To me this chapter is the most important in the book.
 
So lets start out with the owner’s manual. My owner’s manual threatens to void my warranty if I do not perform the recommended service on time.
 
Well let’s look at what is recommend. In my manual (yours may be different) it states that for normal driving an oil change is due every 3,000 miles or 3 months.
 
Then you keep reading and it says for fleet vehicles oil changes are needed every 4,500 miles or 6 months. What are they talking about with fleet vehicles?
 
I called the 800 number and asked for the official explanation, which is high mileage use or long trips equaling more than 9,000 miles a year would be considered fleet type use.
 
Well to me this is what normal driving is.
 
So according to the manufacturer my vehicle should be serviced under the fleet maintenance schedule.
 
Everybody I know puts more then 9,000 miles a year on his or her vehicle.
 
The national average for miles put on a single vehicle has risen from 10,000 miles in the 80’s to 15,000 miles a year in the 90’s to present day.
 
So most of the nation should be on the fleet schedule along with me.
 
I added up the price difference between the 2 schedules in my own personal service manual.
 
Over a 75,000-mile 5-year period the price difference or savings by going with the fleet schedule was around $500.00 dollars by increasing the service intervals.
 
But even more important then the money was that this means less visits for service. 
 
As we have learned every time you avoid a service appointment your avoiding scams and rip-offs overcharges and poorly done work.
 
These items together are priceless over a five-year period.
 
What did the manufacture mean about voiding my warranty. Well I have seen this first hand.
 
The manufacturer will not honor the warranty if the vehicle was abused. Using the fleet schedule is not abuse it’s what is recommended on my vehicle.
 
The dealer and manufacturer will have the burden of proof to claim neglect.
 
This is very difficult and usually only happens under extreme neglect, like when the engine oil looks like tar from lack of oil changes.
 
Now this is important I am not saying to not service your vehicle regularly.
 
I am saying do services only when it is needed. Owner’s manuals are different for every vehicle.
 
Study your manual and how it relates to your driving conditions and stick to what is really recommended.
 
I was changing my own personal oil way too much.
 
The point was driven home at my newest job. The government fleet I work for has 1,800 pieces of equipment.
 
The cars and light trucks get their oil changed every 6 months or 4,500 miles.
Services are almost never late due to a high tech notification system.
 
When the vehicle is due, it comes in for service!
 
After a 5 year 100,000 mile study there were no engine failures in the entire fleet. To me this means 4,500 miles or 6 months is good for me also.
 
Now on your vehicle I stress to study the owners manual and see what is best for you and your vehicle.
 
Vehicle owner’s manuals are not usually user friendly. The manufacturer probably does this on purpose.
 
A confused owner will most likely put their trust in the dealer to guide them in needed maintenance and repairs.
 
This is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.
 
The dealer will put you on the schedule with the most frequent service intervals and push you towards over servicing your vehicle.
 
The maintenance section is usually toward the back of the manual.
 
I recommend reading this section four to five times or until it is completely understood.
 
Do not be afraid to call the customer assistance line and ask questions.
 
The price for this little used information service was added to the price of the vehicle that you purchased.
 
The customer assistance hot line is important to the manufacturer. Do to the fact they are trying to build brand loyalty and future sales by providing courteous friendly customer service
 
Become an authority or expert on the required maintenance of your specific vehicle and know what is needed before you go in for service.
 
When the service advisor starts throwing up-sell services at you and you shut him down with facts and knowledge you will change the shops attitude about selling you services you don’t need.
 my new web site www.auto-facts.org

        auto repair blog

                                   

 

I want to start this chapter out with a recent personal story. I moved across the country to secure my new government job. This was actually about two years ago.

I got to town before my tools arrived and the long trip put me past due for my recommended maintenance on my newer truck that now had about 6,000 miles on it.

My owner’s manual states to change the engine oil every 3,000 miles or three months.

My manual states failure to comply with this could void my warranty and I know this is not true and I will explain why in this chapter.

I decided to go to the local dealer and explain to them I was a certified master technician without my tools and needed an oil change.

The dealer service advisor wrote me up and I waited for the vehicle in their state of the art customer conference room.

While I was in the waiting area I read the sales flier of what was to be included in my $34.95 oil change.

Boy all kinds of good stuff. I was tempted to go outside and watch the mechanic perform the service.

But I was comfortable and decided to relax, have some coffee and watch TV.

This was a mistake and against my better judgment.

I do strongly recommend that you watch the mechanic perform the service when waiting for your vehicle.

Even if you don’t know what your watching. The mechanic may not like it but that’s to bad it is your right to watch.

This usually keeps the mechanic honest. As in he is less likely to skip things like checking tire pressure and filling fluids.

Well I received a page that my vehicle was done and to proceed to the cashier.

I paid my bill and my truck was pulled up to the drive through. I decided to check the service right there.

Oh my god the horror. Nothing in the flier was done except just the oil change and they screwed that up also.

They overfilled the engine oil by more than a quart, which is bad for the engine.

They did not lube the front end; they did not top off the fluids, check the tire pressure or even fill my washer fluid.

They even crossed threaded the oil fill cap and broke it.

My blood pressure went through the roof. I went to the service advisor and asked to see the service manager.

To my surprise he pointed to the service managers office, instead of trying to handle the complaint, as a good service advisor should do.

I knocked on the service manager’s door and he yelled what in a very aggressive manner.

I entered and introduced myself and said I just moved to town and was looking for a reliable dealer and was interested in being a long-term customer of this establishment.

I explained to the service manager my disappointment on how my simple oil change was completely botched. He said why and I went down the long list.

He got defensive and put on his angry face and said what makes you so smart.

I explained my expertise in the field and why I didn’t do the service myself.

He went out to my near new vehicle and I showed him every last detail that went wrong on the simple service.

After a few more attempts to get tough on me which I immediately used against him he surrendered and agreed the service was done horribly.

There was no defending anything because the poor service was so obvious.

He stated his lube guy was a trainee and he would have the service straightened out by his best master tech and refund my money.

He lived up to his promise but I was there for about 5 hours total.

I know this was a long story but I wanted you to understand I know what you face as a customer and as a mechanic.

Check out My New Book: A Mechanics Secrets 

www.certifiedmastertech.com

 automotive   

This is one of those chapters that could be a book in itself.

I will try to strike a balance between being brief yet thorough. First a few facts I dug up on the Internet about auto repair scams.

The Consumer Federation of America states, auto repair rip-offs are consistently one of the top five most frequently reported consumer complaints.

National figures indicate $20 billion is spent annually on unnecessary or faulty auto repairs.

The California Bureau of Automotive Repair receives around 25,000 automobile repair complaints a year.

Since the only people who file complaints are those who know or suspect they have been ripped off, the actual number of auto repair fraud victims in California is probably much higher.

With that said, I have personally seen so many different ways to rip people off in the auto business that it is hard to pick out the most common scams because each shop has its favorite.

You can see that 1 shop will push a certain service on almost every vehicle that comes in for repairs.

So I will concentrate on the most common scams and rip offs that I have seen and heard about in my 23-year career in the automotive service retail business.

If you feel that a scam was pulled on you and you do not see it listed here please e-mail me your story and I will review it and check it out.

If it turns out to be a scam I can then post it as an update in my monthly newsletter.

To get started on the most common scams we have to talk about a few different rip offs as related to brake jobs.

Brake job scams are so popular that whole franchise businesses have been built around them and specialize in just doing brake jobs.

These companies have recognized the pure profit potential from performing brake service.

Brake scams are easily sold to the UN educated consumer do to the safety factors involved. We all no the importance of being able to stop the vehicle in emergency situation.

Once again the shop uses this to their advantage and sells you unneeded services in the name of safety.

The most common brake service scam is the complete brake system overhaul.

I will use a specific example to show you how this works. You go into a chain store to have your brakes checked.

Maybe you heard some brake squeal or brake noise that concerned you.

So you bring your 1999 Chevy blazer that has 75,000 miles on it to a shop to have the brakes checked. Lets say it really needs front brakes and the pads are worn down to below 20% remaining.

The shop could do a standard brake job or a hang and turn as we call it. A hang and turn is replacing the brake pads and resurfacing the rotors.

This service would retail for around $110.00 but the shop would prefer to make more. So they recommend a brake system overhaul.

The brake system overhaul will mean different things to different auto repair shops. In most cases they are talking about overhauling the brake calipers by replacing the seals in the calipers.

A caliper seal kit is very cheap in parts cost and very high in labor costs. The seal kit usually has about 3 or 4 rubber seals in it and cost the shop about $3.00

They then charge you $20.00 for the kit and another 2.0 hours per caliper to install the seals. But here is the scam part.

The caliper seals are internal and it’s hard to verify that they were actually replaced. The outer seal known as the dust seal is usually the only seal that will get replaced during this unneeded service.

The mechanic then throws away the remainder of the brand new seals. The shop usually includes a brake system flush in this service, which I will attack in a moment.

The first issue to address is do we really need a caliper overhaul. In most cases no we don’t. Why is this true? The manufacturers make fantastic calipers from the factory.

The reason being it is an extremely important safety related part. The manufacture must be sure their vehicle meets stopping distance requirements.

They must also be sure that the calipers are over engineered to last for the life of the vehicle. The manufacture cannot afford to go to court for lawsuits on brake system failures.

Now with this being said do calipers ever need to be overhauled? Yes on rare cases this is the case. But there are warning signs that the service is required.

The Number one sign that a caliper is failing is a strong brake pull. To explain, this is when the vehicle pulls right or left during braking only.

The harder you brake the harder it pulls to one side. This is because a caliper is binding on one side or the other. Equal braking force is not be applied.

Tell tale sign # 2 is if the red brake warning light is illuminated on the dash. This can indicate the brake fluid is low and may be caused by a brake fluid leak from a caliper.

In any case the way the caliper service should be addressed is to replace both front calipers at the same time. I do not trust the individual mechanic to overhaul my calipers.

 I would rather replace both front calipers with either new or remanufactured calipers. This way you are assured you have reliable calipers installed.

Some remanufactured calipers come loaded with new brake pads and now you have new calipers and brake pads that the mechanic can just bolt on. This requires very little skill from the mechanic and makes for a very reliable repair. Most auto repair shops will do this if requested

There is much more to learn about the auto repair business in my new book A Mechanics Secrets Auto repair Rip-Offs Revealed

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auto repair blog

It may seem that every time you go to your local auto repair shop that you are bound to spend more than the twenty five dollars you planed on spending for your oil change.  

I am sure you have heard this line before from your friendly auto repair center. While we were doing the oil change on your car we noticed other saftey repairs that are needed.
 
In allmost cases this is not the auto repair shop being nice and looking out for your best interest or for your safety but instead a way of increasing the shops A.R.O.
 
Average repair order is the measurement of total sales per repair order. The shops goal is to increase the amount each person pays on every visit. The auto repair shop uses this to keep track of their employees to measure their performance on the art of up selling.
 
The mechanic and service advisor work together on this project because it also increases the amount they both make along with the auto repair shop.
 
The way it works is the auto repair mechanic finds profitable repairs to be done like a brake job and brings it to the service advisors attention.
 
The commission based service advisor then hard sells this repair as a needed critical safety repair.
 
I can’t help but break into a story about one of the sharpest most evil service advisors I ever met. This man would go through your vehicle and find out as much as he could about the vehicle owner.
 
He would look for bank statements past due bills and any thing he could get his hands on to find out what your financial position was. He would go through the trunk, the glove box under the seats he was relentless.
 
One time he came out to my bay and started going through a vehicle and I asked him what he was doing. His reply was making us money. Then He yelled out bingo. I said what did you find.
 
He said the best thing of all a baby seat and baby toys. He then said this vehicle needs brakes. I said I didn’t look at the brakes yet. He said it didn’t matter what it needed it only mattered what they were getting.
 
Now in this case the brakes were about 25% remaining so selling brakes to this person didn’t hurt anyone. But the service advisor asked about the baby to set up the sale for family safety reasons.
 
If the customer hesitated to buy, the service advisor would explain it was for the safety of the baby and how if she performed an emergency stop the vehicle would take longer to stop with worn brakes and he was looking out for her baby. This guy was a shark and pulled down more than $100,000 a year just for selling service.
 
I tell you this story so you can be on guard if you run into a shark. The shark will start asking you personal questions while you are waiting for the vehicle to be brought into the auto repair shop.
 
Not because he cares about you. He is trying to paint a picture of you so he can find the button he needs to push to make a sale. And don’t forget to clean out the inside of your car including the glove box. You must protect yourself!
 
Now how to defend against the mighty shark. Lets use a common scenario as an example. You bring your vehicle into a chain type service center for an oil change.
 
The mechanic talks with the service advisor and he starts clicking away on his calculator. Then he calls you over and says you need front brakes and an air filter. Lets start by asking questions and controlling the negotiations.
 
First we should ask if we can go to the vehicle and be shown what is needed. Even if you don’t know what you’re looking at you still want to act like you do know what you’re looking at.
 
If the service advisor says your not allowed in the auto repair shop for insurance reasons or safety reasons this is a red flag that they may be hiding something. The auto repair shop may have policies against customers being aloud in the shop but you still have the right to inspect the needed auto repairs.
 
If the auto repair shop flat out refuses to show you then instruct them to just finish the oil change and you will get a second opinion from another shop. Even the most cold hearted service advisor will have trouble pointing to what he knows is an obviously good part and calling it bad.
 
If they take you out to the vehicle ask to see the air filter and try to verify its out of you’re vehicle and it does look dirty.
 
The service interval for air filters is about once a year or every 20,000 miles depending on your driving conditions. If the filter looks dirty and it’s been awhile then approving the air filter replacement should be ok.
 
But don’t forget to ask for a part and labor breakdown. Usually the shop will install the air filter for free and just take their 30% profit on the part.
 
Now onto the brakes you want to ask how bad are the brakes. Opinions vary on when brakes should be replaced. My preference on my own vehicle is 15-25% remaining. 25% remaining could mean 5,000 miles left of safe driving.
 
You can start buy asking if the brakes are metal to metal meaning that there is no brake pad remaining and the brakes are at 0 %.
 
Using the above term also notifies the shop you know about brakes and may not be the easy sale they thought you were.
 
His next response is important. If he says the brakes are 30% worn or higher you can wait on the repair.
 
If he says they are 25 % or lower ask if you would be able to see the brakes. On some vehicles you can look right through the wheel and see the brake pads. Some vehicles the wheel has to be pulled off which is no big deal.
 
You can also use these guidelines on brake pad wear. On average you can get about 35,000 – 45,000 miles from a set of brake pads.
 
The more city driving or stop and go driving you do the faster the brakes will wear. For example a taxicab may need brakes every 25,000 miles due to severe stop and go driving.
 
So if the shop is recommending brakes on your car and it’s been 35,000 miles since its last brake job then you probably need them.
 
 If they show you the brakes and your wheels are covered with worn brake dust and the brake pad looks thin about a quarter inch or less lets talk about doing a brake job.
 
I will go more in depth about common scams in the next chapter but for now lets get a price on the brake job. This is different than our earlier examples with water pumps and alternators.
 
Brake jobs are sold in a package price form to compete with other shops. Brake jobs are easy to perform and have a large profit margin so shops work hard for the coveted brake job.
 
The price may vary from model to model but a fair price for a front brake package on a car or light truck is around $110.00 – $175.00.
 
When in doubt go for a second opinion. Many chain shops offer a free brake inspection if you buy a brake job or low cost brake inspections if they are not needed.
 
This will give you a chance to compare notes from the 2 shops and see if the stories match.

auto repair