It’s never enjoyable to have your automobile repaired. One woman, on the other hand, knows for a certainty that a technician tried to con her, so she made certain he didn’t get away with it. Read the story and let us know if you agree with her.
Source: Reddit
I (26f) do not look like I would know a single thing about cars. 5’3 with long blonde hair, soft girly appearance, and an eternal baby face that makes me look about 15-16 years old. I drive a rather beat up looking 2004 Avalon. My dad and brother are both mechanics. Not my profession, but I’ve learned a thing or seven from them and am very comfortable working on cars. I’m only mentioning my appearance because it’s pretty common for mechanics to assume that I’m an idiot about cars.
A while back, I was pretty overwhelmed with life and didn’t have a good space to do it, so I took my car in to get the oil changed. The place offered a free of charge “head to toe” inspection for any repairs that might need to be made. I knew my car was fine. I had pretty recently changed the air filter and brake pads. Rotors had maybe 40k miles on them and were in great condition. New serpentine belt too. Literally just didn’t feel like changing my oil.
RELEVANT NOTES: Before I went to the shop I actually checked my air filter and it was, in fact, pristine. Also, I usually call my dad while I’m working on my car so we can chat so he knows what repairs/maintenance I’ve done and that my car is well taken care of.
After they changed my oil, the guy came back with the “inspection results” on a clip board and was holding my air filter. He had this grave look on his face like something was wrong. Mind you, this is a very busy place and there were lots of customers in the waiting room. He told me that we needed to go over the results because my car was about to be completely broken down and also not safe to drive if I didn’t get several repairs done ASAP because these were all completely shot.
The repairs: new brake pads, new rotors, new calipers, replace serpentine and drive belt, NEW AIR FILTER, new compressor or my AC will not work (a heavy threat in the middle of summer in FL), and a couple more generic things. He showed me my air filter that was filled with dead grass, A DEAD WASP, some dirt, AND HAIR. Bruh. He really scooped some bullsh%t off the shop floor and put it in my new air filter to try and freak me out. The total? About $1500 worth of work. It would be more expensive anywhere else but he was “willing to give me a deal.”
So I immediately start buying myself time by asking some basic questions that I knew he would have to explain so I could nod at him all wide eyed while I came up with a good way to respond to what he was doing. “What does the serpentine belt do? Is it important? Etc.”
I texted my dad, “I’m calling in a sec just play along.” Told the guy, “omg that’s so scary I can’t believe I was driving around like that. Thank you so much for caring! I don’t have the money so let me call my dad real quick to see if he can help me out. I can’t afford this.” I then proceeded to enhance my dramatic performance by even working up a tear while I called my dad.
The guy is standing there with me in front of all the customers. I put my phone on speaker and gave my dad a whole sob story about how I need money again. I’m so sorry. Can he help me? He asked what the repairs were and how much. I said “idk but it sounds REALLY bad. He says that it’s dangerous. Dad, I can’t be without a car. What am I going to do?” Then I asked the guy to tell my dad what the repairs were. He rattles it all off and my dad is playing his part PERFECTLY. “Oh wow”, “mmhmm”, “oh my goodness I’m glad you caught this so she’s not in danger anymore.” Little did this scammer know, he was the one in danger.
He hands the phone back and I drop the facade and start laughing really hard. As soon as dad heard me he started screaming and cackling into the phone. I said “DAD DO YOU HEAR THIS BULLSH%T?! Get this, he brought me my new air filter I just put in to show me how dirty it was. He pulled sh%t off the floor or something and rubbed it on there.” Dad and I continue to crack up. The audience in the waiting room was also cracking up. Scammy Mechanny was beet red and completely at a loss for words. Head down and some stuttering was his response.
I handed him my air filter and told him to go vacuum it out and to make sure to let me see it before he put it back in. I sat and watched him put it back once it was clean and also watched him pull my car out to make sure he didn’t do anything horrible while I wasn’t looking.
I might have taken it a little far, but I REALLY hate when mechanics take advantage of people who don’t know anything about cars, so this felt like a massive win. Big props to my dad for his performance, and for teaching me about cars. Did she go too far here?
