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It's all hoovies fault for jamming up your shop with itailian hoopties

I drive old cars and never let anyone work on them but me.

that throttle body looks like someone cleaned it but wasn't thorough. They are usually much dirtier on a car that age.

Tell the customer to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit. Tell the local TV station how they ripped him off. Report them to the State General Attorney’s Office and report them to the BBB.

As big as this building is... over half of it is full of Hoovie's cars

No reason for the owner not to leave a review on Google and Facebook - as long as it’s truthful should be no comeback. You will be amazed how quickly the scam shop will trip over themselves to try and get it taken down.

Usually the throttle body is even dirtier. I'm thinking the other shop might have sprayed cleaner, but didn't brush.

I took a "Stealership" to small claims court for a botched repair job & won my case.

I live in Columbus, Ohio. My parents retired and moved to the sun of Las Vegas, Nevada. Dad passed a number of years ago. Needless to say, Mom, calls me a lot for home repair advice and such. So, I get a call. Her Money Light is on. "Take it to the O'Reilly Auto Parts down the street and have them tell you what the trouble code is." She does. One of the cam variable-timing oil solenoids is acting up. The Equinox is well taken care of. It isn't a neglected oil change interval problem. So, "I tell her to take it to a local Pep Boys. It's an easy job. No sense in paying the high dealer rates to have such a simple job done." Well, Pep Boys quoted her $550 in labor alone to swap out the intake and exhaust solenoids. Unbelievable! It's a twenty minute job even after having a smoke, refilling the coffee cup, *_and_* running to the corner donut store... Needless to say, I ripped the service writer a new one over the phone. I then drove 2,000 miles for visit and repair time. "Mom, stand right here and watch how fast I can do this job..." I had both solenoids replaced and the hood down in twenty minutes. Mother goes, "Is that all there is to it? Boy! They really are out to rip people off." Why? One can make a lifelong fantastic living at being a good honest mechanic. And if you're good and honest, opening your own shop will fill your pockets even more.

A customer being changed for unrendered services, and yet the biggest scam in this video is better help...

A shop with a good reputation locally told me I needed a new rack and pinion. The problem was really a strut mount. It was actually the dealership that was honest with me. Lots of crooks out there.

There's certainly nothing new about a shop that flat out rips people off, charging for services that were not done. In 1977, our neighbor bought a Plymouth Volare brand new. She had never driven before, but her husband had passed away, and she had to learn. In the meantime, I got married, went to nursing school, got a job, etc. The neighbor quit driving, and we got her car. She bragged about the mechanic shop she had used. They came to her house every three months and took her car in for "service." According to the service records, that shop had replaced practically everything, but the engine block. She barely drove the little car. It had slightly over 3500 miles when we got it. I looked the car over closely, and it was obvious that aside from oil changes and one battery, none of the other things they charged for had been touched. Everything was factory original. Shameful, they targeted the elderly people who are trusting by nature. That shop went out of business. We live in a small town, and word gets around. We got a very good little grocery getter, slant six, automatic transmission, and air conditioning. We drove it several years.

I am an ordinary citizen, but with some KZfaq tutorials I have managed to clean the MAP and the TROTLE BODY of my car, also changed the battery as well. It is not something out of this world, one can do it by oneself. I also change the oil and all the fluids in my car because I'm tired of being fooled by these shameless mechanics.

$800 for a new battery and throttle body cleaning?! I own a Sienna and at the local Toyota dealer I service my Sienna at, that would amount to around $500 CDN, parts/labour, so even less USD based on exchange rate. That shop DID rip that person off! Criminal!!

These scam shops need to be reported. I report all where I live. Put them out of business.

"Shop Supplies" used to be a cost of doing business. Now....

BetterHelp sponsoring a scam video while being scammers themselves is hilarious irony.

Any shop/garage that has a guy who stands out front at a desk that does nothing but schedule the work will usually try and rip you off.

WoW that's called Fraud

I'm sorry, but 99% of car repair shops are complete scams. My gf just had a shop sell her on the need for a fuel injection cleaning for $99. When she said that it was a carbureted car they actually said that fuel injectors and carbs were the same thing.

Personally, whenever I clean a throttle body, I remove it. I clean it thoroughly and re-install with a new gasket/O-ring and relearn with scan tool. Even then, it's not even close to $400!!!

There should be a website to report these kind of garages.

Beware of a chain called "Christian Brothers". They are a **well organized* scam. They know when you're stuck and have no choice but to pay. And they play "Christian music" in the lobby and all employees incessantly say "Praise the Lord" and "Have a Blessed Day". I'm not kidding. Then they charge more than the total value of the car. "Well, that steering needs to be replaced or you'll be in danger." "New plugs are $220 but it's guaranteed."

I had a 2012 Corolla with a bad idle on start and the shop wanted $450 for a MAF and throttle body cleaning. Took me 30 mins to clean it besides letting the throttle body soak a little with a rag.

I live in downeast Maine and run my own small shop solo. My wait time is always 2-3 weeks out, but after 2 years of working hard being honest and having no big come backs other then part failures a couple times. I'm constantly getting new customers show up, making a appointment to get in cause they just left a shop and either didn't fix the problem or put a bandaid on it. Just last week had a guy in a titan come in for and ask me why he had a bunch of lights on his dash, after he just had a steering rack replaced. I scanned it and said your clock spring got broken when doing the rack, evidently they didn't lock it in place. He called and the shop gave him so much attitude cause he wasn't very happy, and this wasn't his first problem there. So he had me do his clock spring, and was so happy when he picked his truck up, made a appointment for his escape to come in. He said ill just wait for you, cause I've been asking around about you and your shop, and haven't heard one bad thing, only good things. I don't get why shops screw people, cause word gets around quick especially in a small area.

Unskilled labour is cheap Skilled labour is not cheap

Toothbrush "joke" was beat to hell!

This is why I refuse to drop of my cars and insist on watching the service. I was a tech before I blew out my back, so I can diagnose things myself. I just need to make sure that whoever is working on it is actually doing the job, and doing it right.

I think Wizard is having a "Get off my lawn" day. LOL !!!

These kind of videos make me sad for ppl that never learned some simple car maintenance basics and have trusting natures, and for honest mechanics that get caught in the fray.

It's bad enough to overcharge, but to not even bother to do the work is inexcusable!

Watching this video is exactly why I am so glad I do my own maintenance and repairs whenever possible.

re: the other shop's oil change prices - it was almost certainly $30 for the labor and the other $60 labeled "shop supplies" was probably for the oil and filter. $90 for an oil change is not uncommon these days.

On an electronic throttle body you should disconnect power (battery) to avoid fingers getting hurt because electronic ones can close flaps on you and cause injury versus a old school run by wire system where you dont have that issue. For those trying to do that at home.

No names named. Litigation. Slander. What are we coming to when we can't call out thieves?

241 for a battery is definitely bad. It may not be too bad for you, Mr wizard, but I just got a battery at Walmart for $94 and put it in myself.

Take a drink every time he mentions the cat's toothbrush

Shop Supplies- $34 Bottle Grey Goose and a case of Beck's $32 to celebrate the easiest $800 they made that week,you KNOW he saw the Omega sticker for services and snickered

Yep, its getting very very hard to find honest mechanic shops that don't rip you off. And to make it even worse, so many mechanics are incompetent. If you manage to find a good one, hold onto them with both hands!

According to scotty kilmer this thing doesnt need a thing to run atleast 2 or 3 million miles

Another wizard scam. The car will relearn the parameters without this memory erasing thing. The computer is continually adjusting the parameters so if the battery is replaced then the computer memory will reset anyways. I've replaced my Corolla's battery several times now and it takes about 10 miles of driving to get the idle back to normal.

The people that comment all the time that your too expensive are normally older people living in the past with prices from 20 to 30 years ago. I hear it all the time.

An honest, experienced & therapeutic mechanic? Major respect!

I've also had a lot of bad experiences with shops. The worst part of it is having to take it back over and over because they didn't do it right the first time. You eventually have to realize that trying to get good work from a bad shop is like trying to draw blood from a stone. It's just not gonna happen.

What could possibly be wrong with the Corolla that cost more than $300

That's the type of car you can maintainance yourself easily over the board

I like that you’re showing more hands-on mechanical work.

wtf, the pcv valve from Toyota was only $18 for my Matrix (Corolla) and only took like 10 minutes to change and I’m not a mechanic. Wow these people got ripped.

Wow, now I don’t feel quite so bad about the last time I took my daily in to a local shop. I usually do all my own work, but that is limited to what I can do in my garage with the tools I currently have available. I recently did my timing belt, water pump, cam seals and front main seal, valve cover gaskets, harmonic balancer, plugs wires…all in my garage on an ‘03 Lexus IS300 with original OEM parts and I was able to do everything for far less than a grand. (Just to give an idea that I am decent with cars). I’ve also done upper and lower control arms, ball joints and caster arms myself on this platform. This particular car has almost 250k on the odometer but the body and interior are super clean so I consider it worth it. I recently had front wheel bearings whining BAD, and I mean bad. Was afraid they were going to seize. This is a fairly straight forward job and if I had a press at my disposal I would be able to do it, but alas, I don’t, so I took it in. To do both front wheel bearings and hub/spindles with a front end alignment cost me just shy of 2 grand all things considered with parts and labor. I was so pissed, but after hearing this shit show it softens the blow a bit I guess. Will be investing in a cheapish press VERY soon.

Some shops are crooks. I paid $150 for a battery for my 09 CRV at Walmart.

Thank you for being an honest mechanic

You may not want to spend time in court, but if the owner decides to sue the shop that ripped him off, he'll use your evaluation and video to support his claim.

I once had an oil change at a well known shop and they forgot to refill the oil. Thankfully, I caught the problem right away. Please remind your viewers to ALWAYS check the oil level after an oil change.

So another shop destroyed their own business for a few hundred dollars. They know this owner uses Omega, so the car will go back there at some point, and their “cleaning job” will be found out. They actually made sure of it by not properly addressing the throttle relearn. Now the owner will never go back to that shop and will tell everyone in the area how they ripped them off. My bet, the shop will see this video (or hear of it), the owner will blame a rogue tech and offer a refund, all in an attempt to salvage their reputation.

Thought I would tell a story on this video. I am a lifelong DIY mechanic and work professionally in shops in my youth - when my back could take it. My elderly single female friend has "Corolla 90's era". She had a 2 liter bottle fall over in her trunk and it was rolling around. She took it into a shop down the way and told them about this odd noise. They gave her estimate for $ 1300 which included changing out the motor mounts and a CV joint axle. She took that printed estimate and brought it to me. I looked at the car. The motor mounts were as good as new and not even cracked or dry etc . . The CV Axles were intact - not leaking and were as good as brand new. SO I looked in her trunk - found the 2 liter deal and told her about it - and that was that. The service managers who work the COUNTERS at these places AND work on COMMISSION absolutely LOVE a single elderly female who walks in the door. Now - I seriously have this question - I think that some shops actually don't do any work at all on cars that are brought in - in this situation - an elderly female etc . . and just take her keys for a day - then call her the next day and have her come in and pay the bill - and they simply hand her the keys and wave. And the reason I suspect this is because the motor mounts and the CV Axles on her car were so clean and new looking - a person wouldn't be able to tell a newly installed part from the original part already on the car. And - considering that the CV Axles would have to be openly torn open and leaking etc . . ( and making noises ) to then say you need a new one - this proves their purposeful fraud. And this is just the unnecessary and possibly not even performed work. It is NOT addressing the other shop and dealer scams of not accepting any customer obtained new parts - and ONLY obtaining parts from their vendor account ( at a discount to even the general public ) and then marking that part up 400-800% on the final bill. AND "book time' labor hours at goofy absurd amounts like $ 149-299 per labor hour - depending on the shop.

$ 800.00 at the shop that I retired from will get you not only the battery and cleaning of the throttle but an oil change, an air induction service, a fuel injector service, a transmission flush, a rotate and balance and possibly a coolent flush.

If you go to Interstate for a new battery - they will test your ENTIRE system and install the new battery for FREE - NOT $90... what a Scam....

Isn’t better help a scam?

This reminds me of every time I go to the doctor and they cause more problems without ever addressing the original problem but still charge a lot!

Mrs. Wizard did a great job writing that ad read.

Looks like they may have just sprayed the blade in the throttle body never actually opened it and scrubbed where the build up is. The blade looked shiny to me. But yah it wasn’t a thorough cleaning.

13:40 It is advantageous to remove the TB and replace the gasket, allowing better handling of the TB to clean it. Also not allow stuff to go down into the engine. Not that it will hurt anything, most will evaporate and the carbon build up will be burnt away. Its piece of mind thing. Also allows you to clean behind that blade much better.

Scammer calling out others scammers. Priceless.

I literally cleaned my wife’s car’s throttle body and MAF sensor since it was running rough. $15 dollars in solvent, some elbow grease and time and have a well running car. And this guy got charged I’m guessing $800 or so not including the battery?? So disgusting.

It's not just auto service It's ALL SERVICE If you don't know you're being ripped a new one You will get a new one Why? Business Pressure,the cost of paying all your shop's bills versus actual income of the shop- turns many honest guys into scammers-but was it a dishonest employee packing on time or an unscrupulous owner/manager? Business Pressure Which includes the salaries of the owner that might think very highly of himself and the cost of labor,which is what it takes to keep a talented efficient employee or two I my shop I might have taken in a 1 hour job to keep a good customer happy.No matter the backup already in the shop-this customer is out $800 for a cheap battery and he cannot be a happy camper any more

dude, you left a piece of the tooth brush in there. the rubber bristle.

I’ve helped a lot of people over the years . Yes we all need to eat and keep the lights on but I just can’t over charge for doing basically nothing ! I prefer to do a nice job and earn the customers respect and then we’re all happy for a long time.

I couldn’t see any difference in the parts before and after. This car likely only needed an idle relearn. However the charges from the other shop are totally ridiculous. All of these jobs could be completed by a home mechanic!!!

Does the state of Kansas have a Bureau of Auto Repair where a shop that has ripped off a customer can be taken to task? My mechanic has done this for his customers, and he never had any greif from the offending shop. He is also not a youtube star. It's time 19 to take action instead of just talking about shops running scams.

It is not that hard to clean those sensors. I easily cleaned my dad's idle air control valve and made myself look magical in his eyes. I don't get why they didn't do those jobs with how much they were charging. Might as well do something instead of gaslighting the driver.

It is just this kind of behavior that got me into fixing my own cars, as my friends and their families had negative experiences with so called repair garages that did nothing, fixed nothing and charged ripoff prices. Fix it your self! Invest in a good code reader, read the owners manual, they’re not that difficult to use.

$400 dollars for a PVC valve. HAHAHAHAHAHA....

Isn't it time for repair shops to start filming their work for customers?

Thank you, Mrs. & Mr. Wizard. You guys are the best kind of teachers. Know that your efforts are appreciated. What you do is not easy. This world is a better place because of you.

The reason you were swamped is because your honest and do good work, legend

It’s all about the rule of three. Fast, good, and cheap: pick two.

Great video! The unscrupulous ways of some shops is mind numbing!

Btw I love this channel! It’s the most relaxed and like home-y feeling channel for automotive KZfaq lol it’s like you’re going to visit your grandpa and hang out in his garage with him. I know you may not be that age and I’m not meaning it in any form of a insulting manner but it just reminds me of that level of welcoming lol so I thank yall for that 😁 nice to not have every car channel be a “LETS THROW TWO TURBOS ON A SWAPPED IN LS AND SEND IT!!” ya know?

Gloves - Gloves - Gloves ,,,, ALWAYS when using chemical cleaners !!!

Mostly typical only in America.

Local shop scammed me, didnt set the wheel on alignment, didnt give information on an alignment printout, left it stranded and still had me pay. I put up a review and contact corporate office. Corporate never answered, i provided pictures and contacted the manager of the shop and they showed me things, fixed the steering boots being twisted, and we parted ways. Cv axle popped out but was compressed and they said it wasnt the one for the car. Its still on the car today and runs perfectly.

I live in Spain. I have 2 older cars and have 7 years of experience with the workshop I use. If I'm in a hurry, they take the car on the day. If there are parts that need to be ordered, it will take a couple of days. I always get offers to use one of their cars. Parts prices are as they are, but the prices for work are quite reasonable. A few days ago, one car...the van...didn't pass the state-mandated inspection. For this car, it must be checked every 6 months. The handbrake had to be tightened, 30 minutes of waiting and then the workshop put a man on the job. 15/20 minutes later I was on my way to approve the habit...... If I book an appointment with the doctor, I get an appointment tomorrow.

Thanks for being one of the good guys Car Wizard

I've never cleaned the throttle body on my 1993 Toyota pickup with 310,000 miles. Might be a good idea?

Thats how you run a business. A good customer deserves a nice gesture.

What you charge for, even more important than the task is the knowledge/experience you bring.....hard to put a price on that.

This car drives horribly. I know someone that had one and the only saving grace is that it could get almost 40 mpg on the freeway. If they would make a wagon version of this, I could forgive it's driving characteristics.

Whoever is saying your price is too high. They don’t even have enough money to go to a cheap shop. You don’t even want that customer. They will be nothing but trouble.

I did a full service and fluid exchange on my elderly neighbor's car. A month later she took it to the dealer for a recall item and came home with a $900 work order. EVERY item on that work order had been previously done 30 days earlier...

What burns me is not just overcharging vulnerable customers, but then not even doing the job. Shops like that should be ran out of business.

Remember this people! Beans are the musical FRUIT

Bought my 2017 Corolla with only 17,000 miles a few months ago. Like a brand new car and I love it

The part about good shops being swamped with work is definitely true - there's a tire shop near a half-hour east of me, literally the only thing remaining of its namesake town, but no matter the day of the week, there are always 3-4 customers waiting for work to be done on their vehicle. I'll even take the time to limp my car down a back road than chance having the work done here in town!

Thanks for the mass air flow data knowledge. I will be trying on future diagnostics !!

If you can't do this simple DIYs on your car. You deserve paying that much. Even 75$ to clean the MAF sensor is too much for 5 minutes job!

$100 an hour type of shop prices

About the whole wait time, going to have my car go into an alignment shop tomorrow, i've had to wait over a month for this time. But they're the only ones i trust after another shop charged me a ridiculous price and then did absolutely no work on my old car because "it's all rusted apart", while this shop just got it done perfectly with no complaints.

The backlog is because mechanics like this become so big on KZfaq, that they are now a KZfaqr first, and a mechanic second (takes twice as long to video + repair, as opposed to just repair)

The “cat’s toothbrush”, the latest addition needed for all mechanics toolboxes. I think Mrs. Wizard needs to start that as a product line.