I took my truck in for an alignment. The mechanic said he couldn’t even align it because the ball joints were so bad, and that they would have to replace top and bottom on both sides. I went out there and got him to show me how much movement there was. There was maybe 1/4" of straight up-down movement and no side to side at all. Even while I was standing there looking at it, he said I would be lucky to make it a week or two on them. Well, I changed them out…two years later.
The same thing almost happened to me years ago! I took the car in to a front-end shop-they wanted to replace:
-all 4 balljoints
-both sets of bearings
-a tie rod
What they were proposing went well over $350.00 (this was more than 14 years ago). I asked them “when can you start”? They said they would have to order he parts. I said “go ahead”…
So I went to a shop run by my dad’s friend: they charged me $25.00 and NO parts replaced!
Damn crooks! The sad thing is, many people accept what a crooked mechanic tells them. The truth is, most ball joints last the life of the car! Another favorite scam is to replace brake calipers: they charge you for new ones, but install rebuilt calipers. That is why you ALWAYS request the used parts back-they HAVE togive you them. Really, as acars get more and more maintainence-free (about all yu do is change the oil), repair shops are desparate to sell you parts and repairs you don’t need. So my advice is, find an honest mechanic, and stick with him. Avoid the chains-many of them employ incompetent help.
I worked as a mechanic for quite a while. My first job was with a chain brake shop. The first thing I learned was that they offered three levels of brake shoes, each level costing more, but compensated for by a longer gaurantee. To my surprise and dismay, ALL THREE brake shoe levels came out of the same box. There was no difference at all except in what the customer had to pay. That experience was reinforced at a couple of other chain shops. I wouldn’t patronize a chain shop now if they were paying me to let them work on my car. As others have said, find a good, honest mechanic and stick with him through thick and thin.
16 years old. Third car, first “nice” one. 1996 Saturn SC2. Took it in to get the oil changed and mentioned a slight vibration in the front passenger side tire. It was barely even noticeable but I was trying to be good and preventative and take care of my new car.
Guy told me that they didn’t do stuff like that but I should go to Dave’s Automotive right down the street because they were really good and would give me a great deal.
Dave said I needed a new bearing. $350 bucks. Well, a couple days later, the vibration was a little worse, so I went back and Dave profusely apologized and said he would cut me some slack on a new bearing. $250 bucks. A few days later it was quite a bit worse and Dave was more than happy to put a new bearing in it for $200 bucks. A few days after that it was much worse and my whole wheel fell off and rolled away while driving down the road. Very easily could’ve killed me or someone else. Cost me $750 to fix it.
When I finally went to a reputable shop they explained to me how a wheel-bearing must be “pressed” into place using a very large and expensive machine that Dave’s Automotive did not own, and that Dave had just beat the bearing in place with a hammer, bending the hell out of it, and then over-torqued the lugnuts when putting the wheel back on.
Total cost: $1550
Potential cost: Multiple human lives
Original problem: A $0.20 weight to balance the tire.
Hmmm, the bogus front suspension repair scam seems to be a popular one. I had an Audi some years back that I had bought new in Colorado. At about the time it reached 60,000 miles, I was living in Houston and took it to a local dealer with a request to have the front strut/shock assemblies replaced, normally 75 bucks a side at the time. The service manager called back later that day to say that he was sorry, but the entire front suspension was shot and that every component on both sides would have to be replaced, to the tune of $2500.
This sounded absurd to me as although the ride had become harsher over the years (hence my decision to get the struts replaced to begin with) there had been no physical signs whatever that indicated a major problem. To stave off any further attempted upsell, I basically said that as I was currently laid off, I wasn’t in a position to pay an amount like that, and to just replace the struts as requested. I drove the car for another four years and ran it up to 100K miles with no trouble.
I don’t own a car, never have, but I’ve been riding motorycles for about 25 years now. Early on in my riding life, I got completely robbed by a shop (the now-defunct Stadium Cycles in Queens). I took a Suzuki GS750 in there for a valve adjustment. They never did it, as it turns out. A friend pointed out that it was obvious, if one knew what to look for, that the valve cover had never been removed.
OK, lesson learned. A friend and I took a motorcycle mechanics course, and I’ve never had a bike in the shop since then, barring occasions when really special and expensive tools were needed (a press, for example, or cylinder boring). Even then, I just take the parts that need the special tools to the shop.
It helps to be a member of a motorcycle club, which gives me access to a large body of experience and lots of tools to borrow.
Back when I was in high school, the driver’s side door on my little Mazda didn’t shut. I took it to the dealer and they said it would cost $250 to replace the parts, not including labor.
My little brother, 12 years old, thought it would be fun to see if he could fix it. He took the panel off the door, bought a spring for $0.30 at the hardware store and repaired the problem in 10 minutes. I gave him a $50 for saving me hundreds.
How does one go about finding a good mechanic? I haven’t had a car in years and years and am glad to avoid the headache.
Always read your owner’s manual. Most blatant attempt to rip me off was by a Jeep dealership. I needed one of those key-fob thingies that remotely unlock the car. Could only get it from the dealer. Cost=$50 and they wanted an additional $50 to “calibrate it.” From reading my owner’s manual, I knew that calibration consisted of opening the door, pointing the fob at the receiver and holding the button down on the fob until the locks cycled. Always read your owner’s manual.
I was once driving up to Vermont to do some camping with friends when one of the heater hoses on my car went bad and starting leaking water. The car overheated and I drifted into a rest stop and cozened them out of a big gallon+ water jug. Then I headed up to the next exit so I could turn around and head home – no camping trip, so sad. But wait! There was a garage at the exit and even more miraculous, it was open! So I pulled in and asked if they could fix the leak.
The mechanic popped the hood and stood there gazing at the engine and occasionally spitting tobacco juice off to the side. Then he said he thought he had the hose and, before making sure of it, ripped out the existing hose. Of course, they didn’t have the hose, or anything even remotely like it. So he cut off the bad end and * stretched * the old hose so it would fit, tobacco juice dripping all over my engine during the process. Then he clamped the overstretched rubber and asked if I wanted the other heater hose “fixed” as well. I faintly declined, handed him a twenty and drove off.
Fifteen miles later in the middle of nowhere Vermont, the stretched hose failed catastrophically and the engine instantly dumped coolant and overheated, leaving me stranded. (This was before cell phones became common.)
I hung out on the shoulder for a while staring at the engine until it occurred to me that this was a * heater * hose and it was the middle of August. So I bent the remaining hose into a U and connected the outflow from the engine to the return, filled the radiator from my water jug, and went on my merry way. Several days later, I bought the correct hoses from a dealer and installed them myself.Finagle – What you did: smart, good thinking, and an appropriate procedure under the circumstances. What Mr. Tobacco Juice did: dumb – unbelievably dumb. I’m still shaking my head.