Finding an Honest Auto Mechanic

Home Home and Auto Automobiles Repairs Finding an Honest Auto Mechanic

"And then, to top it all off, they told me it was going to cost $326! I couldn't believe it!" Mary listened as Sue recounted her latest consumer rip-off story. It did sound if she hadn't been treated fairly, but why was it always Sue that had these problems?

Mary settled into the break area. "Sorry I'm late. Wanted to finish up that report first so I didn't hear how all this started. What was wrong with the car?"

"Just a little noise. It didn't sound like much and I didn't know a good repair shop so it went a couple of weeks before I took it in."

"So what's the problem? They gave you an estimate and fixed it, right?" Diane asked a good question. But sometimes Mary wished she weren't so blunt.

"How did you find this guy? You did check him out before you went there." If you wanted something checked thoroughly you went to Robin. Mary wouldn't have been surprised if Robin knew how many children her mechanic had.

"I didn't have time. The car wasn't running right. I picked the shop that looked busiest. This guy always had cars all over the place."

"Oh Sue, that was your first mistake. You should always find a mechanic before you need them," Mary explained. "Did you check to see if the mechanics were ASE certified? Was the shop a member of ASA?"

"ASE? ASA?"

"Yes, ASE is the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence. ASA is the Automotive Service Association. It's not a guarantee, but then you're dealing with people who are at least trying to be professional. Did you see any of those certificates that they hang on the wall? What about asking questions. Did you ask them about guarantees?" Mary was beginning to understand Sue's problem.

"Well, no. Not really. I just wanted to get out of there. The counter was so dirty I didn't even want to put my purse down. The guy who wrote down the problem was really greasy. All I could think of was that he'd mess up the seats in my car!"

Robin's voice expressed her amazement. "So you just threw your keys at the man and said 'fix it'! Girl, no wonder you got troubles. When you saw that the shop was real dirty you should have left and taken your keys with you! What about the written estimate? You did get them to give you an estimate..."

"Well, maybe. He asked me to sign this." Susie pulled a form out of her bag. Robin eyes got big as she looked at it. "This doesn't say what they were gonna do or how much they'd charge. That's like signing a blank check!

"If they would have written $75 on the estimate you could have told them that you wanted to approve anything over a certain about before it was done. I usually tell them if it's going to be more than 10% over the estimate I want the chance to say no."

Diane was getting anxious to get back to work. "So how did you get from $75 to $300? They must have had some explanation."

"Not really. He just said it was more complicated and would have been a lot cheaper if I had brought it right in. Then he pushed this greasy bill at me. The only words I recognized were hose, belt and $326! I was too surprised to do anything but hand him my credit card."

"I'd have given him more than my credit card. You should have given him a piece of your mind!" Mary enjoyed watching Diane get excited. Funny thing was that she knew Diane wasn't just talking. She would have spoken up quite clearly.

Wanting to help Sue, Mary asked if she were going to talk to the owner. "Boy, I don't know. I feel like such an idiot. How do I know that he won't just tell me something to get rid of me?"

"What I do is play dumb. I learned it from my Dad. He knew lots about cars, but if he had to deal with a new shop he'd pretend he didn't know anything. He'd ask every question you could think of. Crooked guys would fast talk you and just say anything. Pretty quick you could tell they were lying. Honest guys would explain so that Dad could understand. You need to be willing to admit that you don't know everything, but it's worked for me. By the way, Sue, if you find that these guys are bums, I know of a good mechanic. If you'd have asked I could have just picked you up at his shop and brought you in to work."

As they left the break area, Robin wanted to encourage Sue. "Look, it's not the end of the world. After you talk to them you'll know whether they're crooks or not. If you want to hear a real horror story you should hear about the plumber I found last week!"

Gary Foreman is a former financial planner and purchasing manager who currently edits The Dollar Stretcher.com website and newsletters. You can also follow Gary on Twitter or on his blog.

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