If there’s one thing guaranteed to make our blood boil at White’s Bodyworks, it’s garages and mechanics that take advantage of their customers.
There are a few different scams that are regularly employed by less scrupulous businesses and it’s worth being aware of them.
It’s important to work with a garage that you trust and can depend on. When you take your car for an MOT and too many faults or unusual problems are coming up, then you might want to get a second opinion pretty quickly.
MOT time is a good opportunity for scammers. You want to get your certificate renewed and your car back on the road so you’re probably less likely to ask questions and simply pay to get a ‘problem’ fixed.
Choice of garage or mechanic is the key here – try to get a recommendation from someone you
trust or check garages for their reviews.
Another thing that unscrupulous garages can do is put a big markup on parts. The reason why this is such a successful scam is that many of us simply fail to check prices at all – something that can easily be done online.
Many garages buy parts wholesale and they’re within their rights to have some markup. If you’re paying way over the odds, however, it’s time to complain.
This is one that really does get our collective goat. Sometimes bad mechanics will say that you need a replacement part urgently, you pay for it and get the car back and all seems well.
Unfortunately, they haven’t replaced anything and have simply charged you for imaginary work. Most people don’t know a lot about the workings of a car and many parts are hidden from view – how would you know if they have been replaced or not?
If a part is to be replaced, ask the garage to give you the broken component so that you can take a closer look. If they refuse, you can probably guess what’s going on.
Getting a low quote for work to be done can be a relief if you’re on a tight budget. However, when the bill arrives this often turns out to be much higher. The mechanic will give all sorts of reasons for the extra work or effort they had to put in. Most good mechanics will contact you if there is an issue that might raise the cost from the original quote and ask permission to carry on.
There’s another sign of scamming that we dislike at White’s Bodyworks and that’s trying to blind customers with science. Modern cars are a lot more complicated nowadays and it’s easy to spin a yarn about why certain work needs to be carried out.
The best way to avoid scams such as these is to choose your garage carefully and build a relationship with them that you can trust. The reason White’s Bodyworks has so many customers coming back to us, again and again, is our commitment to an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. We explain issues in plain language and always keep customers well-informed at all times.
If you need a garage you can trust, contact the team at White’s Bodyworks on 01273 933633.
