Scam Alert! CRV Needs Thousands in Repairs? Not This Time

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When moving from Colorado to Florida I reached my new town on a tow truck with out of state plates. I knew I was screwed not knowing anyone. I told the tow driver to just take me where he might go. He took me to a small family owned shop. The owner told me that he would take a look for me and I prepared for the worst since I was an easy mark. Ten minutes later he came back and said that I was good to go, my points had slipped and just needed to be set and tightened. I reached for my wallet and he said “No charge”. He had no idea that I was moving there and assumed that I was passing through town by his small talk. 30 years later this is the only shop that I ever use. The owner has retired and I deal with his sons who are just as honest as he was. I ended up in a job where I was in charge of seeing that a 20 vehicle fleet was maintained as part of that job. Guess where I steered that work to as soon as I could?

The worst thing about shady shops is they probably won’t do any of the work and charge them full pop for nothing

An honest mechanic is worth his weight in gold!

This kind of dishonesty is exactly why I got into automotive. I was sick and tired of being taken advantage of, so I put myself through tech school and made it a point to excel. I never wanted to have a reason to send a vehicle to someone else. That was back in 2006, and since then, I've worked for myself, worked for others, worked for companies, but always kept honesty, integrity and communication at the forefront of everything I do. There is so much dishonesty in this industry, that for a good technician, this job is as much about repairing people as it is repairing vehicles. Be the good guy or gal, never stop educating yourself or your customers, and you will do well.

That's one of the cleanest CR-V's I've ever seen from that era. Kudos to owner/daughter for keeping it so fresh!

"complimentary" brake inspection for 125 bucks... Literally not a single point of that paper was honest.

I took my wife's challenger to a chain tire/service shop for an oil change at 50k miles and was told we needed $1200 in service. Took it to a different independent shop. Out for under $100. Fully inspected, no problems. It's criminal what places do these days.

When my mom was alive,a gas station guy doing the State Inspection,tried to tell her the front rotors were warped and needed to be replaced immediately! I went along with her,and me, being a Mechanic ,questioned him on why he thought they were bad. He said they were discolored! I told him I felt no pulsing while driving it and suggested he run a Dial indicator on it! Well, he just blinked,and said “ ok,this time I’ll let it slide!”. Never went back again! Lol

In 30 plus years in the business I can honestly say there is enough honest work you don’t have to scam people.

My rule is, 'once burnt and I won't go back.' That applies to any business. I think it's my duty to help weed out the deadwood. Rock on.

A honest mechanic is worth it's weight in GOLD :)

There was a program here in the UK, where some cars were properly serviced and checked and sent to several garages and "faults" were found there, when there were'nt, or another where a service was due - sent in, they were charged for a service, and a hidden camera in the car and tell tale signs that no service was done, but charged the customer for doing nothing . That is downright theft and dispicible.

One of my coworkers immigrated from the former Yugoslavia and she cleaned houses during the day as we worked the second shift. One of the people she cleaned for had to move to a 24-hour care facility so gifted her a 1991 Volvo 240 sedan. Although it was 15 years old at the time it only had 38,000 miles on it and was garage kept and meticulously maintained by the local Volvo dealer. A couple years into her ownership she took it in for maintenance and she had to use a local independent shop because our local Volvo dealer closed down. The local shop quoted her $3,500 and said that the car was dangerous to drive and she should leave with them so they could start working on it immediately. She said she didn't have the money at the moment and would risk it and immediately drove it to an import specialist recommended by other co-workers. He test drove it and the only thing he found wrong with it was a wheel bearing that was on its way out some minor leakage from the shock absorbers and a rusty tailpipe.

Had a coworker ask me to plug in my cheap scan tool to his 03 (I think it was) Honda Accord, shop said he needed the whole emissions EVAP system replaced... Nope... Had him meet me after work at a nearby Advance Auto, replaced the gas cap, reset the code, never came back. They were quoting him over $1,200, fixed it for I think $12? Can't stand shops like that.

A couple of years ago the water pump went on my f150 with the 5.0. I called around and all shops were several months out for service. The dealership wanted $1200 to replace it. I decided to do it myself since it couldn’t wait. It was a $136 part, and having never changed a water pump before it took me 30 minutes from draining the coolant to having a running car again with everything installed properly and torqued to spec thanks to YouTube videos. I was shocked how easy it was, having always paid to have my vehicles worked on. It was at that point I decided that I wasn’t going to mechanics anymore unless it was something that needed a lift, something I didn’t have an expensive tool to fix, or something I didn’t have the expertise to diagnose. I bought some tools, and to date I have done oil changes, suspension work, drive belts and pulleys, sensors, and a number of other small things. In fact I just replaced the struts and sway bar links on my Camry before dinner this evening. I don’t enjoy it, but the value of taking it to a shop just isn’t there anymore. I’m convinced that is going to be the future for many people. The big issue I see in the future is right to repair and serialized parts like manufactures have been doing with electronics making their way to cars. The value of vintage square body Chevy trucks will likely continue to skyrocket.

They kill their own business. Next time this victim buys a car. They will get a cheap new car with warrantee instead. That fake bill alone could lease you a new Honda for close to a year.

Thanks for sharing. We need more honest mechanic to trust like you.

The other issue is that the scammers have more protections than the consumers do . Wizard isn’t naming the shop because he and the customer could face legal repercussions. So the rip off artist will keep succeeding just as criminals do because the system protects them .

This is common with Honda and Toyota dealers. Giving outrageous estimates for problems that don't exist. Last time my wife took her 2008 pilot to the dealership they said $5000 worth of work to be done. My wife asked for a list of problems. We took the car to a highly rated local shop. Cost of repair $86, none of the other items on the dealership list was needed. Local shop is our goto for all things auto for the last 6 years. Honda Pilot Rav4