You failed my car for brakes, then quoted me $2,000 for the repair work. I had a funny feeling that you were over charging so I called around and found three quotes between $1,200 and $1,300.
When you billed me for the MVI, you asked for $25 but then you tried to charge me for another $40 for hoist time while I was getting quotes (20 minutes). That is totally ridiculous. I did not pay it, and I will not pay it. —Sue Me
This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2012.
This exact thing happened to me two years ago. I was told, during a visit for an updated MVI, that I had a problem with my brakes. It would cost me way more than I had, and I told the guy he would have to put a reject sticker on my 3 year old car, because I couldn’t afford to have the work done.
He said he would pass me anyway, as long as I promised to return to have the brakes fixed, as it wasn’t safe for me to let it go too long. I traded the car in, two weeks later. The mechanic at the dealership checked my car, bumper to bumper. The brakes were fine.
Funny how there was the big stink about how subjective it was…
how the paper did a big expose on going around and getting very different quotes from different places…
and all that came out of it was that now we’re only bilked every OTHER year.
Great.
I always make it abundantly clear that I will not be having any work done at the place I get the inspection from so it is definitely not to their advantage to ‘find’ things to ding me for.
That’s the only thing I’ve been able to come up with in this crazy system to try not to get needlessly squeezed.
My mechanic is very honest. Those ones are worth their weight in gold IMO.
zZz, good idea!
Find a local/independent mechanic with a good BBB grade. Repeated interactions (with the same mechanic) plus competition usually implies honesty.
My mechanic pulls me into his shop and shows me specifically what’s wrong with my car (pretty rare due to owning a Toyota) as well as any other optional servicing that might be needed down the road. I normally have no idea what he’s talking about but it’s still a transparent way of doing business.
This exact thing happened to me two years ago. I was told, during a visit for an updated MVI, that I had a problem with my brakes. It would cost me way more than I had, and I told the guy he would have to put a reject sticker on my 3 year old car, because I couldn’t afford to have the work done.
He said he would pass me anyway, as long as I promised to return to have the brakes fixed, as it wasn’t safe for me to let it go too long. I traded the car in, two weeks later. The mechanic at the dealership checked my car, bumper to bumper. The brakes were fine.
if it costs that much to fix, then that car shouldn’t be on the road. is that you trish honey?