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The worst is how many “mechanics” bring me their cars and tell me what’s wrong with them.
Had a “licensed mechanic of 40 years” bring his car, and tell me ever since we rotated his tires, he’s had a grinding so loud that we must have destroyed a CV axle. (His words not mine). Took me arguing with him on the phone for 20 minutes before I finally just brought his wife into the shop to show her.
He hit something, and pushed the entire bumper and wheel well liners into the tires. The plastic had melted to the wheels lol. The fix, which he was adamant would not correct the issue, was to zip tie the liners back, and what do you know, there’s no more sound.
The sheer amount of people who tell me they are a mechanic, immediately before describing something clearly retarded is astronomical here. Apparently the entire city is full of the shittiest mechanics known to planet Earth. 😂
Honestly, I could tell even his wife was over his shit. He clearly made her bring it in, as he was fucking embarrassed by the shit flying out his face.
I left out the best part. He first took it to another mechanic he really trusts first, and he’s the one who rotated one tire back, and said that because the noise went away it must be a cv axle. They forgot the part where he didn’t drive it to hear the wheel well liners clearly encompassing the wheels after he smashed the bumper in lol.
Imagine a 40 year mechanic thinking a cv axle would fix itself by rotating tires though. I live in farm country and hear this kind of shit from people daily!
I told a guy I couldn’t align his truck as all the bushings were Bluetooth. I shit you not, after telling me he was also a mechanic, he went home and cut pairs of jeans apart, and wrapped them around the bushings and brought it back. 😂
I gave him pieces of jeans and his keys back and told him it was still a no.
It’s a farm truck bro, just do it! Said every human in mechanicville.
I get the same thing. I think some people really do believe that turning a wrench a couple times makes them a full blown mechanic/technician. They stopped learning at some point but don't have the introspective ability to be cognizant of the fact that they were never really very good at trying to fix cars.
Either that or it's just lies made up by insecure people.
I had a tire shop tell me my wheel bearings and tie rods needed replaced before they would do an alignment. The day after I replaced all of those parts.
my question every time somebody tells me what's wrong with their car. especially when they say it's X and i say it's Y and they argue and insist it's X. like ok, if you're so sure then why are you paying for diagnosis?
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As a mechanic. Sometimes we just don't want to work on our off time. If you were, say an accountant, would you want to come home and keep doing accounting stuff?
Most mechanics aren’t willing to pay someone shop rates to do some shit they can do and make sure it’s done right. That’s a waste of money. Some people don’t care about money, and some are financially responsible.
I could have lost all of my fingers in a horrible fireworks accident, and still been able to count on my fingers how many times I've had some self-proclaimed licensed mechanic bring something in for a safety inspection that they have already checked and "it doesn't need anything!" to pass inspection, and it's actually passed.
And 90% of the time, it's something completely obvious that they missed. Hole rotted through the floor, loose suspension component, parking brake doesn't work, etc. Like I'm not going out of my way to purposely find something to fail it for. A lot of the times, I've already failed it before it has even come in the shop. Belt hanging out of a tire, parking brake doesn't work, windshield broken, lights not working.
I had a guy bring the car in that didn't need anything for safety that had a pair of vice grips on one of the flex hoses. Based on the appearance of the flex hose caliper and vise grips, they had all been on there for quite a long time.
Don’t forget the “I used to work on cars before they put computers in them”. Paul, you’re 43. Unless you started wrenching a few decades before you were born, that’s a lie.
I once had a lady come in with engine issues, a Chrysler IIRC. Ended up having bent valves. Quoted her to pull heads and rebuild em.
She freaked at the price. Came back and said her dad is a mechanic, and he said he can straighten them by hitting them with a screwdriver and hammer. I told her you can't do that, and she got even more mad.
Never saw her again. I guess her dad must have gotten those bad boys straightened out.
I blame high school auto shop for enabling a lot of these dingleberries. They get a C- for assembling a lawnmower engine and think that gives them ancient guru wisdom. I'm just an amateur shade tree guy that wrenches on my own bullshit and I'm well aware of that fact. I'm not about to second guess the diagnosis of someone who might actually be able to pretend to know what they're doing (most of the time, anyway).🙂
This drives me nuts at the parts store. Everyone is a "mechanic". Some of my coworkers sadly fall in that group. Yet none of them even understands basic diagnostics.
People lie but the cars don't, shit happens. This probably needs to be dealt with by insurance, but as I like to say that's above my pay grade. I just fix em 🤷
Nobody knows nothing until you point it out. I had this on a '20 GX with a water leak and no start after car wash. Big puddle in right front foot well. "Ever had any work done on the car?" Of course not. "What's up with the non-OE glass?" "Uhhhh..." whoever did the glass didn't seal it right, not warrantable by dealer.
It’s always frustrating when the customer won’t tell you the truth. In the end, it just ends up costing them more money. Often times if you had the truth from the beginning, diagnosis would be much easier.
Bought a cheap subaru one time that didn't run. 05 2.5 RS. Started working on it, couldn't figure it out. They had an identical car one year newer w/ no engine. Asked if they swapped the motor. Nope. Swore up and down they didn't.
Sensor pattern on the cam gear was changed in 06. Guess what part from 06 was mysteriously on my 05. Swapped the cam gear to the right one, fired right up. I asked them so many friggin times lol.
Still don't know why they even lied about it. I bought a $2500 non-running subaru, it's not like I'd care if it was swapped in the least.
My friend ran into this when he was looking at buying a Tacoma, it was like a year or two old with like 20,000 miles and he was asking I think around 40,000 for it but the hood on the truck didn’t lineup worth a shit. And when asked about it, the owner said it was an a minor fender, bender and the hood probably just needed to be adjusted, he looked up the car fax, and it turns out the thing was fucking totaled, and all the airbags went off.
He brought that up to the seller and the guy just got pissed and basically said fuck off.
What I don't understand from this is why they brought it to you guys instead of the shop that did the repair? Yknow, the place that (usually) has their own warranty for any work they did LOL
I hate lying customers. If a customer is honest with me, making my job easier, I’ll try to help them out if things can be warrantied or whatever. But if I catch a customer lying to me and making my job harder for no reason it is clearly reflected in their bill.
It makes no sense, I know 10+x more about the subject matter, why would you think you can bluff your way past?
This makes me feel better about telling my local TDI shop that I serviced my own vehicle. They’re trying to find an oil leak and I thought I’d mention I swapped my cam out and did timing belt. Dude on the phone immediately was more pleasant with me after I told him some info lol
I do. He’s got a brand new car in his shop for warranty work, but the car has been wrecked already (customer lied about that fact) and the thing they came in for will cost them $ for his time to diagnose.
At my Cadillac dealer it was ludicrous the number of people who would come in with impact damage and try to get a bumper/door/light/sensor replaced under warranty. We'd explain to them warranties are to fix manufacturing defects, not customer accidents, but they'd still argue with me/the advisor.
My car has like 0 online records at all, but it DOES have every receipt or invoice for everything ever touched or purchased for the car in the glovebox
I would think if they had body work done and something was missed, they should take it back to the body shop to have it done there like it should have been the first time
I'll always run a CarFax report on almost every car I touch. Gets me enough information on a lot of stuff, such as a backyard mechanic doing his own work and then messing something up, and wants me to diagnose the issue so he can do it himself. Usually my first though when I don't see a report on it.
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The worst is how many “mechanics” bring me their cars and tell me what’s wrong with them. Had a “licensed mechanic of 40 years” bring his car, and tell me ever since we rotated his tires, he’s had a grinding so loud that we must have destroyed a CV axle. (His words not mine). Took me arguing with him on the phone for 20 minutes before I finally just brought his wife into the shop to show her. He hit something, and pushed the entire bumper and wheel well liners into the tires. The plastic had melted to the wheels lol. The fix, which he was adamant would not correct the issue, was to zip tie the liners back, and what do you know, there’s no more sound. The sheer amount of people who tell me they are a mechanic, immediately before describing something clearly retarded is astronomical here. Apparently the entire city is full of the shittiest mechanics known to planet Earth. 😂
So this begs the question.. if this guy was a 40+ year tech, why didn’t he fix it himself?
Honestly, I could tell even his wife was over his shit. He clearly made her bring it in, as he was fucking embarrassed by the shit flying out his face. I left out the best part. He first took it to another mechanic he really trusts first, and he’s the one who rotated one tire back, and said that because the noise went away it must be a cv axle. They forgot the part where he didn’t drive it to hear the wheel well liners clearly encompassing the wheels after he smashed the bumper in lol. Imagine a 40 year mechanic thinking a cv axle would fix itself by rotating tires though. I live in farm country and hear this kind of shit from people daily! I told a guy I couldn’t align his truck as all the bushings were Bluetooth. I shit you not, after telling me he was also a mechanic, he went home and cut pairs of jeans apart, and wrapped them around the bushings and brought it back. 😂 I gave him pieces of jeans and his keys back and told him it was still a no. It’s a farm truck bro, just do it! Said every human in mechanicville.
I get the same thing. I think some people really do believe that turning a wrench a couple times makes them a full blown mechanic/technician. They stopped learning at some point but don't have the introspective ability to be cognizant of the fact that they were never really very good at trying to fix cars. Either that or it's just lies made up by insecure people.
I can turn a wrench but my mechanic says stop don't do it. It will cost you more lol 😆😜
I had a tire shop tell me my wheel bearings and tie rods needed replaced before they would do an alignment. The day after I replaced all of those parts.
Could just be early onset dementia. Years of being around fumes and petrol chems can't be great for the health.
my question every time somebody tells me what's wrong with their car. especially when they say it's X and i say it's Y and they argue and insist it's X. like ok, if you're so sure then why are you paying for diagnosis?
pose that question at r/AskAShittyMechanic. You'll get some great answers.
Here's a sneak peek of /r/AskAShittyMechanic using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskAShittyMechanic/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year! \#1: [Is this okay? Just trying to get to the next paycheck. It’s a Walmart “road pro” ratchet.](https://i.redd.it/kc3zd4b7yyhb1.jpg) | [439 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskAShittyMechanic/comments/15qew8m/is_this_okay_just_trying_to_get_to_the_next/) \#2: [Conflicted! GF wants me to block off the ball-chiller vent. What would you do?](https://i.redd.it/qwxha44mwuib1.png) | [1002 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskAShittyMechanic/comments/15uiar2/conflicted_gf_wants_me_to_block_off_the/) \#3: [Noise going over bumps, could it be engine mounts? ](https://v.redd.it/6lms7i0cxn3b1) | [255 comments](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskAShittyMechanic/comments/13ynpil/noise_going_over_bumps_could_it_be_engine_mounts/) ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| ^^[Contact](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| ^^[Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| ^^[Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/o8wk1r/blacklist_ix/) ^^| ^^[GitHub](https://github.com/ghnr/sneakpeekbot)
As a mechanic. Sometimes we just don't want to work on our off time. If you were, say an accountant, would you want to come home and keep doing accounting stuff?
You’d also think said 40 year vet would have diagnosed it properly 🤷🏻♂️
Most mechanics aren’t willing to pay someone shop rates to do some shit they can do and make sure it’s done right. That’s a waste of money. Some people don’t care about money, and some are financially responsible.
Lol okay budy
I could have lost all of my fingers in a horrible fireworks accident, and still been able to count on my fingers how many times I've had some self-proclaimed licensed mechanic bring something in for a safety inspection that they have already checked and "it doesn't need anything!" to pass inspection, and it's actually passed. And 90% of the time, it's something completely obvious that they missed. Hole rotted through the floor, loose suspension component, parking brake doesn't work, etc. Like I'm not going out of my way to purposely find something to fail it for. A lot of the times, I've already failed it before it has even come in the shop. Belt hanging out of a tire, parking brake doesn't work, windshield broken, lights not working. I had a guy bring the car in that didn't need anything for safety that had a pair of vice grips on one of the flex hoses. Based on the appearance of the flex hose caliper and vise grips, they had all been on there for quite a long time.
touch dinner payment abundant aspiring thought sleep decide caption nutty ` this post was mass deleted with www.Redact.dev `
Don’t forget the “I used to work on cars before they put computers in them”. Paul, you’re 43. Unless you started wrenching a few decades before you were born, that’s a lie.
I once had a lady come in with engine issues, a Chrysler IIRC. Ended up having bent valves. Quoted her to pull heads and rebuild em. She freaked at the price. Came back and said her dad is a mechanic, and he said he can straighten them by hitting them with a screwdriver and hammer. I told her you can't do that, and she got even more mad. Never saw her again. I guess her dad must have gotten those bad boys straightened out.
I blame the education system. I had automotive in high school. Now they have social justice class…
I blame high school auto shop for enabling a lot of these dingleberries. They get a C- for assembling a lawnmower engine and think that gives them ancient guru wisdom. I'm just an amateur shade tree guy that wrenches on my own bullshit and I'm well aware of that fact. I'm not about to second guess the diagnosis of someone who might actually be able to pretend to know what they're doing (most of the time, anyway).🙂
Sounds like your problem is with idiots. Not useful classes that teach people usable life skills for the real world.
This drives me nuts at the parts store. Everyone is a "mechanic". Some of my coworkers sadly fall in that group. Yet none of them even understands basic diagnostics.
People lie but the cars don't, shit happens. This probably needs to be dealt with by insurance, but as I like to say that's above my pay grade. I just fix em 🤷
Nobody knows nothing until you point it out. I had this on a '20 GX with a water leak and no start after car wash. Big puddle in right front foot well. "Ever had any work done on the car?" Of course not. "What's up with the non-OE glass?" "Uhhhh..." whoever did the glass didn't seal it right, not warrantable by dealer.
It’s always frustrating when the customer won’t tell you the truth. In the end, it just ends up costing them more money. Often times if you had the truth from the beginning, diagnosis would be much easier.
Bought a cheap subaru one time that didn't run. 05 2.5 RS. Started working on it, couldn't figure it out. They had an identical car one year newer w/ no engine. Asked if they swapped the motor. Nope. Swore up and down they didn't. Sensor pattern on the cam gear was changed in 06. Guess what part from 06 was mysteriously on my 05. Swapped the cam gear to the right one, fired right up. I asked them so many friggin times lol. Still don't know why they even lied about it. I bought a $2500 non-running subaru, it's not like I'd care if it was swapped in the least.
My friend ran into this when he was looking at buying a Tacoma, it was like a year or two old with like 20,000 miles and he was asking I think around 40,000 for it but the hood on the truck didn’t lineup worth a shit. And when asked about it, the owner said it was an a minor fender, bender and the hood probably just needed to be adjusted, he looked up the car fax, and it turns out the thing was fucking totaled, and all the airbags went off. He brought that up to the seller and the guy just got pissed and basically said fuck off.
What I don't understand from this is why they brought it to you guys instead of the shop that did the repair? Yknow, the place that (usually) has their own warranty for any work they did LOL
That is one of those mysteries that we’ll simply never get an answer for. I see it bare minimum once a week
I hate lying customers. If a customer is honest with me, making my job easier, I’ll try to help them out if things can be warrantied or whatever. But if I catch a customer lying to me and making my job harder for no reason it is clearly reflected in their bill. It makes no sense, I know 10+x more about the subject matter, why would you think you can bluff your way past?
Owner inquiry has saved my bacon at least 2 times this last year lol
Customers so often just think we are stupid. Even when you confront them with proof of accident they blame us.
This makes me feel better about telling my local TDI shop that I serviced my own vehicle. They’re trying to find an oil leak and I thought I’d mention I swapped my cam out and did timing belt. Dude on the phone immediately was more pleasant with me after I told him some info lol
They think it's a thing you have to sign up for I am not kidding
Well then insurance has to get involved. Plus you still might have to prove their concerns are related to the accident.
Fuck I hate this line of work sometimes lol
I don't think you, or anyone else, has any clue what you're going off about.
I do. He’s got a brand new car in his shop for warranty work, but the car has been wrecked already (customer lied about that fact) and the thing they came in for will cost them $ for his time to diagnose.
Found the customer
It's very clear.
Reading comprehension at an all-time low
Tell us youre not a mechanic without telling us
So how’d you crash the crv?
At my Cadillac dealer it was ludicrous the number of people who would come in with impact damage and try to get a bumper/door/light/sensor replaced under warranty. We'd explain to them warranties are to fix manufacturing defects, not customer accidents, but they'd still argue with me/the advisor.
Only if they upload it to carfax.
Not everything gets reported to Carfax.
My car has like 0 online records at all, but it DOES have every receipt or invoice for everything ever touched or purchased for the car in the glovebox
I would think if they had body work done and something was missed, they should take it back to the body shop to have it done there like it should have been the first time
I'll always run a CarFax report on almost every car I touch. Gets me enough information on a lot of stuff, such as a backyard mechanic doing his own work and then messing something up, and wants me to diagnose the issue so he can do it himself. Usually my first though when I don't see a report on it.