Brake scams

[Roverlord off road spares]

Just wondering if there is a mechanics scam on brakes going around?
sister 1 goes and gets a mobile mechanic to do some work, he tells her her brakes really need doing and quotes her a price, being with insufficient funds at the time forgoes it. She then books into Kmart Tyre and auto near her to get her brakes done a few weeks later she drops the car off and goes shopping. Then shortly after she gets a call from them on her mobile, she thinks the worst it going to be dear than quoted. The Mechanic asks her what did she bring her car in for? She says brakes. Mechanic says 80% left on the brakes no need to do them.

Sister 2 goes and gets car serviced and the mechanic centre she took it to says her brakes need doing. So I organise the parts and whilst supervising my nephew today I watch him pull the brake pads off and they are like new, the rotors are also pristine no wear grooves or ridges.

It doesn't leave a good taste in the mouth.[bigsad]

[4bee]

Fortunately, you only knew this because you were there to see it. Other times the customer would drop the car off & bugger off to the shops only to return later & believe the brakes had been done.

A nice cleanup with degreaser & a hose off would complete the picture & maybe a few scratch marks & new Texta Evidence ID marks that the suspicious Owner had placed around.


"That'll be 400 Quid Thanks. Keeeeeerrrr ching..

Have a nice day Sir/Madam, Call again"



To answer your question..... Probably. [bigsad]

[Konradical]

As a mechanic who has worked for businesses and operated/operating my own business, I can say that mechanics aren't all evil or go out of their way to rip people off. Yes sure, there are some dodgy people out there, but not every single one as seemingly described by most vehicle owners.

Now a possible and very likely reason some mechanics recommend replacing brakes is because the wheels haven't been taken off and the brakes inspected properly! I myself have been caught out, both in thinking brakes need replacing and missing that they need replacing. I now remove wheels if in doubt and also use the fluid reservoir as an indicator as to brake wear.

[350RRC]

Nothing would surprise me.

It's just viewed as 'upselling' in a lot of circles these days, i.e. standard operating procedure.

Of the 3 watches in this thread of mine, all three are still running fine and keeping perfect time.

Bit of a mystery? (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/general-chat/269805-bit-mystery.html).

Recently accidentally flattened the battery in my (non LR) ute and called total care.

Bloke arrived in 15 mins and put one of those black boxes with the lights on the battery.

No nothing, cranking or even dash lights.

Tells me the starter is rooted and does the tapping solenoid ritual. Tells me the starter is rooted again, which I know is crap.

No change. He's figured I ain't stupid so I get at a tow of 5 metres and it fires up.

He leaves, I let it idle for 5 mins then go for some fuel. On the way, 500m only, I park it on a hill just in case and switch off.

Turn the key and off she goes. Since then it actually starts better with a battery that's nearly 10 yrs old.

Was he 'upselling' as well? i.e. tray truck to the garage, 'instal new starter', etc.

Dunno, DL

[JDNSW]

Yesterday morning my son went to start his daughters D2. Battery so flat it would not even operate the central locking (not real surprising - car had not been used for weeks and battery is at least five years old). Called NRMA.

"Battery has had it. Can supply one for $360"

OK

"I'll go get one. Back in ten!"

Ten minutes later - "It's a special battery, I don't have one in stock, I can get one by tomorrow?"

Son has meanwhile called his mechanic, who is still open "Yes, we've got one, $210!"

So son gets NRMA to jump start the D2, which they do without issues - only problem is the D2 is nose first in a narrow carport, so he needed the long jumper leads! Then drove to mechanic's to get the new battery.

[350RRC]

Mine wouldn't jump start when I knew it should............... then he was straight onto the starter motor. [bigwhistle]

Whilst not a scam, or upselling, there is a medical deal with your ulnar nerve that is interesting.

It can get 'caught' in your neck, near your shoulder blade, in your shoulder, elbow, forearm or wrist and is quite painful. Bit like carpal tunnel but different nerve.

Google will throw up all these US surgeons who start looking for the snag in your wrist and work their way up.

Its common in cello players due to the way they hold the thing and there is a simple stretching exercise (the one where your hands become 'goggles' around your eyes at the end) that fixed mine in 30 sec. Might not work for all........ see your doctor first, etc.

DL

[Homestar]

Been going on for years, stealers do it too. Usually just to Women who they think don’t know any better. Can’t tar all Mechanics with the same brush as most are good, but there are plenty of dodgy ones out there.

[4bee]

"Upselling" AKA ripping people off generally by the sound of of it. [bigsad]

[350RRC]

"Upselling" AKA ripping people off generally by the sound of of it. [bigsad]

Upselling = PC scamming

[101 Ron]

Yesterday morning my son went to start his daughters D2. Battery so flat it would not even operate the central locking (not real surprising - car had not been used for weeks and battery is at least five years old). Called NRMA.

"Battery has had it. Can supply one for $360"

OK

"I'll go get one. Back in ten!"

Ten minutes later - "It's a special battery, I don't have one in stock, I can get one by tomorrow?"

Son has meanwhile called his mechanic, who is still open "Yes, we've got one, $210!"

So son gets NRMA to jump start the D2, which they do without issues - only problem is the D2 is nose first in a narrow carport, so he needed the long jumper leads! Then drove to mechanic's to get the new battery.

It has been known for along time the people who control the NRMA are no longer true motoring enthusiast, but tend to be people who think they are and made a name for themselves in a completely different field.
I have been told one of the major players in running the NRMA supplies batteries to the NRMA and why the big push to move batteries.
Road service is now only a small side line for NRMA ( which they don't want ) as the money is in insurance and the reason for a big push for insurance too.
Most mechanics are straight forward people who have a extremely difficult job these days in more ways than one......I know I am in the trade.
The stealers and dealings with women I wouldn't trust them and I have caught them out a few times.
Always get three quotes from three different sources and don't go for the lowest quote all the time, but the one who is going to the job correctly without short cuts.
It pays greatly to get to know a good independent repairer and have a good working long term relationship and get to know the way that repairer operates and them personally as a friend and you will never go wrong and you will not need to do the Three quotes thing.

[V8Ian]

It's in the colantral top plate. [biggrin]

[PhilipA]

Road service is now only a small side line for NRMA ( which they don't want ) as the money is in insurance and the reason for a big push for insurance too.


NRMA insurance has been a separate organization and public company IAG for many years.
I was issued shares as an NRMA member many years ago 2000 to be exact

I think that they would like road service etc be major but with the reliability of modern cars and the introduction of several other roadside service providers , this part of their business is declining.
Caravan Parks are their latest thing with them now owning over 30 from Palm Cove south.

2 free road services come with my Youi policies and I have discontinued NRMA membership for one car.

I think mainly all they do now is flat batteries, lock outs, and flat tyres.
Regards Philip A
re the brake scam. My son's first car was an old Sigma when he was 17. He came home one day and said that he had a free brake check from Midas Mufflers and that the car needed $800 spent on the rear brakes as the cylinders were leaking.
Seeing we jointly paid $600 for the car I thought it was a bit over the top.
I asked him whether his brake fluid was declining "no" . Was the pedal OK ."yes"
Then it's not your brake cylinders.
Midas convinced him that he needed new brakes when all it was was drooling axle seals.

[101RRS]

Called NRMA.

"Battery has had it. Can supply one for $360"

OK


That is a shame the NRMA has been reduced to that.

A few years back the two starter batteries on my 101 died when I was on a trip in Coonamble on a Sat afternoon. We tow started it so I could drive into town to check if any shops with batteries were open.

When driving around I spotted an NRMA car parked outside a house and pulled up behind it and then rang the NRMA - the guy then came out of the house wiping the sleep from his eyes as he had been having an afternoon sleep - tested the batteries and confirmed they were kaput and instructed me to follow him to the "shop" - out came two new NRMA batteries and installed on the spot - $340 for two full size batteries - was no more than what I would have paid back in the big smoke.

The service was great and no up selling. I guess that in many cases it is just the individual rather systemic business policy.

Garry

[1950landy]

Wifes car was in for 70,000km service recently , car has only done 40,000km but is 4 years old. Got a call to say front tyres need replacing worn out on inside & gave me quote for $480 for 2 tyres only no wheel alignment. I said I could get the tyres for $130 each. They told me car should not be driven . Took car to local tyer dealer for new tyres & wheel alignment to be told nothing wrong with tyres & only 50% worn but did need wheel alignment. So had tyres rotated & alignment for under $100. Turned out they were trying to sell me tyres I didn't need but were also going to fit a different brand of tyres on the car so miss matched tyres from front to back & spare but dose become a problem if we get a flat on the front drive wheels because I would need to change two wheels to have matching brands on the front.

[gromit]

I feel sorry for people who aren't mechanically adept because they often get caught by these scams.

In the UK a common one was when you went in for tyres they wiped an oily rag round the shock absorbers and then told you they were leaking. They then went on about how dangerous it was and scored a set of shockies at list when you only went in for discount tyres.

Sometimes the mechanic/dealer is being cautious or basing wear rates on the average punter. I was told that my front discs & pads needed changing but then went another 2 services (30,000km) before I changed them (the last Ford went to 176,000km before the front discs were replaced). I guess the dealer assumed I drove like many of their customers and the pads would be down to the metal before the next service.

Some mechanics can't work out what the fault is so they just start replacing parts.
We had a Mitsubishi Delica diesel that had a 'misfire'. Took it to an injection 'specialist' who told me the pump needed rebuilding. Because the engine is difficult to get to it was $1K to remove the pump, about $1K for the rebuild then $1K to refit......I got the impression they didn't want the job. I got a bill for $200 for testing and then went to the Delica forum.
Replaced the alternator and problem fixed.
Turns out as the alternator starts to fail it can create electrical 'noise' which affects the drive-by-wire throttle control ! $400 and all sorted.

How many 'mechanics' are actually mechanics rather than parts replacers ?


Colin

[Hall]

Seems a common problem with women. Wife got her car serviced recently. No surprise they said brakes need doing. And no surprise they where fine. It also seems to be a common item to say that it needs to be done. I suspect that as noted earlier that they can either tart up the old ones or it is only a quick job for a apprentice to change brake pads. Either way they have easy cash. On a good note though for one mechanic. When we got our old Tucson serviced he could have changed out the spark plugs. At a great cost with the Tucson. But to his credit he said they where down a bit but still serviceable. Over the years I have had a number of incidents where mechanics have failed to be totally honest with there work.
Cheers Hall

[ATH]

Not a brake scam but I used a mobile mechanic to service my Prado years ago as he'd had a good rep. from running a workshop at a local servo for some years. Big mistake. Over filled the engine once, caught him not greasing all nipples on the drive line and shockingly using 5 different oils in the engine including some old oil I had in the garage and the wife's Camry engine oil plus other stuff he had in the back of his van.
His excuse was he'd had a big truck job on and hadn't had time to get my oil.
"Not my problem mate" I said "I've got footage off my security system showing what you've done and if you don't change the filter and oil immediately I'll post it on every forum I can. Plus you'd better bring oil in unopened containers or else".
He was not happy but did it with very bad mutterings. He runs another workshop nearby now and I've told a bloke with a D4 about him who goes there but he swears he's a great bloke!!
You can't help some people.
Not my business anyway so if his vehicle fails it's his problem.
AlanH.