I am a retired GM Master tech of 50 years doing alignments. After doing alignments in a dealership, I will tell you that most (90%) did not need an alignment, they needed the tires aired up.

While many car owners know that one of the most significant hazards of car ownership is having to go to a dealership for maintenance and repairs of their vehicle because of the unsavory business practices many service centers use to inflate their maintenance and repair bills, what is less known is the fact that mechanics are often pressured into being dishonest.

Not so sure of that fact? Consider this study.

Study Finds That Mechanics Do Cheat Customers and Possibly Why

At least one interesting study examined whether car mechanics were more prone to cheat customers than non-mechanic test subjects under the same job role during a carefully crafted experiment.

This test, however, is not just for mechanics. It has applications in other professions as well, with the one most similar to mechanics, including care given to patients by physicians.

The study describes the cheating problem with both mechanics and physicians as follows:

"In particular, credence goods markets typically suffer from the following types of cheating on consumers:

(1) Undertreatment, i.e., providing a quality that is insufficient to satisfy the consumer's needs.

(2) Overtreatment, i.e., choosing a higher quality than the surplus maximizing one.

(3) Overcharging, i.e., charging for a higher quality than provided."

In other words, sellers are incentivized to cheat buyers, and the study differentiates three ways this happens. More to the point, concerning mechanics and customers, the study determined that:

"While we find qualitatively similar effects in the fraud dimensions of undertreatment and overcharging for both subject pools, car mechanics are significantly more prone to supplying unnecessary services in all conditions, which could be a result of decision heuristics they learned in their professional training."

In other words, once again, what the study showed is that when it comes to cheating a customer the most common cheat is to provide unnecessary maintenance services or repairs.

And why is this?

The study conclusion, with typical academic handwaving and inflated verbiage, states, "…could be a result of decision heuristics they learned in their professional training."

Note that they stated "training" and not "environment," which begs the question: Are mechanic students then taught by their instructors to "supply unnecessary services"?!

I have doubts about that one. However, it could be true to some point if such instruction was given with a paternalistic "Father/Physician/ Mechanic knows best" attitude or view that when it comes to car owner customers, you as a mechanic (or physician) have to go overboard with preventive maintenance for their own good.

Closer to the truth, however, and one reason noted in the study, is that it is easier to get away with cheating someone with "overtreatment" as opposed to "undertreatment" or "overcharging."

Related article: Repair Scams Only Another Mechanic Could Catch

This brings us to the topic at hand: The three biggest scams mechanics see in the auto repair industry.

The 3 Biggest Scams We See In The Auto Repair Industry…

In a recent Royalty Auto Service YouTube channel episode, the host reveals the problems he sees in the car repair industry. He wants to see these problems changed, but this can only happen if car owners know what repairs they should be prepared to decline.

Follow along with the host as he discusses the three biggest scams that include:

Scam #1: Lifetime Alignments―A lifetime alignment is not for the lifetime of your vehicle. Rather, it is a tactic to get a customer "locked in" as a returning customer. The problem with this is that in many garages, techs are not paid to do wheel alignments. Referred to as a "toe and go" the tech will do the minimum possible to qualify very loosely that "an alignment was done" and then move on to a service or repair the garage will pay them for.

Scam #2: Free Diagnostics― "It just does not exist. You are not going to get something for free," admits the host, explaining that what is happening is that the garage may tell you that as long as you have the repair done in their garage that you will not have to pay for the diagnosis part of it. In reality, while you might see zero charges for diagnostics, you can count on the likelihood it is made up for by inflating the labor part of the repair.

Scam #3: The Check Engine Light Comes On Hustle―So, you have a check engine light warning, the garage replaces a component, and the check engine light is gone but then returns a few days later. The garage explains, "Well, you needed that component replaced, but you also have other work that needs to be done." In other words, you could be hustled into a repair situation where the garage fires the parts cannon until something sticks and the repair(s) appears to have fixed the problem(s)

The video below is highly recommended to watch and learn from, along with additional details shared by the host.

For More About What Other Mechanics Have Experienced, be sure to check out the comments from the YouTube video, which confirms that some mechanics are just as much victims of the car repair industry as are car owners including the article’s titled quote of one mechanic who shared that wheel alignments are mostly scams perpetuated by garage or service center management.

For additional garage scam-related articles, here are three informative ones for your consideration:

• "I Tested The Mechanic Who Ripped Off My Subscriber" ―You Can Too With This Advice!
• Top Car Mechanic Scams to Avoid in 2024
• The Car Repair Anyone Can Do That One Garage Could Not

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati who currently researches and works on restoring older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. He also reports on modern cars (including EVs) with a focus on DIY mechanics, buying and using tools, and other related topical automotive repair news. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWrites as well as on Facebook and his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair" for useful daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

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Image Source: Deposit Photos

Study Reference: Beck, A., Kerschbamer, R., Qiu, J., & Sutter, M. (2014). Car mechanics in the lab––Investigating the behavior of real experts on experimental markets for credence goods. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2014.09.008