About a year ago, we had a new customer bring her vehicle to our garage. The vehicle had several minor problems and some annoying noises. We fixed all of her problems and the customer was very pleased with our service. Afterward, the customer told me her story of her previous repair experience. This customer is a 72 year old widow and her husband always took their car into the dealer for an annual tune-up. So she brought her car to the dealer for a tune-up and a list of minor problems to be fixed. She was shocked when she arrived to pick up the vehicle and was informed the repair bill was $1,800.00. She was very upset when she later discovered that none of the minor problems on her list were repaired. She asked me “All my friends tell me I got ripped-off. What do you think?” I replied “I think your friends are right!”
Two things went terribly wrong with this trip to the dealer. One problem is the price of the repair and the other is the price shock when the customer picked up the vehicle. Let’s consider the $1,800 price first. This vehicle had around 60,000 miles. The vehicle manufacturer recommends a short list of services at this mileage. I went through the list and priced everything on the high side and came up with around $375.00. So why is there such a huge difference in price? I think many services were performed on her vehicle that may not have been needed. For example, coolant flushes are a common recommended service. The coolant used in older vehicles was green in color and had a lifespan of around three years or 30,000 miles. Newer cars have a different type of coolant; it’s a different color and the lifespan is around ten years or 100,000 miles. Mechanics and garages commonly recommend flushing the coolant system before the recommended mileage but I believe the customer should first be informed, educated, and given a choice. To take advantage of a customer’s lack of knowledge for profit is wrong!
The other problem was the shock the customer experienced when she arrived to pick up the vehicle. The service writer should have given an approximate price for a tune-up when the car was dropped off or called with an estimate after a preliminary inspection. In my opinion, the dealer performed work without proper customer authorization. This action demonstrates a total lack of respect for the customer.
I admit this story is an extreme example of bad automotive service but I commonly hear stories of unneeded services performed and repair work performed without customer authorization. How can you prevent this from happening to you? I recommend you read the maintenance section of your vehicle’s owners manual. There will be a list of services recommended by the manufacturer and when the services should be performed. If someone is recommending a coolant flush on your vehicle at 30,000 miles and your owner’s manual recommends 100,000 miles, ask questions! When you drop your vehicle off at a garage, demand to be called if the repair bill is going to be over a certain amount. Make sure the garage has the proper phone numbers to reach you. I would recommend calling in during the day if you haven’t heard from the garage.

Many years ago, I had a new customer drop off his car and complain that sometimes it wouldn’t start. I looked the car over and started it many times through out the day. The engine started every time. I asked the customer “When does the car not start for you?” He replied “When I come out of church”. “So the car starts during the week?” “Yup!” “But it doesn’t start after your church service?” “That’s right!” A fellow parishioner would give him a ride home and he would return several hours later. The car would then start and run until the next Sunday. I couldn’t resist checking this out. The next Sunday, I went to his church, and waited for him to come out. Sure enough, the engine would crank over but wouldn’t start. I was able to diagnose and repair the problem. The problem made perfect sense afterward. There was a part under the hood (a distributor hall-effect sensor) that stopped working when it got hot. When the car was parked, the heat from the engine would slowly warm the part up until it wouldn’t work. The time required was about an hour, the same length of time as the church service. It was at least another hour before the part would cool off enough to work again. When the car was traveling down the road, the air flow under the hood was enough to keep the part cool and working. During the week, the customer would drive the car to work and it would sit for over eight hours. Short stops did not give the part time enough to warm up. After we replaced the distributor hall-effect sensor, the customer no longer had problems starting the car. So the problem had nothing to do with the church but everything to do with how long the sermon was.