20/20 Undercover Investigation on Repair Shop Fraud and Dishonesty

now and what really happens when you drop off your car at the auto repair shop are you being taken for a ride our cameras rolling tonight and jailed Anita is catching some mechanics right in the act Stephanie wash is making the drive that every vehicle owner dreads a visit to the auto mechanic to fix a problem under the hood but in this case Stephanie is actually an ABC news producer and her Infiniti SUV has been equipped with an optional accessory our hidden cameras 2020 is going undercover at auto repair shops to see if what our confessor says is true that there are way too many mechanics out there who are willing to take advantage of their customers by doing unnecessary repairs you're a bit at the the mercy of whoever's opening up your hood and looking at it Joe the mechanic should know he's been fixing cars for more than 40 years we've agreed to put him in a disguise with Hollywood makeup and not use his real name in exchange Joe agreed to tell 20/20 about the dirty little secrets of his trade Joe says there are even special names for these trans axle transgressions like gravy work which means billing the customer for much more time than a repair job actually take like a brake job most shops will charge an hour and half to two hours to turn the rotors but if you're good and got good equipment you can do it 20 or 30 minutes that's great you're doing it in less time or you're getting extra money for Joe says another inside trick that some mechanics use is the so called wallet flush where a routine oil change can turn into something much more expensive an $18 oil change well they lose money on that the idea is to get you in so they can sell you the coolant flushes trans flushes power steering flushes that's where the money is in other words if you're flush with cash get ready to be hosed it's real easy to check the transmission fluid this is actually very clean but I've seen honestly I've seen recommendations for flushes include it looks like this Joe says what drives all of this is the tiny profit margin at many repair shops he says most mechanics are honest but all too many are pressured by their bosses to push unnecessary work he used to do it himself I'm ashamed a bit to admit it but when your boss tells you either you do it here the door is right there what are you gonna do I need a job everybody needs a job getting back to the tricks of the trade Joe says one of the most common and profitable ways jack up a repair bill is exploiting fears over the check engine light affectionately known by some in the trade as the idiot light it's expensive that's the people are afraid of that check engine light to see that check engine light to say oh my gosh something's wrong with it you go to the mechanic and it really it could be anything that's happening in here right oh yeah that brings us back to our hidden camera test with Stephanie and her SUV we wanted to see if mechanics would try to take advantage of her over that so-called idiot light but first Stephanie takes her infinity to two highly rated mechanics to ensure her vehicle will be in perfect working order cars rode ready absolutely nothing wrong viii mechanic Audra Ford and comes up with a simple plan to test how mechanics will handle our check engine light so what we're going to do is disconnect the mass air flow sensor she simply unplug this cord connected to the mass airflow sensor which makes the check engine light go on Audra says a diagnostic scan which can cost from fifty to a hundred bucks will quickly detect the problem we hit the road taking Stephanie's Infiniti to auto repair shops in New York and New Jersey good morning I have an appointment fixing the check engine light was a no-brainer for this shop quality auto in Belleville New Jersey they quickly spot the problem and simply plug the cord back in they don't even bother charging Stephanie for their time howdy shortcut now check out what this manager tells us at the firestone repair shop in Montclair New Jersey oh good his technician says our mass airflow sensor is filled with carbon and needs to be cleaned he recommends a fuel system cleaning for an extra $99 car is gonna run a lot smoother more efficient and it will make the prevent this from happening again but our hidden camera shows the technician is able to locate what's really wrong with the car here he plugs in that loose wire and closes the hood still he tells us he did an extensive cleaning of that mass airflow sensor did you guys clean inside there yeah yeah I had to open it although when we later contacted the shop that manager tells us he was shocked the corporate headquarters told us it is unacceptable to us if misleading incomplete or inaccurate information was presented at our Montclair location and they are investigating that brings us to this repair shop Monte's in North Babylon New York hi I've called my service engine lights on our hidden cameras show that Monte's fixed the actual problem seconds after opening that hood by plugging that loose wire back in but all of a sudden the mechanic tells our producer she should replace the entire mass airflow sensor stripping her wallet of more than 300 bucks maybe we should call this place the full monty don't ask a violation up in the beginning those part is so special but there's good news the mechanic then suggests a less expensive fix he can take the sensor apart and fix it for the bargain price of a hundred and ninety bucks when we return to pick up the vehicle the mechanic proudly shows Stephanie their work saying the sensor has been taken apart and fixed and that the engine is sparkling clean to boot so what are the Albany one cleaner video specially the video oh wait there is video when we check our hidden cameras we discover that Monty's never even touch that sensor they said they would take apart we did get a quick spray and rinse of that engine and of course our loose wire was plugged in yo Vanitas with 20/20 time to get some answers so we returned to Monty's for a little heart-to-heart you said you took apart the sensor and you actually didn't do anything you know you want to see what the video shows because you never actually took it apart there was a hidden camera watching every single moment and all you did was just sprayed it oh you know what you could to come home he now says another mechanic did the actual work that mechanic later told us all he did to fix the problem was plug the wire back in and he said there must have been a break in communication the automotive service Association says the majority of the service repair industry is ethical and only charges the consumer for necessary work most mechanics are honest our expert mechanic Audra agrees still she says you should always question your estimate and get a second opinion if you're skeptical by the way if you think it's only women who are vulnerable to shady mechanics think again women are pretty odd because it's assumed that they don't know anything when in fact the dads of today don't know very much about cars either and she has some very simple advice read your owners man that would solve a lot of problems because you would have confidence why do people take advantage of you because you don't know don't let them

Channel: NJGCA

Views: 843,784

Rating: 4.6283989 out of 5

Keywords: New, Jersey, New Jersey (US State), Mechanic (Profession), NJGCA, Sal Risalvato

Id: 7ytmN7T_HEI

Length: 8min 12sec (492 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 15 2014