Car repair and service scams and how to avoid being scammed especially for single mothers
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After about 5 minutes of the service advisor really trying hard to talk me into these expensive and obviously unnecessary repairs, “you could be left stranded or worse with a broke down engine” he walked off and left me in the service bay with the mechanic. I told the mechanic that I wasn’t born yesterday and that I was quite experienced with cars and such and asked him point blank, “if this were your car, what would you do to it right now? Is there anything here that in your opinion really needs to be fixed like the service advisor stated?” His reply, “Nothing needs to be done to that car. The reason the check engine light came on was the gas cap needed to be replaced as it wasn’t effectively sealing the gas tank.”
I couldn’t believe the service advisor was trying to pull a very expensive quick one (scam) on me. I had them do the oil change and replace the gas cap and the total came to a tad over $100. When I got home I called the local wholesale auto supply which I have an account at and inquired as to the price of a new and a rebuilt compressor for my car as it will eventually need to be replaced. It wasn’t anywhere near the $700 price the service advisor quoted me – it was $237 new and $164 for a rebuilt and both come with a full 1 year warranty. Then to see what regular people would pay without a wholesale account I called a few local auto parts suppliers and was quoted prices from $250 to $427. Now this obviously wasn’t installed. So I called around, looked it up at Craig’s list and even inquired with the original tech that worked on my car (sans the service advisor as he obviously was not a very truthful character) to see what he would charge to do it on the side.
Restore worn and cloudy headlights to new again and save hundreds over replacement costs. Experience better night time vision and driving safety with the New Lite headlight repair, cleaner and restoration from mdwholesale.com. It is100% guaranteed!Most service shops will not install a part you bought elsewhere. You must buy it through them. And their prices were around $400 to $600 for the compressor and then another $400 or so for labor to install it. The funny thing here is that when I left the wholesale auto supply warehouse where I have an account, in line after me were techs or parts department employees of several of the service shops and even the local dealer where I was quoted the high prices – they bought their parts at the same place I did which means the dealer would pay $237 for the compressor and charge me $700 a 300% markup. As it turns out I found a very reputable and trustworthy mechanic through my local city Craig’s List to do the installation of the compressor and he came to my house and installed it along with a new dryer (which the dealer wasn’t including) for $175 (which he said included his $35 service call fee). I purchased the rebuilt compressor (as it was rebuilt to the same or better specs than the original) and so my total was $339. The car dealer (service advisor) wanted $1200 for this same repair. I saved over $800 and to top it off I now have a very trustworthy and reliable mechanic that makes house calls so I don’t have to leave my car at the dealer or spend long days in a service department!
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