Did we get screwed? (auto repairs)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Wife takes '96 Accord to place to a repair place (that focuses on tires, but does general work also) to get an oil change. She drops it off, I pick it up. When I pick it up, Repair Shop Guy (RSG) says there’s a quote for muffler replacement and for a radiator flush. I assume my wife has asked for the exhaust quote (as it has become a little louder recently), and the flush was upselling.

I get into the car and it is louder by orders of magnitude. When I get it home, my wife says it was OK when she turned it in. Also, the car is spewing engine coolant. (We are 95% certain this started after being in their posession as the leak was severe and readily apparent.)

We go back to the place to complain that two problems started (or at least were worsened) while in their posession. RSG claims that there is no way that the procedure (including lifting the car) could have damaged the exhaust system and that it was quite rusted.

RSG puts the car on the auto lift, and we inspect the exhaust system, and there was rust in several spots. The hole seemed to be at the junction with a hangar, and the rusted pipe there collapsed. They located the source of the coolant leak, which was in the radiator itself (they pointed it out, but I could not see it). They attribute both to corrosion.

At this point we’re somewhat satisfied it was either chance that these happened together or that the corrosion was bad enough that even maintenance hastened the failure.

On further thought, it seemed too much of a coincidence that :
–two failures happened while in their posession.
–they supplied two quotes, without prompting, both related to the immediate problems.
–when confronted with the problem, especially the exhaust problem, the RSG immediately claims that it wasn’t their work, but instead the corrosion. How did he know? Why did he assert that an inspection would reveal the cause to be the corrosion, instead of suggesting lifting the car to diagnose?

On the other hand, they didn’t hard sell the other repairs. They just said there were quotes attached. Would they have broken things that we might or might not have brought back there to fix? If they wanted extra repairs, wouldn’t they break something immediate, then call and say “Holy crap! Your brake fluid is leaking. You’ll be lucky to make it home alive. You want us to fix it?”

We elected to take the car to another repair place to fix these problems, and we’ll ask them to look for signs of shop-caused damage (especially to the radiator – the exhaust system looks like typical corrosion, so it will be hard to tell if someone “helped” it break through).

So, do you think the repair place did the damage? If so, on purpose? Or did they have the bad luck of both problems occuring while they were in posession?

2

While it stretches probability that two things might appear while in the shop it’s not
impossible. You say the exhaust system show extensive corrosion, so I doubt you
have much of a case there, rusted exhaust pipes are very easy to accidentally
puncture/crush. If the second shop discovers some obvious signs of purposeful
damage to the radiator, you might have a small claims action. One thing most people
aren’t aware of is that the Ph of the coolant should be checked periodically, too low
can cause corrosion, to high can cause deposit build up, restricting flow. There are
additives for maintaining Ph in a proper range. Annual flushing and coolant
replacement may make this unnecessary.

3

Aaah, the power of suggestion. I worked at a radiator and muffler shop many years ago, we would visually inspect other vehicle systems while doing what the customer wanted. Many times we would suggest additional work was needed on the vehicle but the customer would insist on having the work done later or by someone else. Then from an hour to a few days later the customer would return complaining that we were trying to drum up business and damaged the parts we suggested needed replacement or repair. The store I worked in was part of a respected local chain and the manager was one of the most honest people I have ever met, he would never try to get more business in that manner and would fire anyone on the spot that tried. What we usually found is folks really don’t notice a lot of things about there vehicle till it is pointed out to them. Mention a bad muffler, suddenly the exhause seems a bit louder. Mention a leak of some kind, of course it didn’t do it till we pointed it out. And they have never noticed the spot on the driveway that is getting a minute fraction of an inch bigger each day. Sometimes other repair work can cause other problems.

Take your vehicle to another repair shop and have them look at the problems. An experience mechanic can easily tell if the bad parts suffered recent damage or if it was long term. Mufflers suddenly coming loose will show signs of bare, not rusty metal. Old radiator leaks will show signs of corrosion and/or some gunk build up. Fresh leaks won’t. And based on the fact they didn’t try to hard sell the needed repairs is generally a sign of a shop that wants your repeat business, not one that is out to screw you over one time then lose you as a customer.

4

Difficult to say over teh intraweb. It seems like a tangled web of communication, like why didn’t they say to you that your exhaust and radiator were in bad shape when you picked it up the first time, and that they could fix them and here are some quotes? Or why didn’t you ask them what the quotes were for when you picked it up first time and get to the bottom of it that way? (I know its easy to drive away from a place and only realise afterwards that all is not well).

Bottom line is that sending the missus plus car to the garage is fraught with peril IME. Each time I’ve been messed around by a garage (more than once, unfortunately) its been my wife who has dropped the car off.

5

The power of suggestion is powerful.

I took my car in for an oil change and othe stuff. They mentioned a pin-hole in the muffler but said it should be fine for a while.

Now my car sounds distinctly louder.

:frowning:

6

Stupid enter button

I meant to say -

It’s like the Jedi mind trick