<VV> Service Rip-Offs

[Dave Keillor]

This topic is getting a little old, but having said that, I'll keep it
going.  I guess I'm really fortunate to live in Rochester, MN.  In my
experience, the majority of the shops in town are honest, and the ones
who practice egregious rip-offs don't last long because word gets around
(I can cite at least one recent example).

My wife is a good litmus test for an honest shop.  She's not a
mechanical wizard, but she sees that her cars are maintained well and
can smell a "dumb female" rip-off a mile away.  If she judges a shop to
be honest, it is.  A recent example of an incident that happened at the
shop where she has her "appliance" car maintained (as opposed to her
"toy" car which I maintain):  The car had hit 100K miles so she asked
them to change the tranny fluid.  They looked at her service record and
told her it had been done at 70K (at her request) and didn't need to be
done at this time.  Btw, the shop isn't cheap, but they are honest and
do very good work.

The use of flat rate manuals is at least partially driven by consumer
protection legislation which often demands binding estimates.  Minnesota
state law states:

# You have the right to receive a written estimate for repair work, if
you request one. 

# Once you receive this estimate, the shop generally may not charge more
than 10 percent above the estimated cost.  A shop may impose an
additional charge for disassembly, diagnosis and reassembly of the item
in order to make the estimate if the customer is told about the charge
before the estimate is issued.

I have a friend who runs a service shop.  Sometimes his mechanics beat
the flat rate and sometimes they don't.  When they don't, he eats the
overage -- flat rates don't assume old, rusty cars.  (I used to run a
charity that fixed cars at not cost for low income people, so I know
some of the repair issue he has to deal with.)

Finally, ask anyone in the automotive repair business about dishonest
customers and THEIR rip-off tactics.  

Dave Keillor