don’t be afraid to get that second opinion on your vehicle. great article

Uh car troubles! My partner is worse than me with this. Pretty much just hand them a blank cheque

I wholeheartedly agree with you scams. If a driver is one who thrashes motor and the brakes unnecessarily for a long length time, the brakes will need high maintenance sooner than 200,000 km. I know a guy who thrashed his brakes. He had two speeds – flat out and brake as late as possible, often leaving rubber on the road, mostly on country roads

Really good knowledge to know! Thanks for sharing this!

I have found a couple of ” Mechanics ” that definitely over-charge for the work that they do.
My partner now does the work on our car when its needed.

When booking a service, ask how much an hour they charge, sepcially if you need other things checked. Some places charges are “over the roof”. I rang 2 places about a problem we had with our car. The big place (a dealership) listed off the things that could be the cause and said they had no idea at all how long it would take. They listed possibilities with parts that didn’t even exist on our model. The small place (a family owned business) hourly rate was less than half of the dealer. We agreed that they could keep it for a few days so they could try different settings. It was very hard to start when cold. They made adjustments, let it get really cold and made a few adjustments until they were happy with it. In the meantime they worked on other cars and only recorded the time they actually worked on it. Even at the cheaper labour rate, it still cost a lot less than we expected it to at the lower rate. It wasn’t a special deal. We weren’t regular customers. The company (Mobile Auto care) that did our normal servicing charged 1/2 way between cost price and rrp for parts. They had a set service rate +parts + oil. The guy always did the required service and if anything extra needed doing we were often already aware that there could be issues. Where possible we were always shown the old parts before they were replaced and had the option of keeping the old ones. We never had an issue.

Thanks for this article, great to know what to look out for.

I hate taking the car to the mechanic, as it is so hard to find an honest, competent one. If I had more time I would learn a lot more about the workings of my car so I am not such an easy target for scamming attempts!

I have given up taking the car in as I was sick of being treated badly, some off them are just horrible to woman

I’m hopeless when it comes to cars, some great advice given here, thanks for sharing.

Sadly true & it’s no doubt been going on for many many years. As an older teen leaving home my Dad took me along to a service centre to get work done on my car & be comfortable with going into a service centre myself. It left a very bad impression when they charged big money for work that wasn’t done.

There are so many rip off mechanics trying to fleece unsuspecting consumers, unfortunately it gives the good ones a bad rap. Go with someone recommended by someone you know if possible

Are you serious with your advice for Scam 3? How could any reasonable person be satisfied with used, worn or dirty parts being fitted to their car as long as the cost was reduced? That is just dangerous and irresponsible advice!

Interesting article. Thanks for the good read.

A good mechanic can be hard to find.

Thanks for the tips. I hate taking the car in for a service for exactly this reason but the older I get the less crap I take!

This is such a great article! Just had a friend who complained that the service centre ALWAYS come up with extra work (hence extra charges) every time she takes the car to service. Passing this article on, thanks!

People should inform themselves of their rights as consumers too. Just out of curiosity why are miles referred to when in Australia we use kms? is this article adapted from the US?

Being female, I know next-to-nothing about anything mechanical. Tired of being bamboozled and over-charged by mechanics, I asked around several male & female friend for recommendations of trustworthy mechanics. Two in particular were recommended to me, and I tried one, and he was pretty good. The next time the car was due for servicing, I tried the other one, and I was blown away by their reasonable charges, their honesty, the quality of their work, and their general customer service. I will never go to another mechanic now I’ve found this guy. Always ask around, as personal recommendations are worth more than all the advertising in the world. And if you’re looking for honest reviews of almost any business type in your area, check out “Word of Mouth On-line” (WOMO), as they’re also one of the best places to see personal reviews (both good & bad) of businesses.

http://www.womo.com.au/

An interesting read. Thank you.