Happens to my wife a lot. She grew up on a farm so she knows her mechanical stuff. Only a couple of years ago a garage tried to tell her that her car was dangerously low on oil, but not to worry- they had topped it up for her- and tried to charge her for 10 litres of engine oil. She was yeah, right, that's more than even a large farm tractor would need.

Not quite the same, but when I was in college I was car-shopping with my older BF. I told them that I wanted a 5 speed (back in the day when stick shifts were available.) The salesman turned to BF and said "If you'd teach your daughter to drive a stick, she'd have more options". Um, what? I just said that's what I wanted, and I'm the one buying the car so talk to me. Not to mention I don't hold hands and act that affectionate with my dad.

It disgusts me that these repair people can carry on such overtly criminal behavior on such a regular basis and they aren't prosecuted for fraud.

This is why I’m so glad that one of my best friends is really good with cars. They look like a 12 y/o boy that knows nothing but they’re a country kid (16 almost 17) and knows a ton about cars and repairs the family cars with their dad so I’m very happy with my friend

Omg! It’s not hard to just be an honest person!

I got the best of a guy who tried such a snow job once. Prior to dealing with this guy, I had had a new muffler installed but they didn't get one of the brackets in the right place so it banged at times. I had also put new tires on but one was defective so that had to be taken care of before the muffler. The guy at the tire shop tried to tell me that my universal joint was going out. When I disagreed, he came up with one high cost item after another. Nope, nope, and nope. I kept saying that I knew what the noise was but he wouldn't give up. I noticed two other men standing nearby who were starting to listen closely to us since I wasn't buying his bull. When he finally gave up and ask what the problem was, I told him that it was the muffler and a bracket in the wrong place. He couldn't say another word but the two who had been eavesdropping were dying with laughter. I can only imagine what happened after I left.

My office changed location and was getting work done on new building. We had to use construction hats. I kept mine with me and kept it in my front passenger seat. I went and got an inspection done (or oil change, it’s been a bit) and it was the only time they didn’t come back with that list of “emergency” stuff. To this day I have that construction hat rattling around in my trunk for these occasions.

Yep, they'll try doing this to anyone. I used to bring my vehicles to a place till they tried twice to rip me off. First time was when I brought my suv in for a tire rotation and they informed me that my shocks were no good. I had installed them the month before. Second time I brought it in because the wheel bearings were making noise and they agreed and gave me the price and forgot they supposedly changed them three months before. Buggers!

I have a "don't try to b******t me" face. I don't "play" with people. I never have these issues. No one is game enough to try. LOL

I took my van to a quick change place after relocating to another state. Told them I'd get out and wait - nope, they told me to stay in the car. I asked if they were sure - yup, I needed to stay in the car. Ok, then. 20 mins later, there are 5 guys under the hood looking around, and the mgr is with them. 35 mins into my 15-min oil change, the mgr comes to me & asks for the manual. I hand it over & ask if he wants me to get out *now* - nope, stay in the car. Ok... 45 mins in, he finally comes back & says, "We've never seen one of these vans before" (it was not rare, just had a peculiar build, it was a commonly-known vehicle brand) - then he asks where the dipstick & oil fill are, b/c they can't find them under the hood. Me: "I'M SITTING ON THEM. DO YOU WANT ME TO GET OUT *NOW*??" (In this particular vehicle, the oil fill & dipstick were located under the driver's seat, accessed through a panel in the floor.) Female does *not* equal stupid when it comes to vehicles.

We need to remember that these people are criminals. They need to be prosecuted and prevented from ever working on cars again. Don't just shame them. Make your call to the police and press fraud charges. The only way to stop people like this is if those who catch them at it are willing to do the work to shut them down.

I worked at a dealership during high school and college---first in the service department and then as a title clerk. If I go to buy a car or have one serviced, I feel like the jerks are just salivating the second they see a female. They should be ASHAMED of themselves! Don't they have mothers, sisters, wives, or daughters? It's fun, though, to see the looks on their faces when they realize that I'm not some helpless female. I actually go with family and friends to buy vehicles to save them from high markups on invoices and ridiculous aftermarket add-ons. They wonder why car salesmen and mechanics have a bad image!!!!

Avoid Walmart like the plague needed new tires so we went to Walmart and had them changed while we shopped . Gave us a quote and it was dirt cheap but they said they had a heck of a sale on them so we didn't think anything about it . We also requested an oil change. They told us it would take about an hour. An hour and a half later we came back cart full of frozen c**p. They hadn't even started. We said ok and sat down . 45 min later they said the quoted us for the wring tires and they were way more than we could have bought from any other place . We asked if they had started . They said no . So we said forget it . Then they came back to us 45 minutes later and said rhey had bad news . They had stripped the lug nuts ( if I'm wrong about the name I'm sorry lol) more than half of them couldn't be reattached or have new ones placed and the others couldn't be taken out . Of course they weren't in a pattern that made it even remotely safe to drive . They had also broken something important when attempting to change the oil and didn't tell us . We had to drive it 20 miles home and then another 15 to a local tire place to have them fix it . Driving on It ( they told us it was fine to drive and it obviously wasn't) it had warped something so badly we had to replace the whole tire area and the parts that attached it to the car . They said that there w a set even a drop of oil in the car they had obviously drained it and didn't replace any. The whole repair cost is an arm and a leg and HUNDREDS more than we had set aside to replace the tire and have the oil changed. Eventually the car died because of the no oil thing and the fact they had broken something off when they drained the oil and It had knocked around inside and screwed a lit more of the inner workings up . I ended up 8 moths pregnant pushing a car up hill and into a strangers drive way at 1 am because my husband got caught going to work when it wheezed its last breath on a highway going up a hill and around a curve . He got fired because he didn't give notice even tho this is something he couldn't have seen happening. He had a union and even though he hadn't missed any days except having to call in because we didnt have the car back yet the manager didn't like him and wanted him gone and the union rep was the managers friend . Being 23 and had no relevant experience he thought that was how things went and didn't fight it and he hated that job anyway. So about to have our first Child and down a car and out of a job and no shavings because we paid it all in an attempt to fix the damages Walmart caused . They gave us a coupon for a free oil change and we trashed it . We got 50.00 off of our groceries that day and that was it . We were young and really dumb so we didn't pressure Walmart because they said we had no proof and the damages could have been caused by the other shop . It was a rough and tough time for us . Especially with my baby girl almost ready for her appearance and my car was on its last legs . Paid 1000 for it and had had it years . We left the hospital one time and it started smoking and we just parked it and laughed to keep from crying at our situation....long story and some of the mechanical stuff might be incorrect terms or descriptions but it's to the best if my knowledge and the results were the same . Thank God his family was helpful in getting him a car we still have and love 11 years later

This has to be a city. In redneck land this never happens

Some places try to scam anybody. I was home on leave and took my car to a tire store my uncle was the shop foreman and the owner started telling me I needed new axel boots etc… i knew from experience not to believe him and check with my uncle, but the guy rotating my tires looked at me after the owner left and said quietly “sir, you don’t need any of that.”

Took my car in for a recall, took them 3 MONTHS to get my car back to me.

I think I have terrible reading skills. I don't understand why the phone call to the Dad was necessary to show him up. Can someone explain?

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Not sure I believe any of this. How do we know she is correct? Why is everyone so quick to believe it and judge the mechanic?.