"I Tested The Mechanic Who Ripped Off My Subscriber" ―You Can Too With This Advice!

Trust is a lot like respect, and in this day and age of blatant and not-so-blatant misinformation, you really have to earn it to receive it.

For car owners, trust should be an issue when it comes to who works on your car and determining whether or not you need to worry about whether they are scamming you with a bogus recommended repair and/or price quote inflation or other bill padding practices common to some garages.

5-Star Lies

However, should you depend on those 5-star reviews or even the word-of-mouth recommendation you get from a co-worker or family member? In a word, "No."

Case in Point: A recent I Wouldn't Take My Car There YouTube channel post addresses this problem after the host discovers his sister was charged $2,000 for a simple spark plug change in her vehicle. While some cars are decidedly more difficult than others to change their spark plugs, a $2,000 bill screams "RED FLAG!"

Related article: Changing Your Lexus Spark Plugs Can Save You $400

Motivated by the red flag and a separate scam reported by one of his online commenters, the host takes it upon himself to use a hidden camera to see if the same mechanic would try to scam him as well with his Toyota Prius.

With the assistance of a verified trusted mechanic, the two discuss mechanic scams and how to verify whether or not a mechanic can be trusted.

Related Article: Repair Scams Only Another Mechanic Could Catch

I Do This All of The Time…And You Should Too

What caught my attention and interest is that, among other recommendations, I, too, mark components on my spouse's car to track whether or not a maintenance or repair has been done as charged on the billing. Sometimes, it is just a nonchalant scratch on the part expected to be replaced; other times, it entails a little dust and some before-and-after photos to compare and see if they even touched the components in question.

To see what I am talking about, watch the video below, which I highly recommend, and then follow the advice provided by the host and his interviewed mechanic guest.

I Tested The Mechanic Who Ripped Off My Subscriber (Hidden Camera & Real Mechanic Interview)

An Added Warning From Personal Experience with Dealership Service Centers

While finding a garage or service center that has proven to be trustworthy is great, you cannot extend this trust indefinitely. My experience with dealership service centers has been that service techs and mechanics change occasionally, and you will eventually wind up with strangers working on your family car.

For example, I tend to keep the service center manager's business card as a reminder for the next time I take my spouse's car in for servicing. During one visit, the names on the service techs' shirts were unfamiliar, and so was the new service center manager working that day.

At first, I did not think much about it until my inner BS alarm started sounding off when, after a 2-hour wait the guy with the clipboard came to me asking $1,400 to replace "…a rusted out spare tire assembly" that would no longer crank back up after the spare had been removed and inspected.

If I had the time that day, I would have asked him to raise the car on a hoist and show me. But since I suspected it was a lie and would be shrugged off as a misunderstanding, I took the car home and did my inspection there.

It turns out there was no rust on or in the spare tire assembly that cranks a retaining cable attached to the spare tire. The real problem was that the cable had twisted and kinked when the tire (attached to the cable) was cranked down too far. All I had to do was remove the twist in the cable, and it then worked fine, securing the spare tire to the underside of the truck floor. It was not a $1,400 repair, as diagnosed and quoted.

The moral of the story is that you must verify trust and, even then, recheck that trust occasionally. Had it been my previous service center manager and techs, there would likely not have been any problem. But since the staff changed, so should my (and your) expectations of trust.

For additional car scams and other related problems, be sure to check out these three for more examples and warnings to learn from:

• Second Opinion Reveals One Bad Repair and Two Toyota Dealer Scams
• Biggest Scam Caught by an Honest Toyota Mechanic
• How Some Car Repair Garages Hide Their Brake Repair Scam And What You Can Do About It

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 @TimBoyerWritesfor daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks as well on Facebookand his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair."

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