Post by annabanana on Mar 13, 2006 19:02:54 GMT -8
READ & SAVE Auto Mechanic Tricks to Avoid
Today I get a call from a friend of mine, "Yeah, I had brake trouble out in the middle of nowhere this week and this mechanic told me it would cost a ton of money to fix it, but Gary told him all what he wanted to do wasn't necessary, and he was right, I checked with my regular mechanic when I got back, it ended up only costing about a hundred bucks." So where did Gary learn so much about auto mechanics? Men's Health, Oct. 2003 issue, when he was over at my place the other week, waiting for a file to download. (No, I don't save old magazines but my neighbor was moving and he was going to throw a big stack away so I grabbed them, it's the best magazine out there!) I read the article and realized I had been stung by the "dirty fuel injector" trick myself several years ago. I thought I'd let everyone here know these tricks, so read below, print it out, cut it out, and put it in your glovebox for when you're stuck somewhere and can't get to your regular trustworthy mechanic.
BEGIN
"Grease-Monkey Games"
Avoid repair scams: Next time you take your baby in for a checkup, don't let the mechanic throw a wrench in your budget. Beware of these add-ons that can needlessly inflate your bill.
1. Oil Change
- The pitch: "Looks like your fuel injector is shot"
- The extra charge: $60-$80
- The truth: it's the snake oil of auto repairs. "Gasoline contains detergents to help keep injectors clean," say Austin Davis, who owns an auto-repair shop in Houston and runs www.trustymechanic.com, a consumer awareness Web site.
2. Tune-up
- The pitch: "When was the last time you had your power steering fluid flushed?"
- The extra charge: $70
- The truth: If the answer is less than 40,000 miles ago, don't bother. "This is a job I see overprescribed," Davis says.
3. Tire Change
- The pitch: Look how hard it is to spin your tires. You need new brakes."
- The extra chage: $400
- The truth: "Tires always do that," says Mike Munson, founder of Auto Repair Estimate Advisors, a mechanics' price-comparison service.
4. Front-Brake Replacement
- The pitch: "You might as well replace the rear ones too."
- The extra charge: $400
- The truth: Front brakes wear two to three times faster than rear ones, since the car's weight is transferring forward during a stop. Replace them every 25,000 miles or so; rear brakes at 60,000 or more.
5. Brake-pad Change
- The pitch: "Your new pads won't last long with worn-out calipers and warped rotors."
- The extra charge: Three times the cost of new brake pads.
- The truth: Calipers, which squeeze brake pads to the rotor to stop the car, can last the life of the car. But it's often easier for the mechanic to replace the calipers along with the pads. A claim that new pads won't work with old calipers is bunk, says Davis. Rotors can get warped by calipers, but a cold puddle on a hot day can do the same thing. Rotors can often be saved with a simple truing -- grinding until they're even.
END
This is the one my friend nearly got suckered into, the mechanic out in the country wanted to sell him brand new rotors along with the new brake pad, but Gary asked him to grind the old rotors to even them out, just like it says in the article. The mechanic didn't look happy, and it only took him about half an hour to do the work.
And let me add one of my own. Don't fall for those "Spring Tune-Up specials" if you regularly maintain your car. The items they list that they "thoroughly check" and the fluids they "top-up for free" are part of the tune-up special for a flat fee, between 50 & 80 bucks. But, if you just ask the mechanic, working at an hourly rate, minimum half an hour charge, to specifically check the same things -- give him a list -- it works out to be half the price. And most of the things you can do yourself with the help of your owner's manual. My friend's uncle owns a garage and he told me that Tune-Ups are their best money-maker as it takes the mechanic two seconds to run through the "tune-up list" and zingo! 80 bucks. The trick is to keep the car out of sight in the garage away from the customer for a good hour to give the impression that a lot of work had to be done to check all the "Tune-up" items.
Today I get a call from a friend of mine, "Yeah, I had brake trouble out in the middle of nowhere this week and this mechanic told me it would cost a ton of money to fix it, but Gary told him all what he wanted to do wasn't necessary, and he was right, I checked with my regular mechanic when I got back, it ended up only costing about a hundred bucks." So where did Gary learn so much about auto mechanics? Men's Health, Oct. 2003 issue, when he was over at my place the other week, waiting for a file to download. (No, I don't save old magazines but my neighbor was moving and he was going to throw a big stack away so I grabbed them, it's the best magazine out there!) I read the article and realized I had been stung by the "dirty fuel injector" trick myself several years ago. I thought I'd let everyone here know these tricks, so read below, print it out, cut it out, and put it in your glovebox for when you're stuck somewhere and can't get to your regular trustworthy mechanic.
BEGIN
"Grease-Monkey Games"
Avoid repair scams: Next time you take your baby in for a checkup, don't let the mechanic throw a wrench in your budget. Beware of these add-ons that can needlessly inflate your bill.
1. Oil Change
- The pitch: "Looks like your fuel injector is shot"
- The extra charge: $60-$80
- The truth: it's the snake oil of auto repairs. "Gasoline contains detergents to help keep injectors clean," say Austin Davis, who owns an auto-repair shop in Houston and runs www.trustymechanic.com, a consumer awareness Web site.
2. Tune-up
- The pitch: "When was the last time you had your power steering fluid flushed?"
- The extra charge: $70
- The truth: If the answer is less than 40,000 miles ago, don't bother. "This is a job I see overprescribed," Davis says.
3. Tire Change
- The pitch: Look how hard it is to spin your tires. You need new brakes."
- The extra chage: $400
- The truth: "Tires always do that," says Mike Munson, founder of Auto Repair Estimate Advisors, a mechanics' price-comparison service.
4. Front-Brake Replacement
- The pitch: "You might as well replace the rear ones too."
- The extra charge: $400
- The truth: Front brakes wear two to three times faster than rear ones, since the car's weight is transferring forward during a stop. Replace them every 25,000 miles or so; rear brakes at 60,000 or more.
5. Brake-pad Change
- The pitch: "Your new pads won't last long with worn-out calipers and warped rotors."
- The extra charge: Three times the cost of new brake pads.
- The truth: Calipers, which squeeze brake pads to the rotor to stop the car, can last the life of the car. But it's often easier for the mechanic to replace the calipers along with the pads. A claim that new pads won't work with old calipers is bunk, says Davis. Rotors can get warped by calipers, but a cold puddle on a hot day can do the same thing. Rotors can often be saved with a simple truing -- grinding until they're even.
END
This is the one my friend nearly got suckered into, the mechanic out in the country wanted to sell him brand new rotors along with the new brake pad, but Gary asked him to grind the old rotors to even them out, just like it says in the article. The mechanic didn't look happy, and it only took him about half an hour to do the work.
And let me add one of my own. Don't fall for those "Spring Tune-Up specials" if you regularly maintain your car. The items they list that they "thoroughly check" and the fluids they "top-up for free" are part of the tune-up special for a flat fee, between 50 & 80 bucks. But, if you just ask the mechanic, working at an hourly rate, minimum half an hour charge, to specifically check the same things -- give him a list -- it works out to be half the price. And most of the things you can do yourself with the help of your owner's manual. My friend's uncle owns a garage and he told me that Tune-Ups are their best money-maker as it takes the mechanic two seconds to run through the "tune-up list" and zingo! 80 bucks. The trick is to keep the car out of sight in the garage away from the customer for a good hour to give the impression that a lot of work had to be done to check all the "Tune-up" items.