I'm a ASE Master technician 52 years all phases of repair on any unit but prefer collision work anyway retired now and went through same bull. My back was sore so I went for a oil change soon as they get the car in the service tech shows me a trans dip stick and power steering cap with dirty fluid on them.said I need a trans flush and steering flush.I asked him 3 times sure that's from my car. Yes it is he says. My car is a 2008 hhr. Hhr has no trans dipstick and electric power steering. I said show me where they go so I could see myself.after 10 minutes fumbling around they couldnt.Guess who got a free oil change and filter. Lmao

I have specialized in automotive suspension and alignment for almost 40 years. Here is what actually happened. NOTHING. Look at your total toe measurements on both printouts. They are the same. This is because all the technician did was make the first print with the steering wheel steered slightly left and then straightened the steering wheel and take second print. You were taken advantage of and that’s how it was done.

The "free tire upgrade" is something to be careful of, here's why; tires have date codes of when they were made. Tires age with time as well as with miles and so when you purchase new tires, you want to make sure to ask that the tires date code is no more that 6 months old from date of your purchase. Shops are aware of this and may offer "free tire upgrade" to get rid of "NOS" new old stock in their inventory. Discount tires will not work on tires that have a date code older than 10 years. I have seen NOS tires that were 7 years old and still never used; these tires can sit in warehouse for years and then be purchased cheap to sell. Buyer be ware. Thanks Pete for the great advise, I appreciate it!

I got fired from a local dealership because I wouldn't do that to the customers. They wanted me to for a elderly lady to get new tires because hers need to be changed soon Maybe about 20k miles left in them. And I told her you need to be thinking about changing them soon not today but they are getting close and my boss was mad because I didn't tell her it needed to be done that day. I'm happy I got fired I personally can't lie to someones face like that and sleep at night

As a Technician for 15 years I hate that my industry is pretty well known for being shady. I constantly strive to recommend and perform work that is needed and not recommend anything to any customer that I would not recommend to my own mother. Just to clarify I love my mother

Look carefully at the first and second report. They had your steering wheel off center just enough to get the tire to flash red "out of spec" on the machine. When you OK'd the $99 alignment, they just turned the steering wheel a smidge until everything showed green and printed the report. Your left toe and steer ahead also changed by .04 degrees which proves they never put a wrench on the tie rod to adjust your alignment. Total rip off. Make 'em famous. (FYI I'm a former ASE certified automotive technician)

While growing up, our family was on a trip out west. We stopped for gas and the attendant was looking at the rear of the car. I was sitting in the car, reading a comic when I heard some rattling from the back. I got out and here was the attendant holding an oil pump can, trying to hide it. He put it down and walked over to my father and said it "looks like you have a blown shock. You really need to replace it and should do both." I walked over, picked up the oil can and told my dad the guy had just put it down. My dad looked underneath and told the attendant he was going to call the company (Humble Oil, now Exxon). The attendant screamed get out of here, we piled into the car and left. My dad did call the company later than day, pointing out he owned stock in the company. When we came back though that town a month later on the way home, the station was "closed for repairs". Turned out it was a company location and they were sending in a new manager and looking for all new staff. This was in the late 60's and it taught me to buy at least 1 share in a company that is ripping you off and then call investor relations. You can get results!

I'm currently a tech for a local tire and mechanic shop. I'm so glad that the boss is so laid back and he doesn't push the customers to do unnecessary things to their customers cars. I did however get fired from Firestone because I refused to recommend unnecessary services to the customer's cars. I've been a tech for 14 years and yes I've worked in a few shady shops in my career but I walked out on them because I refused to play along with their shady acts. Only time I really recommend services on customers cars is unless they're really necessary. I'm also the kind of guy that allows the customers to walk inside the shop and I happily show the customer's what their cars really needs done.

My sister had a certified pre-owned Acura MDX which included "free" oil changes for as long as they own the vehicle. They took their car in to get an oil change and when it was done the dealership called them and said "we performed the oil change but your back brakes are basically gone. We highly recommend having them serviced". My sister called me because I know a lot about cars and I told her to tell the dealership thank you but you'll pass. I call the local auto parts store and had them put a set of rear pads on the counter for her to pick up and I would just swap them out which takes minutes. When they went to pick up the car the dealership told them that they would be liable for an accident by releasing a car without operating brakes so they needed to do the work. My sister called me again to tell me this, and I told her to tell them that she'll call the police if they don't give her the keys to her car. So they did, and my sister picked up the set of pads from the auto parts store and stopped by my house for me to put them in. I pulled off a rear tire, and could easily see that the pads were basically like new, and they were being scammed. I took a picture of the existing brake pads next to a brand new pad that we had in the box and you could barely tell the difference. I bothered to drive to the dealership and in the customer waiting area had a loud conversation (with 10 + customers listening in) with the service manager letting him know that customers don't appreciate being scammed like this. They denied the whole thing.

I'm ASE certified and worked in garages for 15yrs. Every garage I worked for we had to always treat the customers the right way. Had to fix things that scam garages had done. A lot of times never charged customer for it. But I always brought it to their attention before anything was done. I treated my customers the way I would want to be treated. And over a 15yr period I saw and heard way to many horror stories about how customers had been treated at scam shops. Keep educating people. Knowledge is power. God Bless

I went to Town Fair tire in Seabrook N.H. about the same story. Was shown the alignment was off. Said ok do it. Watched on their security customer cam. men get onto the back of my truck all at same side out near the bumper. 10Min later the drive it out hand me the printout say all set. I looked under the truck nothing had been moved no wrench marks. Went back in told the manager what I found wanted my money back, was told no. Called corporate got my money refunded & They cleaned out the employees. I am a retired mechanic with 43 years under my belt.

Actually if you look at your spec on the left wheel what they did was even simpler. While the right toe-in decreased by .04" the left toe-in increased by .04" to .07". They didn't hit just that wheel rim with a hammer, they just nudged the steering to the left.

You overlooked a HUGE detail. You might want to pin this comment. :D Look at the total toe before and after. Notice it didn't change? That means that NO ADJUSTMENTS WERE MADE. Let me explain. After watching your whole video and considering the specific details of this case, here's what happened. The tech purposefully set the steering wheel to one side slightly to cause one of (or both if they would have went a little farther) of the toe readings to go red. They made the printout. Once you approved the alignment, they simply centered the steering wheel which centered the toe, which made the toe go green BECAUSE IN THIS CASE, IT DIDN'T NEED AN ALIGNMENT and then called you 4 minutes later and said it was done. They were able to call you 4 minutes later BECUASE NO ADJUSMENTS WERE MADE, they simply centered the wheel and made an "after" printout. Yes, this was an absolute ripoff, fraud, scam in this case. THEY MADE NO ADJUSTMENTS, with a hammer or otherwise. BTW, that is not a thing AT ALL to hit something with a hammer and make something move. I have 25 years auto mechanic experience and have done hundreds of alignments. This is 100% what happened. I'm pretty shocked that they gave you the evidence that proves they made ZERO adjustments. This by all rights should have been a FREE check, since they offer that. In fairness, very very few vehicles on the road would need NO adjustments, that is very rare. In this case, none were needed, and none were done, and you should have been given the free check 100%. Side note, it is 100% possible to move the toe 0.04 degrees. It happens every day. I could easily move something. 0.01 degrees. Also, it is a very legitimate thing to offer an alignment to "protect your new purchase" People are going to be scrutinizing the tires, the mileage they get out of them, the wear, any noise they may make if they wear odd. Doing an alignment will help your cause as a customer if you do have any issues, because you give the tires a best case scenario by doing an alignment, and that now cannot be used by the shop or the manufacturer as an excuse for any issues that arise. Don't fault a shop for wanting to do an alignment when new tires are put on. In this case, sure, fault them, you got ripped off 100%.

(This has happened since my last comment) I was the new guy at a car dealership. MY first job there was just an oil change on a car with 41k miles on it. This model car was known to have valve cover leaks. So I checked for that, specifically, along with a small list of other known problems, as well as regular safety checks. Brought the paperwork back to the service advisor and the shop manager was there, looked at my paperwork, and flatly said 'It needs valve cover gaskets, they're leaking on this car.' I told him that I knew they were an issue on this car, but they were spotlessly clean. He cussed me and said he would show because I was 'Obviously incompetent'. He looked. He literally said "It does not matter. Write it up as leaking." I refused and was fired on the spot. They wrote it up and gave a report. Little did they know it was a state inspection vehicle. The shop got a $20,000 fine for it. I was caught up in it as I had done the work on it BUT I had taken a pic of my finished inspection report. Odd that the report number that I had did not match the inspection report THEY had. They had re-written the report onto a new service order. Hey! Sometimes you get caught scamming someone that actually writes the rules.....

Just saw this video. As a retired brake and alignment tech, this kind if crap pisses me off. I worked for years at a major tire retailer and the famous alignment check was standard operation, BUT i would never charge a customer for something like that, thatbplace is an obvious rip-off. We as techs couldn't do anything about the cost of the sensor kit, but they are needed, especially in areas that have a lot of inclement weather. It really bothers me when businesses do stuff like this because it makes it harder to sell to the people who really need the alignment done

If the wear on the tires look even, the car goes straight down the road and does not wander, your alignment is just fine.

The "total toe" stayed exactly the same at 0.19, before and after. Yes, the right toe went down, but the left went up by the same margin. So to get the "after" to within spec, all that was done was to turn the steering wheel ever so slightly left.

I work with this exact alignment system everyday at work. They put the car on the alignment rack and slightly steered the wheel to the left indicated by the steer ahead measurement -0.06, this will cause the toe to increase on the left wheel and decrease on the right. Then once you approved the repair, they steered the wheel back to the center indicated by the steer ahead moving closer to zero just enough to get both toe reading in spec. You can see that the left wheel toe reading decreased and the right increased in the same amount. I work in this field and this is really disappointing to see. Makes us all look like crooks.

I used to buy my tires from a Firestone store. It would tick me off that I would sit in the waiting area for nearly two hours before they would come out with a list of everything they found wrong with the car, and haven’t even started to change the tires. Finally I just started buying the tires only and take them to a local gas’s station that had them put on in less than thirty minutes and charged me a fraction of the cost at Firestone with out pushing valve stems and all that other crap. I appreciate videos like this. Keep up the good work.

Not what happened. Left went from 0.03 to 0.07 (+0.04) and right went from 0.16 to 0.12 (-0.04). What actually happened is much simpler than a hammer: slightly turn the steering wheel from true center and print the before spec, then center the steering wheel and print the after spec. They did literally nothing, which is why total toe didn't change, and why steer ahead did change.

I went to a dealership to get my inspection sticker and the guy said that my headlight was out but they could change it for $30. I was like "funny, it was working this morning. Well, I have a new headlight at home so I'll just take it home, replace the bulb, and bring it right back." I popped the hood and found that the headlight wire had just been removed and tucked up behind my battery.

1. I can adjust it .01 at a time. 2. I can do most toe and go alignments in 7 minutes. A toe set is super fast. 3. They did rip you off. Total toe didn't change. They just turned the wheel slightly and took a printout.

Always a good idea to check alignment when you get new tires but have to trust the shop you are working with. Sounds like these guys suck.

Service scams are worse than ever. I recently took a vehicle to the dealer to have them fix three recals. It has around 35K miles. They called me and said it should have a four wheel alignment. I recently rotated the tires so I know there is no abnormal wear and it's not pulling. They also said the manufacturer recommeds coolant service, radiator flush, and fuel intake cleaning. I checked the manufacturer recommendation for coolant and it was 10 years or 100K miles. I asked the service advisor if the intake service was a bottle of something they pour in the tank. He said no and spouted some mumbo jumbo about cleaning the entire intake system to remove carbon and that it would result in better gas mileage. There was nothing in the manufacturer recommended maintenance about this. The total of these three items was well over $500. I passed on all three. I feel sorry for people who don't know much about cars because they should be able to trust that the dealer is only recommending service they actually need.

Toe before was .03 and 0.16. Total toe was .19. After toe was .07 and .12 total was still .19. They turned wheel left printed before the turned little to right and printed after.

I am a master certified technician. I have aligned thousands of cars. Your alignment was not adjusted. Not at all. Look at the left side toe before and after. Do you see that the left side is also moved .004 to the right? All the "technician" did was bump the steering to the right. This moved both tires to the right bringing them both into what the machine thinks is aligned. When you see the numbers in green that indicates the steering is within the manufacturers specifications. Red indicates they are outside of those specifications. The alignment technician could have made an adjustment of .004 degrees if he had wanted to, it IS possible. But he didn't he just bumped the tire to the right moving the steering to the right and took a snapshot. Most of the so called alignment technicians have no real idea of what they are doing. They simply turn wrenches until the numbers are green. If you actually gave they a test asking them to describe what, Caster, Camber and Toe are referring to and how they affect tire wear and vehicle steering, they would fail miserably.

What proves they ripped you off is that the LH side toe out increased the same amount that your RH side toe out came in, basically they bumped the steering wheel to the Left just enough to get both toe outs to turn green.

Writing this at 10:55 time stamp. I am a technician at a full service shop. And you are 100% right they didnt adjust anything what they did is just turn the steering wheel a smidge, thats why both toes changed. This really breaks my heart when i hear about shops doing this. Other techs out there reading this, if your boss does stuff like this speak up! And if nothing changes then its time to wheel the toolbox out.. I would have personally turned the wheel a smidge and got it in the green during the alignment check..

I'm an ASE certified tech,brother all they did was turn the steering wheel to make it look "off",then nudged back to get it back in spec,witnessed many times.

We had a minor recall on my wife's Minivan, and we took it back to the dealership where we bought it. When we went to pick it up, they said the brake pads were unsafe to drive with less than 10% of the pads left and would need rotors also. It would be a total of $800. I phoned my usual mechanic of twenty years. He checked his records and told me he had done a brake job on my wife's minivan two months prior. I declined their offer, then they said they couldn't legally let the vehicle out of the shop in that unsafe condition or they would be liable. Another call to my lawyer and a few words from him, and I was on my way to my guy's shop. He checked and the pads were almost new. Not only did they lose a customer, but also my company's fleet sales.

I have a feeling that, if you said you didn't want the "free alignment check", they would have done something to knock the tires out of alignment far enough that you would notice it afterwards and have to bring the car back for an alignment job. Looks like this shop may need a class action lawsuit to straighten them out (or put them out of business).

My local BMW dealer during a recall appointment did a “complimentary” evaluation of my car. They sent me a well produced video telling me I needed $4800 of work. This consisted of new wiper blades that I replaced 2 months ago, as well as 2 oil cooler gaskets that were replaced 1 year ago as well as brake pads that do not need replacement yet! A total scam!!!

25 years ago I owned a Mercedes. On that car I had free services up to 100 000km* (*of course without consumables and wearables like oil, brakes and so on). At 50 000km they changed a wheel bearing without notifying me in advance. I asked for the old bearing and they told that had allready gone into the trash, but then they tried to tell me that it was so bad that it would have fallen appart in the next few km and they had to chenge it for safety reasons...yeah...no, not really...I had no problems up to that point with noises or whatsoever with this bearing. So I told them; no contract, no old defective bearing, well, that means no money. I gave them the choice of chenging it back to the old one but they decided just to leave the new one in. At the end they didn't got me, but if they get just every second custommer that is to much.. Then the next free oil change on that car: I off course went to anotheer Mercedes dealer. I left the car and went away. 5 minutes later they called. He told me i needed new brakes all around. Price (25 years ago) over 1400$. I was a bit surprised and asked why exactly they have to be changed, so he explained me that the pads are completely worn down and the rotors are at the manufacturers minimal spec. Hmmm, I was more than surpreised so I asked him to explain me how this can be...because one week before, I changed from summer too winter tires and while doing that I looked at the pads. They where at around 70% in the front, 80% at the back, so how can it be that these are worn down within a week??? He didn't expect that I knew how worn the pads where, but then he started with well the pads are ok, but the rotors are (now) below the minimum...and normaly we need to do both together...and for most customers it doesn't makes sense to have the car in for service and then come back in one or twotausend km to change the brakes...so we normaly do it for the coinvenience of the customer. I then told him to just leave my brakes alone and do the oil change and that's it. But he wasn't finished yet. He then started on the security line...look, if you drive and in two or three weeks you kill a child becaus your brakes are faulty you would regret not to have done the brakes today, wouldn't you...now I was really surprised, or should I say pissed off? After I had swallowed that he wanted to feel me guilty not spending that money, I just told him to put on these wheels and leve my car alone. I'd be there in 5 minutes and pick it up and have somebody else do the work on my car including the oil chenge. He then finally agreed to just do the oil change, I went home and drove this pads and rotors for another 40000km (in the swiss alps, what in combination with an automatic transmision quite hard to brakes is) and changed them then for not even 400$ and the rotors where still a hair over the manufacturers minimum spec. Since then I allways do everything I can myself. There it used to have great mechanics around, unfortunately nowadays the good ones who did a great job for a decent amount of money are probably all getting old and retire...so at least my experiences

That was done on a Hunter alignment machine, which I'm very familiar with. What I noticed was the "total toe" never changed @ .19. The L side was .07 and the R was .16 originally. The spec was .10 on each side for a total of .20. The only thing that would have happened if they did nothing was maybe have the steering wheel off-center on a straight road. You can clearly seen the steer ahead is off in the before measurement. All the tech did was move the steering wheel slightly to the right and "VOILA"! It's in spec!😆

Do not leave your car at the shop. Whatever they tell you, they need to put it in writing. Anything free, refuse, say no! And don't rebuild, repair any part that is not broken. Also do not do any free inspections. Tell them that your dealer and mechanic does that. Just change the tires, balance and rotate if necessary. That is it. Period!

It's the same with Pepboys, where i bought my tires. I was charged $80+ for four tire valves. When I got the car back and checked on the new tires, I noticed that the tire valve caps were missing. I then went back and asked for them. It was handed back to me. And as I was putting it on, I noticed that there was paint on the tire valves. Paint because I painted my rims. I went back and asked for a refund. They were offering to replace it with new ones, but $80+ refund is a better deal. And I also dont trust them to touch my car again. I wrote a review of my experience with that store. I can't imagine how much they are making out of people who don't know much about cars or are too trusting.

I work at a shop. We don’t do that. Let it be known, it’s not all shops that do this

This is such a shame; it is for this reason that I rarely ever leave my car anywhere. I wait and watch. I took my daughter and her car to a Jiffy Lube for a state inspection - it was a ‘teaching moment’ where I wanted her to understand the process. A few minutes later, someone comes to us with an air filter in hand. He proceeds to ‘suggest’ that we might want to replace it. I immediately recognized the filter as the one I had replaced 2 days earlier - EXCEPT that it had a sprinkling of what I knew was dirt from the ground (right alongside their building)! I took hold of the filter, examined it, turned it over, tapped it on the ground to remove the loose dirt, all the while telling him that this was not a part of a state inspection and that I had replaced this filter 2 days ago. I then asked if he had removed it properly or if he forced the box open as I walked out to the car and replaced it myself while chiding him for removing it improperly and intentionally throwing dirt on it and trying to sell me something I didn’t need. I didn’t curse or yell (I wanted to), but I did say ‘you should be ashamed of yourself for disparaging your reputation in such a way - just to sell a $20 air filter’! I doubt that your parents brought you up to lie to people - I know mine didn’t - nor did I raise my children that way. And today, of all days, I brought my daughter here to get acquainted with your shop… He sheepishly stood and listened to my rant - then, just as sheepishly, apologized. They finished the inspection - and, no-charged me. It turned into much more of a teaching moment for my daughter than either of us expected.

Went to a Quick Oil change and they came out and said my air filter was bad, I told them I replaced it 3 weeks earlier, he was looking for a place to hide..

I'm a peculiar particular asshole, if I specify what tire I want and you install something different on my wheels, well then... you're taking it off and I'm not paying you a dime for wasting my time. Great video.

I owned an alternator/starter rebuild shop for 15 years and most of my customers were repeats as we gave the parts back to the customers afterwards and did the tests in front of them. If we needed lest parts to repair the unit I would drop the quoted price to reflect it. We also have various levels of the repairs too. I almost always replaced the brushes and bearings as part of the costs. Honesty was a great selling tool. I had customers come from as far as 75-80 miles away because they knew I wouldn’t screw the over.

I work at a tire shop and a customer was missing a lug nut. I gave them new for FREE ! Didn’t want anything for just told them they missing one and I replaced it. They were so grateful! So you can get things for free. 😊

Of course they could adjust by 0.006”, or any other amount. It’s only a screw thread on a track rod end so stepless adjustment perfectly possible, no big hammer required. Of course they didn’t do this, as someone already mentioned total toe is unchanged so all they did was tweak the steering wheel position, retake the measurement and print out the results, if you don’t take them up on their “offer” simply bin the “after” page. It’s called upselling and is rife, forget about “reputable” here in the UK main dealers are keen on it, typically pick on brakes or other safety critical areas.

I have been ripped off by every automobile dealer in my city, and most repair shops as well. The one told me they did an oil change. I pulled the dipstick right there, the oil was dirty, could hardly see the dipstick through it, and informed them, no they hadn't done it. No apology, nuthin, they just took it off my bill and said there we adjusted the bill.

Worked at Tire America for 3 years in management. This is super common. All that is done is a slight turn of the steering wheel. If you notice on the after spec, the toe changed on the left wheel by the exact amount that the right was repaired. The wheel was simply moved back. This was a big problem at our shop. I tried to get several people fired for pulling this stunt. Finally got one guy fired and immediately another store hired him. Can't win. Also, to screw with camber or caster all you have to do is loosen the alignment head from the rim enough to get what you need. Save that as the before. Put it back, bam alignment is done. I have not had a vehicle aligned on any car I have owned in 25 years because I know I am most likely going to get ripped off.

The obvious item to check for a poor wheel alignment would be the old tires! Inner or outer tread wear CAN be a sign on toe in, or out alignment. Fact, if the old tires are wearing evenly across the entire tread width, there is VERY likely no issues with the alignment. Great video.

This guy is way overboard. I've been a master Technician for 40 years. Normally the rebuild kits include the " SENSOR " which is what actually goes bad. They have an internal battery which isn't replaceable. So after a certain amount of time they stop working. If you replace them while the tires are off, you'll save the labor in the future. Forty bucks is cheap, considering most of those senors require calibration after installation, with a scan tool. The rebuild kit this guy shows, is simply to combat air leaks, and contain new seals only.. Usually complete aftermarket replacement sensor run 10 to 15 bucks each. As for the toe adjustment, if his Kia is clean and has no rust, that adjustment could be done in 30 seconds if the car is still on the alignment rack and all sensor heads are calibrated. Now if the car was from the rust belt, same adjustment may require a torch and 30 minutes just to break the nut and tie rod loose. Now if he brings his Dodge Ram 4x4 in next time, same alignment may take two hours if camber and caster adjustments are required. Hopefully the pins don't break out of the cams when your adjusting them, or else it'll be a long day. Yet I bet everyone gets charged the same price.. this guy shows a totally lack of automotive knowledge.

As a retired tech, what always amazed me was that fewer than 1% of customers asked to SEE their car and have the issues explained. In most cases once you could show the customer, whether or not they new anything about cars, they would fix the issue. The ones that SCARED me were the ones that had major issues that you could hear/feel/smell that wouldn't look at their car and take it and leave saying "you're just trying to sell me something". So if a shop is telling you that there is something wrong with your car, ask them to SHOW you what it is. If they won't, take your car and leave. Don't believe the nonsense of "our Insurance won't allow you " That's just to keep the annoying customers out who have no clue as to what you are doing but want to "watch". Any GOOD tech would be happy to show you something wrong with your car and explain why it needs repaired. I always looked at customers cars as if they were mine, and would I want to be informed of issues.

As an alignment tech I can tell you that you can move the number by that much just by putting your hand on the wheel with about 3 lbs of pressure. Note total tow was in spec it's steer ahead that is out of spec, that means that the steering wheel was not centered. He is correct it didn't need an alignment.

I went in for tires on an old farm truck that was going the crusher 2 days later ( tire were for another truck) but this truck wasn’t on the road being used at the time and had matching wheels size. So i drove in this total “pos” for tires and they offered a “free safety check”. They came out 2 hrs later with 4 tires and a laundry list of repairs needed, or they weren’t going to let me drive it home! I read through their laundry list of shocks ball joints tie-rod ends, steering box adjustment, lights, brakes, and on and on! But never did they mention the cracked frame at the steering box, rotted out floors broken frame mounts or the crack that was present between the cab and bed of the truck! Their bill was $8500.00 for all needed repairs! I said no thanks, pointed to my roll back outside, and told them that they had missed major safety issues and if they proceeded to keep my truck they were in for more trouble then they were expecting! Needless to say the shop called the police to report me for driving an unsafe vehicle, wanted me to pay for the tires, which I did, but still insisted that all other repairs had to be done by their shop before it could be released! Police came shop manager stated I was threatening him and the shop, and he had it on video! So I looked at the officer, and asked to see the video ( that didn’t exist) with a big smile on my face. I told the police officer what was going on, the plans for the tires, and the fact that my roll back was parked outside and this truck wasn’t going on the road ever! The police officer informed the manager the truck needed to be released. Five months later shop is under investigation for misrepresenting repairs, submissions of double billing and money laundering! Can you say karma is a b!

Another thought. My wifes car went through tires to 2/32 in less than 27k miles. The tire manufacturer would not offer any remedy without "proof of regular rotations" and alignments." They are all evil beings.

This is a great video. Scams like this are so frustrating, because even if you are fairly mechanically inclined like me, it’s easy to fall for the “pitch”, especially if you care a lot about keeping your vehicles well maintained like I do. Honestly it’s a brilliant move on their part to throw the chalk line on the tie rod- just a little physical proof so they have something to show the skeptical customer who suspects (often correctly) that they are getting ripped off. I hope this video gets spread far and wide on social media and that shop gets what they deserve.

As a mechanic who does alignments, I call potholes "job security" lol joking, but at the shop were I work we are as honest as we can possibly be. If we are in the wrong for something, we admit to it and learn what we did wrong and how we can prevent that from happening again. Also, when we do a job that wasn't done right we happily refund the money and learn from out mistakes

If you look closely at the toe before and after you can see that all they did was turn the steering wheel to the right a tad. The original .03 on the left turned to .07 which is .04 degrees to the right. Same with the right side. Started at .16 and ended up at .12 which is .04 degrees. They literally moved the steering wheel right by .04 degrees. The total toe did not change. The total toe would've changed if they had adjusted one side. The chalk probably was there from the factory. Most factories mark certain parts they've tightened so they don't spend time tightening the same thing twice. I have been an alignment tech and I can tell you that I am a perfectionist and it usually took me a good hour to perform a perfect four wheel alignment and I could get each wheel spot on to +-0.1 degrees

Your Total Toe never changed. All they did was straighten the front wheels a small amount to put the rf in spec. No adjustments were performed.

You got a kia soul. You got scammed twice.

I'm glad for my dad's wisdom. He always told me unless you saw unusual wear on the tires, don't buy into an alignment. He had a work vehicle that needed an an alignment one time, so he showed me what to look for. Valuable lesson...

I was working in a dealership on the lube rack when the boss told me to do their standard 60,000 mile check. I fond nothing needing any immediate attention. I found some VERY slight seepage on the rear differential. That was it. I noted the slight seepage and said "Does not need immediate attention" giving the owner the option if they wanted to keep it immaculately clean. The boss read my report and came storming out before I got it off the rack. Of COURSE there was something wrong, there ALWAYS is" he was saying. "These engines are noted for intake manifold gaskets leaking so it needs an intake manifold gasket!". "No. to is not leaking at this time". He sneered and looked so he could prove me wrong. He could not find a leak. "Then it needs an accessory belt tensioner". He checked that, it was fine. "OK, then, we have to get him to go for the seal on the rear pinion". My report said it was not necessary AT THIS TIME which means it might change in the future. Boss grabs my written report and tells me he will 'fix' my report..... and turns around to find the customer has walked up behind him. Well, that did not end up well and I was looking for a job the next day........... I considered it worth it.

One of the problems I think most people have is I’ve never had a shop offer a free alignment check. So when I’ve gotten new tires (about 80,000 miles) I’ve asked for them to do an alignment and paid for it because I don’t know what the alignment looks like to begin with. So once I’ve committed, it may need nothing, but I’m still paying for it to get the before and after results. It may be out it may not be, but I don’t know that until they put it up on the rack and I don’t know of a respectable shop that is going to put your car on the alignment rack, set everything up for “free”.

I have a 2020 civic sport touring…. I had hit a curb going 45mph when I lost consciousness due to an infection in my neck by my carotid artery…. of course I went to go get my alignment checked and I got my suspension checked and all that to make sure everything was okay….. there’s bound to be something off when that happens…. I went to my dealership… I was told by the advisor that they weren’t able to get it in alignment due to rocker panel damage and was told to take it to their collision center to have it looked at… which doesn’t make any sense… my rocker panel has nothing to do with my alignment…. Which is exactly what I was told because they were HONEST…. I took it to my old mechanic who does frame and axle and suspension repair that’s his forte…. He did my alignment with no issues ….. no rocker panel damage and AGAIN he said it would have nothing to do with your alignment…. he told me to call them and tell them they didn’t do anything and I want my money back because at that point I took off 2 days of work and I paid for 2 alignments in a 4 day period of time smmfh…so I called the service manager (he hates me 😂) and told him just that… he says “let me go audit the machine and I’ll call you back….” I’m like great they aren’t going to do shit…. Well to my complete surprise he called back and said AND I QUOTE! This is a honda dealership….”you’re right…. We didn’t do anything I’ll refund it back to your card…..” I about peed my pants I was so surprised 😂I wish I would have effin recorded that conversation! and I told my mom ya know I wonder how many times a day they “dont do anything…” and get peoples hard earned money for doing nothing…. If it wouldn’t have been for me being worried and panicked and looking into it they would have gotten away with that shi…. Took them two visits to install a new taillight…..😂 I WILL QUESTION EVERYTHING they do….. they’ve messed up too many simple tasks that a 5yr old could handle for me not to question them…… they’re absolutely full of it

I've done alignments 15 years. I've seen this at Goodyear. The before measurements the steering wheel was turned to the left, then straightened for the current measurements. No alignment was done, the machine was manipulated to make it look like an alignment was done.

While I’m not disagreeing that you got scammed, because I believe you did. Just not the way you think. My first disagreement is with your argument that you can’t adjust 0.04 degrees. I do alignments all the time and I spend the time to always get them within 0.01 degrees on either side, it’s pretty easy to do. Unfortunately I can tell from your before and after sheets that all they did was turned the steering wheel a tiny amount. Your alignment was fine and didn’t need to be adjusted. Don’t go back to those scammers. I think it’s good to be skeptical and ask questions, but there are good shops out there, I firmly believe the one I work at is honest, otherwise I wouldn’t work for them.

Excellent video- thanks so much for the info! As for those "125 Point Inspections" - after one of those I done to me a couple of years ago, they presented me with a 10-page print out of everything which needed to be "fixed" and the total was over $10K! Of course I simply paid for what I actually brought my vehicle there in the first place, and left. But the next day, when I attempted to start my car --- DEAD BATTERY! I called the shop told them to come and tow it back to their place and fix it for me; and they said, NO - we need to charge you X $ for a tow first - and I blew my top. I called AAA and had to wait for them to finally arrive and do the jump start. Figured out why the battery went dead, too -- the "Inspector" from the repair shop had turned ON ALL THE INTERIOR LIGHTS TO CHECK THAT THEY WERE WORKING - THEN LEFT THEM ALL ON. It was the middle of the day and I hadn't noticed that some lights were staying on inside my car after I parked it in the garage. Some of those lights were not of the type designed to turn off automatically, or, the switch was in a position which left them ON and had to be manually turned off. Stupid free inspection. I'll never allow it again.

Total Toe did not change, it was 0.19 degrees Before & After. They just turned the steering wheel to the right.

The year they first came out I bought a new 4 cylinder Honda Civic. Drove it a while, brought it back for the 2000 mile check. They had given me a list of all that entailed, and I had purchased a marking pen and marked every bolt/nut that they would have to touch. Left the car with them, and when I came back to pick it up they proudly told me all of the work they had done. I opened the hood and started checking my marks, and most of the markings were broken, but not all. So I asked the Service Manager "How did they adjust the valves without removing the valve cover?" and showed him the valve cover bolts. He apologized, took the car back in the service bay, there was some yelling, and a while later my car came back out. He apologized again, changed my bill to zero dollars, and all was good. As long as he worked there I got first class service from then on.

I've worked on and off for dealerships my whole adult life. The scams from the salesman, the sales managers, to the service manager, to the service writers. The S-+t I used to see, and hear, would make peoples jaws drop. I've even listened to sales guys laughing about how hard they screwed a customer. I've seen service writers fired for literally doing their job. Fired only because they weren't pushing and scamming people into buying things they didn't need. Most dealerships, tire shops, etc have massive overhead, most employees don't make much money. The managers, and GMs are the only ones that make REAL money, and do the least amount of work. Their job is to push everyone else around to make THEM money.

It’s always fun seeing the stunts these quick tire fair warehouse chains pull. LOL TPMS “rebuild” ..next time look at the fine print wherever it is website, brochure etc..This guys absolutely correct, it’s simply a valve core and cap replacement. TPMS or not, grab a sharpie, paint pen or a sharp exacto knife and mark the tip of the valve core and put a little tick on your valve caps. Ive walked back in dropped my old caps on the counter and asked for my money back. If you can get under it put a mark on your boot/tie rod ends/lock nut too :) #1 rule support your local independent old school tire shops.

Went to Firestone for rotation and was told it needed a 2k steering fix due to steering system faulure, front and rear brakes. Car runs and drives fine, no warning lights and replaced pads myself 2 months prior. But it was my female roommate who brought the car in. Then brought my Camry to the local stealership because front end was shaking. They told me inner tie rods 1800.00 , brought it home, replaced them myself in less than an hour and it didnt solve the problem it turned out to be cv axels.

My father caught the local Dealer on work not performed. He put a dab of model car paint on the bolts that had to be removed or adjusted. He checked the car and remarked to the service manager "you guys are good - you even aligned the cracks in the paint at each nut/bolt. He called the state in on that repair and the dealership was shut down for a month.

Shops that i worked at doing wheel alignments, when its barely requiring adjustment we would just do those minor adjustments for free. Its not that serious. Its better to build relationships with customers to have them for long run than to do quick scams like that.

I used to be a VW/Audi tech and did alignments. I used to hate doing them because it was such a pain to set up the machine. 90% of the time spent was the "checking" and we charged for it whether you needed any adjustments or not. Most dealership techs work on "flat rate", which means they get paid a certain amount of time for a job regardless of how long it takes. In our case, an alignment paid 1.5 hours to check and the adjustments were more time if they were needed. There is no way they could have gotten us to do checks for free. The first time I heard of this checking alignment for free deal at tire shops, I was really surprised and glad I wasn't the tech having to waste my time checking the alignment on a car that I just took 4 evenly worn tires off of. But, these shops probably pay their techs by the hour, so the techs don't care. The shop is gambling that if they spend their tech's time checking the alignment, they will get enough cars that are enough out of alignment that they can charge the 99 bucks and make up for the wasted time. So yeah the tech probably leaned on your tire, got the thing to go green and hit print. Those machines are incredibly accurate and just bumping the car can make them change. Like I said - it's a big pain in the butt and I hated it. Part of the reason I got out of that trade was all this underhanded stuff that goes on and the up-sales and being pushed to sell stuff customer's didn't really need. That tech probably knew that you would have been fine and had no tire wear with that little bit of tow, but he was probably trained to sell that alignment if that machine had any red to make up for the time checking....Wow that was really long winded but this struck a nerve for me as the guy on the other end of it for years.

I hate to go in for Service anywhere, being a SINGLE WOMEN !!!!! For fear of tip offs

I got this alignment report while sitting at the desk completing paperwork for oil change. Fortunately, I didn’t have the hour and a half to “fix” the .20 frontal toe issue. While sitting in the waiting room, I watched this video and got 100% smarter. Thank you. While I’m here, I think I’ll ask to see my shiny new air filter before driving off the lot, too. Maybe even ask for the old one as a souvenir. 😬

I did front-end alightment ONLY for 12 yrs. Every manufacturer has a recommended setting for the Caster, camber, and toe angles. They have + and - variance. And as long as its never been adjusted prior or and work is needed, the manufacturers original settings never change.

Comparing numbers before and after clearly says that "before" measurement was made improperly. They are two exactly the same alignments (within the measurement tolerance) but with the steering wheel turned slightly to the left on the "before" measurement. And "after" is the correctly made measurement with the steering wheel in the neutral position. It's very simple way to mock the failure and then "fix" it

One of the biggest mistake high schools made, at least mine, was taking auto shop out of the curriculum. I knew more about cars by the time I was a senior in high school than most people I know today. There are so many scams out there that take advantage of people who have no clue about how their car works. You can ask them what dress their favorite celebrity got married in and they'll know, but you can ask them a basic question about their car and they will stand there with a blank look.

NO HAMMER NEEDED. SIMPLY THEY NEVER ADJUSTED ANYTHING. THE TOTAL TOE STAYED AT .19 DEGREES SO THEY JUST TURNED THE STEERING WHEEL TO THE RIGHT A TAD. LEFT SIDE TIRE MOVED .04 AND RIGHT SIDE -.04.

I'm an owner operator truck driver and have been for years, so I look at my tires on everything I own. My wife's car was needing tires, it was all wheel drive and tires were rotated regularly. The shop that put new tires said it needed alignment in order to get a warranty for the new tires, I told no and not to touch suspension. The old tires wore even, no cupping, and the vehicle drove straight down the road. They did the alignment and my wife called and told me she couldn't keep it on the road. When I got home I took it for a drive and was pissed, I wondered, felt like it had a mind of its own. Ended up taking it back twice before they got right again and didn't do business with the shop again.

I do my own oil changes and years ago I needed an A/C belt. I brought my car in after I recently changed the oil and had a different shop replace the transmission fluid. I got a call later asking if I wanted an oil change and transmission service because the fluids looked dark to them. I declined and never went back

I had a dealership attempt to sell me a new transfer case for $4000, for a nasty vibration. The service manager almost got me. I drove away to a independent repair shop; repaired for $60! A U joint needed replaced. $60 included a u joint and labor. I tore one hell of a strip of that service manager. I also ended all future work and future car purchases at that dealer forever.

I am long since retired from the auto repair business. While I did general repair, I was specifically a front end and alignment specialist. So. the video caught my interest. It often takes more time to drive a vehicle onto the alignment rack, attach the alignment equipment, and check the specifications than it takes to actually make the adjustments in many cases. The "free" alignment check is a marketing tool or strategy to uncover needed additional work. It is not a scam. And it costs the shop time and money. Now, if the work is charged for and not done, that is a scam.

Well ... At least they were NICE enough to say "We recommend alignment". Some aggressively shady places might throwing some sort of BS like "We cannot release your vehicle due to the safety concerns".

My dad always told me to get the old part back from them as some sort of proof they actually put new part in

Hm, what nobody here seems to have a problem with is that they mounted other tires than he ordered, without asking him first. I would have said, take 'em off again, I do want the ones I told you, and if you can't get them, I'll go somewhere else. Doesn't matter if they gave him a little more expensive ones for the original quoted price. Before I buy tires, I do research on tire test results, and make my decision of which brand I buy based on that. A tire that costs only a little more might have worse performance results...

If you knew how to read alignments, which I don't expect the average car owner to do, you will see that total toe did not change. They just turned the steering wheel to move the tires 0.04 degrees. That is why left toe and steer ahead also changed 0.04 degrees. You were scammed and you have it in writing. I would be back to that shop and get a refund on the whole bill.

Dang.. I suspect they just turned the wheel to make it look out. Both sides move to the right about 0.04°.

Something I just noticed: Total toe for the front was the same before/after the alignment. Technician literally just nudged the steering wheel slightly and took the after reading & called it done.

They didn't make an adjustment, and the car didn't need an alignment, and you didn't need to look under the car to determine this: Total toe before the "alignment" was .19 degrees, and after the "adjustment" the total toe was still .19 degrees. They turned the steering wheel enough to push the right side tire into the red, printed the alignment, then turned the wheel back to bring it into the green and printed it again. Now, alignments nowadays take some time to pull the car on the rack, set the heads up on the car, compensate the heads, and do the caster swing to get the readings. The actual adjustments (if it's only the toe that needs to be adjusted), only takes a few minutes, so the fact that they called a few minutes later is not proof by itself that they didn't adjust anything. The real proof is that the total toe didn't change, and that your steering wheel wasn't crooked when you brought it in. You should go back and let them know you knew, and give them the link to this video! LOL

I take it you have never done an alignment before. An average car .04* tie rod adjustment is 100% possible, .01* is also 100% possible, .04* slop in the steering is also possible. the average outer tie rod is close to the bead of a stock sized wheel, the average car has a tie rod with a 16TPI adjustment thread so one rotation of the inner tie rod would get you .0625" of travel so about 30* on the inner tie rod would get you your .006" of travel. The best way to tell is just look at the tie rod jam just and see if there is evidence a wrench has touched it. it only takes a few seconds to adjust a single tie rod, you pay $99 for the value of having your alignment fixed not some guy working on your car for an hour. Pro tip, next time you take a car there, don't answer the phone when they call, if the alignment is slightly off like it was in the case and the car is on the rack and you don't answer they will just fix it because spending 30 seconds adjusting a tie rod is better than the car tying up the rack waiting for you to call back, or taking the car off the rack and then having you call back and say you want the alignment performed then they have to put it back on. This way they will either say the alignment was good when you call in or say they need to adjust some things, in that case just decline the service and you will get a free alignment with your free alignment check, If you accept they will just sit on your ticket for a few hours and call you back and add $99 to your bill.

Another reason why customers aren't allowed in the shop for "insurance purposes ". Yep, insurance that you can't catch them cheating!

I been a mechanic for 20 years and honesty is been my number 1 goal I get so many people that they been taken advantage off and it piss me off how mechanics can just rip off people like that

I noticed that your car was .012" on the right side after the alignment (vs .016"), but was .007" afterwards on the left, when it was .003" before, which seems an awful lot like they literally just turned the steering wheel a hair, or re-zeroed the measuring pads and retook the alignment measures to get the right numbers.

No adjustments were made on this vehicle . I do alignments for a living and have printed out many printouts . All the tech did was mount the heads got a before measurement , banged the wheel so the After measurement was all green and charged you . You can clearly see what he did . If this was a real alignment the toe should have been perfect both sides not .07 on the left and . 012 on the right . The final clue to the rip off is the total toe did not change again showing he did no adjustments , just banged the wheel to show green . I hate these types of situations because it gives a bad name to guys like me who make their living by treating customers with respect and honesty

I think it's worse than you stated; no hammer was needed. The right front was turned out .04° and the left front turned in .04° and the steer ahead was turned to the right .03°. All that to me indicates they simply turned the steering wheel to the right until they got green boxes.

For that reason I always stand close to the bay to watch every single task the mechanics do to my car, if I see something suspicious I ask them what are they doing. The shop that doesn’t perform the repairs at front of me, I don’t let touch my car and l leave. I came from a country where a mechanic fix one thing and damages others in the car to take you back.

"Upgrading" the tires without having the customer's consent is also a big issue. Granted some don't pay close attention to their tire design and specs. But others care significantly what tires they are buying.

It doesn't matter how much someone charges if it's an honest. I fix computers and most of the time I know the problem before I get to where I'm going and its usually simple.. The minimum I charge is $150 and I do the job within 15 minutes. If its honest you pay for the knowledge, not how easy or how hard a job is.

Before you replace your tires, look at each tire for tread wear and that will tell you if you have an issue, It should wear evenly across the tire in general.

If your vehicle doesn't pull to one side or the other and your tires are wearing normally, you don't need an alignment.

As a guy whose wife buys $40 wiper blades every time she gets her oil changed against my wishes (because I’ll change her oil ) I know the feeling