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When moving from Colorado to Florida I reached my new town on a tow truck with out of state plates. I knew I was screwed not knowing anyone. I told the tow driver to just take me where he might go. He took me to a small family owned shop. The owner told me that he would take a look for me and I prepared for the worst since I was an easy mark. Ten minutes later he came back and said that I was good to go, my points had slipped and just needed to be set and tightened. I reached for my wallet and he said “No charge”. He had no idea that I was moving there and assumed that I was passing through town by his small talk. 30 years later this is the only shop that I ever use. The owner has retired and I deal with his sons who are just as honest as he was. I ended up in a job where I was in charge of seeing that a 20 vehicle fleet was maintained as part of that job. Guess where I steered that work to as soon as I could?

The worst thing about shady shops is they probably won’t do any of the work and charge them full pop for nothing

An honest mechanic is worth his weight in gold!

This kind of dishonesty is exactly why I got into automotive. I was sick and tired of being taken advantage of, so I put myself through tech school and made it a point to excel. I never wanted to have a reason to send a vehicle to someone else. That was back in 2006, and since then, I've worked for myself, worked for others, worked for companies, but always kept honesty, integrity and communication at the forefront of everything I do. There is so much dishonesty in this industry, that for a good technician, this job is as much about repairing people as it is repairing vehicles. Be the good guy or gal, never stop educating yourself or your customers, and you will do well.

That's one of the cleanest CR-V's I've ever seen from that era. Kudos to owner/daughter for keeping it so fresh!

"complimentary" brake inspection for 125 bucks... Literally not a single point of that paper was honest.

I took my wife's challenger to a chain tire/service shop for an oil change at 50k miles and was told we needed $1200 in service. Took it to a different independent shop. Out for under $100. Fully inspected, no problems. It's criminal what places do these days.

In 30 plus years in the business I can honestly say there is enough honest work you don’t have to scam people.

One of my coworkers immigrated from the former Yugoslavia and she cleaned houses during the day as we worked the second shift. One of the people she cleaned for had to move to a 24-hour care facility so gifted her a 1991 Volvo 240 sedan. Although it was 15 years old at the time it only had 38,000 miles on it and was garage kept and meticulously maintained by the local Volvo dealer. A couple years into her ownership she took it in for maintenance and she had to use a local independent shop because our local Volvo dealer closed down. The local shop quoted her $3,500 and said that the car was dangerous to drive and she should leave with them so they could start working on it immediately. She said she didn't have the money at the moment and would risk it and immediately drove it to an import specialist recommended by other co-workers. He test drove it and the only thing he found wrong with it was a wheel bearing that was on its way out some minor leakage from the shock absorbers and a rusty tailpipe.

There was a program here in the UK, where some cars were properly serviced and checked and sent to several garages and "faults" were found there, when there were'nt, or another where a service was due - sent in, they were charged for a service, and a hidden camera in the car and tell tale signs that no service was done, but charged the customer for doing nothing . That is downright theft and dispicible.

When my mom was alive,a gas station guy doing the State Inspection,tried to tell her the front rotors were warped and needed to be replaced immediately! I went along with her,and me, being a Mechanic ,questioned him on why he thought they were bad. He said they were discolored! I told him I felt no pulsing while driving it and suggested he run a Dial indicator on it! Well, he just blinked,and said “ ok,this time I’ll let it slide!”. Never went back again! Lol

Had a coworker ask me to plug in my cheap scan tool to his 03 (I think it was) Honda Accord, shop said he needed the whole emissions EVAP system replaced... Nope... Had him meet me after work at a nearby Advance Auto, replaced the gas cap, reset the code, never came back. They were quoting him over $1,200, fixed it for I think $12? Can't stand shops like that.

My rule is, 'once burnt and I won't go back.' That applies to any business. I think it's my duty to help weed out the deadwood. Rock on.

The other issue is that the scammers have more protections than the consumers do . Wizard isn’t naming the shop because he and the customer could face legal repercussions. So the rip off artist will keep succeeding just as criminals do because the system protects them .

Just had this same issue at my local Firestone. My wife took her 2006 Navigator to them because the A/C was not getting cold. I've gone there for years, but only for tires, nothing else. My wife called me freaking out saying it was going to cost $1800.00 plus tax to fix. I was at a buddies shop not to far away where he modifies cars, about a 10 minute drive. I told my wife I was on my way, that I wanted to see the truck. When I got there the guy at the front desk hands me the parts list. New compressor, new condenser coil, new evaporator, new dryer, and 2 new expansion valves. I kinda sarcastically smiled and said "you're trying to replace the entire system". I told him I wanted to see the truck. When I looked at it you could clearly see one of the hoses on the dryer was leaking. I told the tech to button everything up, that I was taking the truck to another shop. Told the rep at the front desk that I probably won't be coming back to even purchase tires anymore. Told him they were trying to scam my wife. He really had nothing to say. I told my wife to follow me to my buddies shop. He really doesn't work on regular cars there but after I explained what happened, he agreed to let me fix it there and he would help me out if I needed the help. I purchased the dryer and the 2 expansion valves (one for the front and one for the rear A/C). Total cost was $203.00. Next day I went back to my buddies shop, I replaced everything myself. My friend went ahead and pressure tested the system and didn't charge me anything for the freon. He did the whole recharge hi self since I don't know how to use that A/C machine. I am still upset at Firestone and have been thinking about writing to corporate. I've been a loyal customer for about 15 years. I have different sets of wheels for my car and have purchased both high performance street tires and track tires for my otherset of wheels. The track tires is a twice a year thing. Definitely thinking of taking my business elsewhere.

Not only the initial scam, they were going to take the OEM Honda parts and sell them and replace them with junk. If she had gone through with the repairs, guaranteed the crap aftermarket parts they used would fail again before the perfectly fine OEM parts would have. Dirtbags.

A couple of years ago the water pump went on my f150 with the 5.0. I called around and all shops were several months out for service. The dealership wanted $1200 to replace it. I decided to do it myself since it couldn’t wait. It was a $136 part, and having never changed a water pump before it took me 30 minutes from draining the coolant to having a running car again with everything installed properly and torqued to spec thanks to KZfaq videos. I was shocked how easy it was, having always paid to have my vehicles worked on. It was at that point I decided that I wasn’t going to mechanics anymore unless it was something that needed a lift, something I didn’t have an expensive tool to fix, or something I didn’t have the expertise to diagnose. I bought some tools, and to date I have done oil changes, suspension work, drive belts and pulleys, sensors, and a number of other small things. In fact I just replaced the struts and sway bar links on my Camry before dinner this evening. I don’t enjoy it, but the value of taking it to a shop just isn’t there anymore. I’m convinced that is going to be the future for many people. The big issue I see in the future is right to repair and serialized parts like manufactures have been doing with electronics making their way to cars. The value of vintage square body Chevy trucks will likely continue to skyrocket.

A local shop to me tried to tell my girlfriend that she needed to do a power steering fluid change on her car that has electric power steering just a month ago when we took it there to get a tire fixed. I went there an hour later and had a good word with them in front of all the customers in the waiting room

This is common with Honda and Toyota dealers. Giving outrageous estimates for problems that don't exist. Last time my wife took her 2008 pilot to the dealership they said $5000 worth of work to be done. My wife asked for a list of problems. We took the car to a highly rated local shop. Cost of repair $86, none of the other items on the dealership list was needed. Local shop is our goto for all things auto for the last 6 years. Honda Pilot Rav4

They kill their own business. Next time this victim buys a car. They will get a cheap new car with warrantee instead. That fake bill alone could lease you a new Honda for close to a year.

Thanks for sharing. We need more honest mechanic to trust like you.

Honestly, I worked at a Toyota dealership in the parts department for one month before I quit. Every person that came in for an oil change it was our mission to find something to parts cannon on the vehicle. Usually they just replaced brake pads and rotors on anything under 75% life. They would tell everyone that could do a brake service where they lube up the pins and clean the brackets but told everyone if they wanted to actually take care of it they should replace every corner. Then if that was done fairly recently in the history they would say the wheel bearings were bad. It was a simple job to do and it was something that 99% of customers have no idea what that is. It was just free money for the techs and parts department. This kind of stuff just blew my mind, Toyota took advantage of every person that came into the dealership. Using Toyotas name to find anything easy to replace, stuff that customers assume they are being truthful about. None of the techs or mechanics had any skill at diagnostic work. And sometimes when the customers were all accepting the parts cannon advice, we would run out of OEM rotors and pads so we would order white box NAPA parts. Then at parts I was told to multiply the cost x8 for the service writer to quote. Absolute insanity, I cannot stand the car world anymore for shops that just constantly scam and take advantage of people. Females and the elderly were just big $$$ walking around every time one came to the service writers. Some people can line their pockets like Wizard says and never bat an eye but I have a moral compass that made me quit. I felt bad for people that believed it is a dealership, they would never lie to me.

I took my 2015 Sonata for an oil change at a local dealer to me. They did their "complementary inspection" and told me my CVT needed it's fluid flushed as well as a ton of other things. I laughed in his face and told him my car didn't have a CVT and that I wanted my keys back and would never be back. He then tried to claim someone wrote a mistake and the ATF fluid was to be changed. I took my keys and left, went to my old dealer that is fsrther away and they said everything was completely fine and only needed an oil change. When I told them what happened, they said they had received a lot of business leaving that dealer for the exact same type of upcharging. So, one dealer screwed themselves trying to take advantage of people, and ended up giving a ton of business to a different dealer.

I work at a dealership owned by Swickard Auto Group. They are so into the "upselling" idea that if any tech goes through the visual inspection checklist and marks everything green on a vehicle outside of warranty period, the shop manager gets a notification and they have to reprimand them. None of the techs agree with it but also want to not get written up. It's really stupid

I worked at a Chevron in 79 - 81 started at 16. Customer came in insisting he needed a starter. I pointed out the connection to power were loose and he insisted he needed a new starter. Told my boss what’s happening and he said pull the starter off and get in the truck. We went to parts store bought some black and silver paint, painted the starter, went back and hooked it up properly and the customer was pleased as well as my boss that made a bunch of extra money

I am a retired mechanic and I fix cars for fun, recently two of my customers came to me with work estimates one from Brakmusters and the other from Brakes Pus, I'm pretty sure that because my customers both had lady bumps the shops thought they would just accept it, the estimates ranged from $1200 to $1500 one customer needed front struts replaced (ball park $300 for parts and labor) but nothing else on the the the other customer need NOTHING, my guess is the shop just looked at mileage and said you need this or that, what a rip off.

In Pennsylvania, we have annual inspections. I was told that my JK both rear axles were leaking. And it almost failed inspection. I immediately removed the wheels. Both axles were totally dry. Unfortunately, too many mechanics are crooks. Keep up the great videos.

I know The Wizard can't expose those shops that are trying to scam people but the car owners can tell everybody in town what went down. All they have to do is get the diagnostic evaluation from the Wizard & if the crooked shop tries to get a cease & desist order then let's go to court and let the chips fall where they may. If the scammers do not prevail in court you might have a case for a counter suit with money damages. Either way consult a reputable attorney before taking action.

What was not mentioned is that the young lady heard something when the brakes were applied AND DID NOT IGNORE IT. That is really great. My son totally ignores ANYTHING that is 'unusual' and I only get to know about it is when I borrow his car for a longer drive and the gas mileage is a great plus. On this one, I think MOST (not all) 'shade tree mechanics' would have this nailed in a few minutes. Before I went to auto school, I would have started with the CV shafts. I would then be frowning once I checked that as I would have seen no play. I would already have driven it with the owner and confirmed noise from the back when the brakes are applied, then done my own test drive to make sure the application of brakes was smooth. So my thoughts would now have been, ok, what is making the noise? It is not a piece of rock inside the shield, and it is not grinding like worn out. Being amateur, I would have taken the wheels off (but, seriously, nothing wrong with that) and looked for 'something shiny'. I would try to 'fix' the problem by loosening the calipers and pushing the entire assembly a little was away from the rotor. If that failed and, after telling the owner is't OK, I would have offered to fix it by grinding away just a the smallest bit of pad backing, but still told them it will remove the noise, but does not have to be done. Why is this so hard? That was a daily job under my big tree in the back yard (actually, my barn). Self-taught and I know better than axles and a complete brake rebuild. The shop that told her that will not only lose the woman as a customer, but all her friends when she shows the paperwork from the two different shops. AND she will have this video to show them too. Total idiots, losing so much.

Had a similar situation where a shop chain tried to charge my customer $2500 in brake work. I inspected the vehicle and it only needed a brake flush and some pads, nowhere near half what they were quoted. Just despicable!

That generation of CRV (2007-2011?) were awesome. We have 477,000 plus kms on our ‘08 And it’s still going strong.

I received the exact same diagnosis when I visited a garage for an oil change. I immediately stopped the mechanic, telling him that he was lying. I went straight to the garage and supervised the entire oil change. When trust is lost, it's gone. Incidentally, I still have the exact same brakes from last year.

Part of the problem is that service advisors are paid on commission. They are paid more if the customer gets more work done.

I just took my truck for alignment and camber bolt adjustment, which is part of an adjustment. They did a toe and go, then gave me an estimate for $1450 to fix the camber bolts. When I got home, I adjusted the bolts myself in 15 minutes. There was nothing wrong.

I took my Honda Accord to a local dealership(Garden City, GA) for an alignment. I waited for the work to be completed. After the alignment was completed, the representative showed me a list of things that would need to be done according to the mileage, but I declined as these were items I could do myself. I get into my car and drive away. After driving more than half way home, I realized that nothing had been done! After calling the dealership and complaining, I was told to bring the car back in to them and that they would check it out. Of course I decided to not do this as they would try to go down the list and tell me that these were issues that needed to be completed. BTW, a leaking valve cover gasket has nothing to do with an alignment. I ended up taking it to a local shop (5 minutes from my home) and they provided the necessary alignment. You gotta watch those stealerships!

I've been a mechanic and car flipper since 1979. It is amazing how many "mechanics" are liars now. Sellers of vehicles have gotten bad also. Society as a whole has lost integrity. Women should and need to know their vehicles. My daughter, who is in grad school grew up in my shop basically. Good video once again.

@CarWizzard It is people like you that make this world a better place. Thank you for being a true honest man.

I have a 2016 Rav 4 that needed rear brake pads. My local Toyota dealership quoted me $700. I took it to a local independent shop that I trust. He replaced the brake pads and the rotors with OEM parts for under $300. Amazing...

Last for years in LE, I was involved in doing investigations into garages epping people of and doing luck and sick inspections as well as doing cmv inspections. After i retired my now wife, who i was friends with, came to me crying because it was going to cost almost 3k to fix her car. I took it to a friend that I've known for years and had him look at it. All it needed was a new right rear caliper and bred. Had him do both left and right rear etc... total cost, $300. Subsequently made a phone call and the garage was out of business within six months. Car wizard, your absolutely right. Be fair and honest and your customers keep coming back

Great video addressing an extremely common issue. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends (men & women) call me in a panic for this very reason. One was at a tire chain for an oil change. He was told they would not allow him to leave because the car was unsafe and needed $2800 worth of brake work. I asked how it felt when he drove there and he said perfectly fine. Long story short, he brought it to my house and there was NOTHING wrong. Did pads and caliper service while I was at it. It's literally criminal behavior.

An honest mechanic. Thanks for not being the "industry standard".

I'm so glad I have a mechanic I know and can trust, especially since I have an older Mazda 6 with a lot of miles. I feel sorry for the folks that get taken.

My wife went to a New England area chain for new tires. She was told that the rear drums were worn and needed to be replaced. She called me and asked what I wanted to do. I told her to tell the mechanic that he was either incompetent or dishonest since the car had disk brakes on the rear. He went out to the shop, returned, and said, "Huh, it does have disks."

Quite a few years ago, the ABS light came on in my dad's 1996 Honda Accord and he brought it to the dealer and they told him the Air Bag System went out and the bags must all be replaced for quite a price. He let them do it. I told him that he was absolutely ripped off as ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System and the airbags are the SRS (Supplemental Restraint System). I told him they probably merely poured a little brake fluid in his ABS fluid reservoir, as those Hondas had its own brake fluid reservoir and often would leak a little and the light would come on when the fluid was low and would go off after filling it up. It's sad how it's hard to trust many people these days. Find a trustworthy mechanic and pay more for when you need actual repairs.

Too many shops are scamming customers for unneeded repairs. My local Jeep dealership even tried to scam me to replace all the brakes on my Jeep Renegade when I brought it in for its scheduled oil change. Brought it to my local Big O Tires mechanic I've used for years and he said I still had over a year left on them.

I am so grateful that, here in Australia, I have a reputable, honest, and courteous mechanic servicing our Kia Optima and Mitsubishi ASX.

Once upon a time in 1998 I took my 1985 dodge Aries to the "Brake Shop" for a quote on a brake job. I had grinding noises so I knew I needed work done. I was quoted over $900 for all corners. I told them that was ridiculous. The manager had a talk with my 19 year old self and told me he had to pay his mechanic(s). I took that paper quote with my car and drove off. A week later the name of the shop changed.

What's funny is when you take your vehicle in somewhere to get work done and you're a knowledgeable mechanic and they try to scam you. Tire/brake/suspension places seem to be the worst offenders. I had an alignment place tell me I needed new tie rods and bearings. This after I'd just replaced almost the whole suspension (tie rods, bearings, ball joints, shocks) just days before, which why I was there getting a machine alignment done to being with. After I told them I'd just done the work, they tried to backpedal and tell me maybe I just hadn't torqued everything down right (I always follow factory torque specs on brake/suspension work, so no). I told them not to worry about it and got it done at another shop no problems. Not only did they permanently lose a customer, but I told everyone I knew in the area about what they'd done, so I'm sure they lost even more business. I guess they think they can come out ahead long enough to make off with some money, and I'm sure they do for a while, but eventually you're going to get caught up with.

This situation is why me and my husband try to fix as manny things as we can ourselves! Thank you for your honesty and great videos!❤😊

my Uncle is an ex-boxer and an extremely hard man. A garage near us scammed his daughter out of a couple of grand for unnecessary work. My uncle went to get the money back, which he did in full. He showed me a picture a few weeks later. They beat the crap out of the garage owner took a picture of him holding a sign that read " I'm a con-man ". They then destroyed a couple of his work vans, and threw all the keys in the river, and informed him they would be back each week to collect compensation money for what he did. The guy closed his business and disappeared a couple of weeks later after they had took around 10 grand from him. Greedy garage owners should remember that you really don't know who you're messing with lol.

It blows my mind how many customers I have come into my shop and tell me another shop told them this was wrong and this was wrong for the to the tune of three four or $5,000 and we find little to nothing wrong with the car after examining it yet We still have the customers that when we find things wrong that need to be addressed that end up going to another shop and getting ripped off then returning to us asking us to help it blows my mind sometimes with customers why they were at another shop blows my mind wizard you were upstanding solid shop owner

I've had this before. Take a grinder with a wire wheel on it and apply it to that small rust ridge on the rotor. Let the rotor spin slowly as you wire wheel it. That all it takes to get rid of this noise.

Why its so vital to have a regular mechanic.

Great episode one again! I'm an independent out of Decatur, Texas and I have seen this frequently. A couple other viewpoints that the Wizard may not have had time to point out on this episode: 1. There is a very good chance the repair shop would have not done the work and still charged the customer. I've seen this and have called-out some pretty high end European manufacturers on it. 2. Car dealers make their money of the warranty work and will lie to the manufacturer if they think they can scam a job. 3. Almost all manufacturers are headed into either bankruptcy or default once again and the taxpayer will be left to flip the bill. They need to make as much money they can, anyway possible on their throw-away cars.

I always took pride in being honest and doing quality work. I owned my own heavy equipment shop and would charge for diagnostic time if it took a while. I had a customer complain about the charge. They stopped coming by, for 2 months. They took their truck to freightliner that replace 2 sensors, an engine harness. They gave the customer a 4200$ bill and said they didnt know how to fix it. He brought it me and i found the ecm was bad. Diag, parts and labour was 1800$. They no longer question the fee. I take pride in doing it right the first time.

I worked in the auto parts side of the business for many years, and I can tell you that the Car Wizard is telling you the honest truth. People would often ask "where's a good place to get the work done?" I usually had a couple of places that I could recommend, and it was always gratifying when either the customer or the shop would tell me about a good experience based upon my recommendation.

Great integrity. A true gentleman. Thanks for the video.

Sadly honest auto shops are hard to find. Your right they just don't get it. I have a local shop that only works on Honda/Acura and the guy is as honest as you can get. Because of that he's had a booming business for the last 25 years, all from word of mouth.

You are doing a great service, exposing scams. Yes, I can attest scamming is ramped whether an independent repair shop or new car dealer. Either they recommend unnecessary repairs for an exorbitant price, or I find work billed for was never done. I just redid the timing belt kit on our Honda Odyssey that a shop did only 30,000 ago. I determined the timing belt tensioner was bad because of the noise. The noise was there soon after they did the work years ago. I discovered the water pump was leaking through the weep hole. The secondary roller bearing was worn with play. It was obvious to me only the belt was replaced even though they charged for the complete kit. Also, they were supposed to have done the spark plugs too, but they have not done those either. I just begrudgingly do all my own work now, due to my confirmed lack of trust. I was a fleet mechanic for almost 20 years in a previous 1st career and know about how to repair or rebuild virtually any system in cars, trucks, heavy-duty vehicles, hydraulic booms, electronics, you name it. Shops almost always assume their customers are totally ignorant about cars, and it's open season to rip people off. It is really sicking how they prey on people's trust.

We had a local shop diagnose a failing catalyst on a late model VW Atlas with a very expensive estimate. It came to me and while I confirmed the issue the customer was shocked to learn it was under warranty and could be fixed at no charge at the dealership. Crooks are everywhere

I hate scammers. I put the old parts in the boxes the new parts came in, and tell them not to replace things that don't need it. I'm getting more business, and that's a good thing.

If you weren't already aware, here's a PSA: The "Service Advisor" behind the computer in your dealer's service department is working on commission. They have a vested interest in lying RIGHT to your face about what work you need done. Had one tell me I needed a transmission service on my grocery-getter Odyssey after 55k miles. I challenged him on it, showing him Honda's own service manual, he just said "oh these are extreme conditions". In New England, we get a few days below zero in the winter, a few days above 100 in the summer, and it snows 4-5 times a winter. This is not South Dakota or the Yukon or Death Valley. I'm fortunate in that there's a few different dealers within an hours' drive.

I used to go to a place that did really cheap oil changes. It was a tire shop, but they did oil changes and had a "mechanic" on hand. The first few times, they were great. The son of the owner was running the place. As soon as dad showed back up, things got sketchy. After that, it seemed that everytime, there was something that needed immediate attention. I usually do simple things like brakes or whatever myself. The only reason that I went there, is because they changed my oil for less than it would have costs me to do it myself. I was walking back there to get my phone out of my car, and this guy already had it on the lift, and he was CUTTING my cv boot with a box cutter. Yeah. It got bad really quick.

These " scam shops ", make other good shops look bad. A person came in with a 2013 Ford Escape, transmission had erratic shifting, price asked to repair $ 7,000.00.

In 2007, a Chicago-area Mercedes dealer convinced my late mom to buy a new C280 to replace her 1986 300E. The older Merc was in pretty good shape except for rust around the wheel openings and a need for a front-end alignment. Unfortunately, I was out-of-state but at least persuaded her to take the 300E home. She sold the old car to a third party who kept it (ready to explode according to the dealer) going for another five years. She (an experienced business woman) was mad at herself for being easily manipulated.

Good Morning Wizard, this is my first comment or question ⁉️ My husband was scanned when he bought a 2008 mini cooper convertible. He drove it home and it started over heating every time he drove it. Mechanic #1 changed sparkplugs. Mechanic #2 new plugs, kept the car for 5 days and couldn't figure it out. Mechanic #3 said it's a blown head gasket. As they took apart the motor, they suggested the timing belt and water pump. I ok'd it. Later they suggested a new radiator and hoses. Ok. $5500 later, we picked up the car, but, something is wrong with the oil pressure. The light goes on until it's driven a bit, the light goes off. The car is very loud and when he starts it, he needs to rev it to keep it from stalling. When he does it fill my room with the smell of gas. I need to bring it back in but I don't want to be told it needs spark plugs. Ugh.

At one time I went to one of the well known repair shops. I had them replace my front brakes. Halfway through the job the service tech advised me that my water pump was leaking and needed to be replaced. This came as a surprise to me. I had a buddy of mine replace my water pump 4 months earlier. When I told the service tech this his only comment was, "Oh, I see.?" He dropped the issue of the water pump. From that point forward he was more cautious as to what he told me until I paid for my brake job. Safe to say I never went back to that repair shop again.

We just saw a news story about a super shady shop whom ripped off a lady for nearly $4,000 in shady repairs. Worse is she fought back, took the scammer to court, won a full judgment against him, and now he refuses to pay it. Local news is skewering him and I hope the conman gets publicly skewered.

I recently picked up a 09 CR-V LX, and aside from noisy valve train (which could be addressed with a periodic valve clearance adjustment), I've found no mechanical issues with the vehicle.. very clean car, and it's reassuring to see so many of them still on the road, and even more reassuring to see the only reason that CR-V is in your shop is to refute a scam attempt! Great service, Wizard. And thanks to Jenny for all she does!

These older CR-V's are the best.

I worked for years in sales at a Ford dealership in Australia, one day the workshop manager decided to open on Saturday mornings, on one occasion when he wasn't there, a mechanic parked his car beside another in for service of the same model and did an auto transmission swap over

As a shop instructor said to his daughter when she told him my car is making noise- he said to her turn up the radio! 😅😅

Mr.grimes says no...👎

That mug is clean! My compliments to the owner, and honest mechanics/shops.

You should be proud of yourself and the honesty and integrity of you and your shop. I really wish everyone in your family and your technicians the best and safe and healthy 🙏

I had the local firestone try to tell me i needed new hub bearings all around new brakes a muffler new tires and an additional check engine fee. All for the tune of 3800. I took my car to a honest hard working mechanic. All fixed for 800!!! I didn’t need 3/4 of them parts. So think how they do that day in day out to everyone!! Wow!!! Thanks for putting a spot light on these practices. It’s more common than people realize.

Wizard how do you feel about those autos in those Hondas?

I'm so thankful to have an honest mechanic here in the Fort Worth area. I've actually known him since he was born. His mama and daddy raised him right! Not only honest, but very good at his job. Never cheats anyone. And he has more business than he knows what to do with. And the reason for that is he's good and he's honest. Too bad some of these lazy "cheats" out there can't figure that out. Thank you Mr Wizard for setting a great example!

Unfortunately the reality is that nowadays it's very hard to find a mechanic who isn't dishonest or incompetent, or both.

If this person is such a good customer, why did he/she go to another shop first?

I bought a new car in 2017 and bought the extended warranty. I went for each and every scheduled maintenance. I had no problems at all. When it expired, I was told to schedule the next maintenance. I asked what would be required. The agent printed out a TWO PAGE list of all kinds of "inspections" but very few actions besides wheel rotation, filter replacement, oil change, etc. They said it would be over $900. FOR INSPECTIONS. I said no thank you and walked out. Talk about upsell.

Thank you for your honesty Car Wizard. I remember when my dad bought his first car in 1961. It was a used 1957 Dodge Coronet 4 door. When he had problems with it, the repair shop just kept replacing parts until they found the problem. Even then shady mechanics were ready to pounce. Thank you for doing business the right way,

Great video. For the last 3 years every time I take our 2019 car in for the FREE oil change the list of things that need to be done is amazing. The first visit I was told the battery was about to go out. ASt that time it was only 18 months old. We still have the original battery.

I got my son a 2007 cr-v. It has over 190k mi on it- 4wd 4 cyl. Has been a great vehicle with very few issues, and easy to teach him to maintain himself. Thanks for the video wizard!

I used to take my trucks to my local dealership for everything just because I was too busy to do it myself. They lost my business when they inspected it for a state inspection and found a few real problems and a whole bunch of fake problems. The one service they recommended that was a pretty penny and really stuck out in my mind was, to have the transfer case serviced in a 2 wheel drive truck. I blew up on them and told them it doesn't even have a transfer case! Now that I think about it, I remember telling them that the mileage on the truck is not a prerequisite for changing the brake rotors since they had very little wear and turning the rotors is a lot cheaper than new rotors.

They always push brake work. A) Because it’s fast, easy work B) People are afraid of brake issues so will always submit. C) There’s always good money in it. D) 99.9% do people can’t check it themselves and will never question the validity.

Shame on you for not calling out this shop for fraud.

a year or two ago it was at the point where shops didn't want to touch anything on a car older than around 1999-2000 - now they just don't want to do ANYTHING unless it's a new car and it's a job over $1,000. It's like mechanic shops have decided that it's not even worth their time to do any work unless it guarantees a full day or two of work AND it's either guaranteed by an insurance company or it's a newer vehicle that they can be reasonably sure that the owner will pay up. I've even offered to give shops money in advance to fix something on my 1980's SUV and they won't do it. I literally cannot pay a mechanic to work on an older vehicle. it's really crazy.

My Dad was an honest mechanic for 45 years, I know he sends you a virtual hug from heaven!!!

In 2009, I inherited my uncle's 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera with 48K on the odo. I wanted to use it as a winter beater (it was somewhat rusty around the edges) so I took it to the local GM dealer that I had done some business with and asked them to tell me what it needed for safety inspection. They called me wheen they got to $2800 of repairs and wanted to know if I wanted them to continue. I asked for a list of what they came up with, some of which I did agree with. I then took the car and the list of repairs to an independent shop and told them I wanted a sticker. They eliminated about 75% of what the dealer's shop came up with, fixed what it needed to pass inspection and gave me a bill for less than $500.00.

I just took my 2014 CRV to the dealer because of a transmission issue. Unfortunately I had to use the dealer because the fix was a software update and only the dealer can do it. As a "courtesy" they do a complete inspection. Funny, they found $3200 worth of problems 😂 I do most of my own maintenence and know my car. About half the things were legit and I will do myself for a fraction of the price. But the other half were bogus or things I had already done recently. The problem is if you don't know much about cars, you don't know what is needed or not. So you either pay tons of money to get everything done, or don't trust them and get nothing done and it breaks down later.

I got billed for a new engine, they installed a high miles used one. Court still hasn't yet forced them to compensate me.

Dishonesty and deception seem to be everywhere in every industry these days. As a carpenter (and a shade tree mechanic, lol), I've been saying for years that everyone should learn a little bit about basic home repair and mechanic repair just to keep from getting ripped off. I bet that mechanic shop rips alot of people off just because those people don't know any better. It's a shame. I love your videos, I've learned alot and you're quite entertaining. But your honesty is mainly why I keep watching your channel. That's rare these days.

a good mechanic does not have to make things up, I have been doing it for about 44 years and I always have a REAL job waiting, why would I sell someone something they do not need?, I can not even keep up, lucky to have some other good shops that I can refer customers to I never just flat turn away a good customer, if I do not have time I will find a good shop for them, I did that today because I knew another shop that could do the job better than I could, you have to be honest with people

We use a local trustworthy mechanic, he's not the cheapest (he can't compete with the big garages) but he is honest and often doesn't charge if it's a quick fix.

Just happened to me with my 2016 civic. Quoted $3,000 for repairs, took it to a reputable mechanic who said it only needed one faulty spark plug replaced, and did it for a very reasonable price.

Many years ago I drove a Pontiac sedan and it needed an alignment. A local dealer (not Pontiac, but GM) in Nashville, where I lived at the time, was offering a special on alignments, so I had them do it. A couple of days later I was on my way home from work when the car suddenly lurched to the right. I was able to get it under control (I was just getting on the expressway), and get home, but because I worked nights I decided to check it in the morning. When I looked I saw the right front wheel was tilted over and a roughly 45 degree angle. I limped it to my regular mechanic, who found a part of one of the A-frame bolts on the fender well; the bolt had sheered because it wasn't tight enough. He replaced the bolt with a temporary one, and I took it back to the dealer and they redid the work and replaced the bolt with one the right size, but also tried to get me with one of the salesmen to look at replacing the car. I didn't go to the sales floor, but I did take it back to my regular mechanic, and he found they had again failed to properly tighten the bolts. That dealership was willing to risk killing me and my passengers in the hope I would be OK and would buy a car from them. Never went back.

My mate thought her car had serious problems Half of the electrics didn't work and it constantly had to be jump started. I have a local auto electrition I go to, deadset down to earth honest bloke. Just needed a battery and she was away! There's even a tire store I get my aftermarket alloys from they balance tires for like 40 bucks and top up your air for free It literally saves your pocket knowing good people Really enjoying the content!

NO its not just money its America today,liers,thiefs,crooks,scamers,the gov needs to do something and Jail these criminals and pay a fine to the customer