I spent way too much time fixing this.
Her regular mechanic said it was the buttons that don't actually control the up / down mechanism to seal when you open and close the doors…….
As we all know [weasel words], there are many [citation needed] dodgy (and good) mechanics.
Give a bad Google review. But in doing this, it's also important to give good reviews when you can to give yourself a non-biased view of services.
We need to replace the suspension - okay quotes me the price of one shock absorber - when i arrive - oh best to do both at the same time -
My local Hyundai dealer demands that the dash cam be disconnected.
I wouldn’t want to be filmed at work either!
how do they handle bmw's and mercedes and some new toyotas with the dashcams built in with full recording
I am not aware of being ripped off by a mechanic.