I’ve had bad experiences with car mechanics before, but in my experience, you usually don’t realize what’s going on until after they’ve presented you with a bill. Not this guy.
A month or so back, my car was hit in a parking lot, denting the left rear quarter panel. The guy who hit me left a note and everything, so that’s all good. But what with one thing and another, I haven’t got around to getting any estimates until yesterday. I went first to a guy who was recommended to me. On the way back home, I turned a corner, saw another auto body shop, and thought, “what the hell, I’ll get another estimate while I’m out here.” Last time I do THAT.
The guy who came out to do the estimate was practically salivating all over himself. He told me even before going out to look at the car that he could help me get some “compensation for my inconvenience”. We hadn’t been talking 5 minutes before he told me all about he could just repair the bad parts - “and I’ll show it to you so you know I’m not using too much filler” - and charge the insurance company for all new parts. That way we’d “both come out ahead.” When I left, he gave me his card with a promise he wrote on the back to throw in some extra work for free and give me $500 cash under the table.
I’d heard of stuff like this before - I’m not completely naive - but I’d never had it happen to me. I was a bit taken aback, I must admit. I’d literally just walked in off the street and he was offering to help me commit insurance fraud. I have to wonder, did he really believe that I would trust my car to someone who was so eager to rip off the guy who hit me? I mean, am I supposed to believe that even though he’d rip off THAT guy, he’d never rip ME off? Unbelieveable. If you’re going to be unethical and cheat your customers, at least have the common decency to do it sneakily. Don’t brag about it to anyone who comes walking through the door.
I’d report him, but I (stupidly, I admit) gave him my real name and address. Suffice it to say that I don’t think he’ll be the one to fix my car.