Mechanic Stories

Manwaithiel

SB has a similar thread that inspired me.

Have you guys ever had any funny/bad/interesting run-ins with mechanics?

My school is in a mountainous region near WVa. I decided to do a little road trip which required me to literally drive over a mountain. On the way down, something under the hood started squealing something awful. I pulled over, popped open the hood and determined it was my serpentine timing belt. A week later, I took it to the dealership back home and asked them to do 3 things: Replace the belt, do an oil change, and check my brake pads.

They call me at the end of the day to say they didn't get to my car that day, but that they'll work on it first thing the next morning. The next morning, half an hour after the shop opened, I get a call saying my car is done. I was half asleep so I said "Okay," and hung up. I woke up later and thought, "Wow...how did they change the belt so fast? And how come they didn't tell me about the brake pads?"

I decided to bring my dad with me to go pick up the car. I got the bill. $35. They hadn't replaced the belt nor had they told me that the brake pads were worn down by 70%. They just did the oil change. I flipped out, got the head mechanic out of his office, popped my hood and starting raging. "Do you see the belt? I can see myself in it it's so shiny! And I live in the mountains. I would have had you replace the brake pads if your mechanic had told me how worn down they were like I asked him too."

The guy apologized. My dad was laughing his butt off at it. Needless to say, they did the repairs. And I haven't gone back there since.

frogurt814

About a year after high school, I took my car to the mechanic in the town.  The owner's son is a year older than me, and he works there.  I don't remember what was wrong with my car, but when I went to pick it up, the guy that was my age asked me if I was still dating my ex.  I was like no, but we're still friends.  I was busy signing my bill, and I thought he said "Oh, well tell him to call me sometime."  I smiled, said "ok" and left.

After I left I started to think about what he had said, and realized he had said "Can I call YOU sometime."  I was like OMG, I told him to call me.  At that time, he was engaged to another girl we went to high school with.  So he called me a few days later and wanted to know when I wanted to go out.  I told him my schedule was really busy and I'd have to get back to him.  So creepy.  I haven't taken my car back there since then.

So he ended up getting married and then divorced a few months later when his wife found out he was cheating on her with the married mother of another girl we went to school with.  The married mom divorced her husband, and she and mechanic got married.  They got divorced a year or so later when they found out that they were cheating on each other. : /

lalap69

Nothing specific, just found that the prices quoted have been higher for me than when I've had my dad take my car in.

Manwaithiel

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-party_mechanic-stories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:37Discussion:a1ea33a2-7a8c-4337-b63b-1ff426e93d14Post:08946665-b0a0-42af-8680-b4395cea29b9">Re: Mechanic Stories</a>:
[QUOTE]About a year after high school, I took my car to the mechanic in the town.  The owner's son is a year older than me, and he works there.  I don't remember what was wrong with my car, but when I went to pick it up, the guy that was my age asked me if I was still dating my ex.  I was like no, but we're still friends.  I was busy signing my bill, and I thought he said "Oh, well tell him to call me sometime."  I smiled, said "ok" and left. After I left I started to think about what he had said, and realized he had said "Can I call YOU sometime."  I was like OMG, I told him to call me.  At that time, he was engaged to another girl we went to high school with.  So he called me a few days later and wanted to know when I wanted to go out.  I told him my schedule was really busy and I'd have to get back to him.  So creepy.  I haven't taken my car back there since then. So he ended up getting married and then divorced a few months later when his wife found out he was cheating on her with the married mother of another girl we went to school with.  The married mom divorced her husband, and she and mechanic got married.  They got divorced a year or so later when they found out that they were cheating on each other. : /
Posted by frogurt814[/QUOTE]

Oh my gosh! What a fiasco. Some people should just not get married.

mayjaygirl21

FI is a mechanic, so his clients tell him all sorts of horror stories that their "mechanics" have done to them!!

Funny thing is that my parents let their mechanic do work on my car and paid him lots of money (even though this guy was supposedly a relative) and lo and behold, my car still wasn't fixed!

aerinpegadrak

Ugh, DH had a bad one recently.  He took the car in for an oil change.  They told him that one of his valves was misfiring, but that he'd have to spend $100 on a diagnostic to learn more.  It just sounded like an upsell, so he said no.  Ten miles later, his engine blows.  He gets it towed back, and they tell him that the engine has to be rebuilt, because, duh, a misfiring valve can destroy your engine.

Oh god, we were livid.  We thought there might be a recall for this issue, so we spent nearly a week (while paying for the rental) tracking that down, only to find out that it didn't apply.  We were trying to figure out how we were going to pay the $5K we'd been quoted, it was horribly stressful and just bad.

We finally get the car back, and we were only charged just under $3K, which I was able to pay in cash. 

DH goes in for his next oil change at a different Pep Boys.  They tell him that they can't do anything because the oil pan is cracked.  The Pep Boys that supposedly rebuild the entire engine didn't fix that, even though it had been part of their original quote.  (Which is probably why they charged us so much less than anticipated.)  It took like four hours to fix. 

Never again, Pep Boys.  Never again.

Manwaithiel

Aerin, my last oil change resulted in rounding off the oil pan gasket and prying it off with pliers because the mechanic who had done it before put Loc Tite on it. Thread sealer. On something that is supposed to be unscrewed fairly regularly. I was livid. They also dented my oil filter in. Nice, right?

bablingbrooke

I once got a free headlight by showing the mechanic my, ahem, headlight.  I was 19.  Totally worth it (or so I thought at the time).

Manwaithiel

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-party_mechanic-stories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:37Discussion:a1ea33a2-7a8c-4337-b63b-1ff426e93d14Post:01e71992-428c-4373-8c23-8936b4a63a5d">Re: Mechanic Stories</a>:
[QUOTE]I once got a free headlight by showing the mechanic my, ahem, headlight.  I was 19.  Totally worth it (or so I thought at the time).
Posted by bablingbrooke[/QUOTE]

O_O

*clutches pearls*

amber2123

We just put a new clutch in FI's car (Blech...manual) and the next day the gorram thing wouldn't go into R or 5th!  I was out with one of my BM looking at dresses (we carpooled b/c she live like ten minutes away) and it was a fiasco!  Not to mention we were late picking up her five year old from school and they have some sort of write-up system now where if you're late more than twice in a month you have to pay a fine.  But, I digress...the cable connecting the clutch and shifter housing had popped off.  WTF?!?!?!  Five minutes and it was fixed.  The shop didn't charge us for it because it gave them a good laugh.

tldh

My car broke down on the highway and I had it towed to the nearest garage.  I knew I'd get overcharged but figured it wouldn't be any more than it would cost me to have the tow truck go to my mechanic.

When I went to pick it up the next morning they told me that they had found something else that didn't look good and wanted to do some more checking.  Fine.  Just don't do anything unless I okay it.

Six hours later they call to tell me that the gear shift isn't working and some other stuff needs to be replaced.  I tell them not to do anything and they tell me that they can't release my car without the needed repair work and, oh yeah, I owed them for six hours labor.

I called my mechanic who put one of his guys (who used to work for this garage) on the phone.  He told me to call a truck and have it brought down to them because standard operating procedure for the garage was to get as much money as they could out of the women who came in. 

It was a AAA approved garage so I had them on the phone immediately chewing them out for certifying this garage.  They turned it into a conference call with the AAA lawyers who took it from there.

Five minutes later I get another call from the crooked garage that after looking at everything again, all of the needed work could be delayed and they aren't going to charge me for any labor at all,  only for the new temperature gauge that needed to be replaced.

Great.  So tell me, I say.  How's the gear shift?  Oh, they say, it was just a loose fuse.  At which point, I completely lost it, going through the anatomy of a car and very loudly explaining how a gear shift works.  Lawyers and secretaries were all outside my office listening at this point.  (I was told later by a secretary that this is when one of the partners decided he'd recommend me to the bar after all, making me the first woman in his 30 year career he'd done this for.)

I was telling this story to a sheriff's deputy who told me he was in Sears a few months before and they refused to turn over a woman's car to her until she replaced her brakes (not just the pads) and all four tires.  They tried to tell her that they would be liable if she got into an accident.  The sheriff put his badge in this guys face and asked him he'd like to give the lady her car back or if he'd like to be arrested for grand theft auto and extortion.

lalap69

Toronto   But if I'm ever visiting near Philly, I'll be PM-ing you!

jaimed99

Tricia, I'm on the other side of PA, but I'd drive to Philly just to have coffee and hear your stories

I have been fortunate to not have any problems with my car...when I inherited it, my dad had everything replaced...brakes, tires, oil changed, the works...thankfully it will stay that way and everything stays good...we plan to trade it in on possibly a van or SUV next year, because it sucks having room for only one extra person when we have the kids with us...and who knows, we may have another kid at some point too

bablingbrooke

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-party_mechanic-stories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:37Discussion:a1ea33a2-7a8c-4337-b63b-1ff426e93d14Post:9a0039a0-8135-479c-ab65-97df9ca74402">Re: Mechanic Stories</a>:
[QUOTE]Tricia, you seriously have the best stories.  I want to take you for coffee and listen to you tell me stories for hours! Brooke, that's hilarious!  But aren't headlights like $20?
Posted by lalap69[/QUOTE]
Yes, and I'm not proud of it!  But it's not like I, you know, did anything.  I would definitely not do it again.  But like I said, I was a dumb teenager and what did I know?

marissa_claire

I once had someone tell me a battery would cost $250 to replace.  I called AAA and complained about the guy they sent out, so they send someone else and of course it was only like $80 to replace. 

I had one of my Dad's old friends put on new tires, and my dad wasn't there, so they guy came back and said "You're brakes are looking pretty bad" and gave me a $400 quote.  My dad was pissed, and I found someone else to do it for $250.  

Then I had shoddy work after an accident.  We were driving across the country and my car almost broke down because they had completely redone the front of my car but didn't put oil in! 

lalap69

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_wedding-party_mechanic-stories?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:37Discussion:a1ea33a2-7a8c-4337-b63b-1ff426e93d14Post:d1121c7b-2075-4f8a-b072-eb7ad0abfb8f">Re: Mechanic Stories</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Mechanic Stories : Yes, and I'm not proud of it!  But it's not like I, you know, did anything.  I would definitely not do it again.  But like I said, I was a dumb teenager and what did I know?
Posted by bablingbrooke[/QUOTE]
Well, you got a better deal than mardi gras beads at least! ;)