Few weeks ago my son told me he was having trouble with his headlight. I asked him if he had checked the fuse. He said he had. I asked him if he’d changed the headlight. He said he had. I asked him if he changed the wire harness. He said he had but was still having problems with it not coming on. So, I told him to take it to a shop so I wouldn’t have ta deal with trying to figure out what was wrong.

So he did. He took his truck to a shop for a broken headlight. While he was there, I told him to have the fuel injectors tested for leaks, because we had just replaced those a couple weeks ago. I’m thinking, problem solved. We’re going hand someone a credit card and be done with it.

Then I get this text from my son while he’s at work….

The fuel injectors aren’t leaking. The headlight has a bad wire connection. But the shop did a full detailed inspection of the vehicle and they determined the front ball joints needed replaced, the tie rods need replaced, and one of the from wheel bearings was bad. The cost to repair of which was over 3 grand. So the truck was “unsafe” to drive and the the repairs needed done before the vehicle left their shop or we needed to pay for a tow truck to get it pulled out. As it turns out they had a local tow truck company they had partnered with that would haul it home for us for the low price of $70.

Now my son, didn’t know to be upset. He never encountered anything like that before. But I did. And I. Lost. My. Shit.

See, there’s this thing called a “Automotive Venus Fly Trap”. You take your car in for a what seems to be a minor problem or repair and then the shop creates more billable work by looking at things on your vehicle that they weren’t instructed to look at. Which, in and of itself isn’t a bad thing, if they are acting in good will in an effort to get your business. The problem with the Venus Fly Trap shops is their inspections are never intended to be for your benefit when they unscrupulously attempt to force you to get the work done. Scare tactics and withholding a vehicle is one of the many ways they attempt to do that.

Me personally, I don’t respond well ta being strong armed. Unlike most people, I have learned a bit about vehicles. One of the many advantages to being poor and having to fix my own. So when a mechanic tells me my tie-rods need replaced, the ball joints need replaced and I have a wheel bearing in need of replacement, I know exactly what they’re talking about. The safety issues relating to it and what it takes to repair it.

So, to make long story short, I spoke to the tech and the shop owner. I made it abundantly clear that I would be picking up that truck, and they had better have the keys ready. Which worked out, because we got the keys with no incident.

However, it has made me wonder just how many people this shop has done this to? And how often is this practice tolerated? My son is a young guy with limited resources. What if it had been my daughter? What if they did this to a single mother with kids; threatened to withhold their vehicle unless she came up with the payment they demanded? The laws regarding this thing vary from State to State. If you live in a State where this business practice is allowed please contact your Congressman and file a complaint as well as the Better Business Bureau.

Later I called a buddy of mine and we talked about how things went down. I told him I was surprised at how fast I got upset and how disappointed I was with myself for having something so trivial get ta me. He laughed. Said it was because my kid was involved. He was right. I told my son ta go to a shop because I was lazy and he did so in good faith. They were attempting to take advantage of him for repairs that would have at least cost him a tow bill that he didn’t plan on paying. He laughed when I told him the shop was worried about getting sued by me. Cause I grew up poor, and our solutions for wrongdoing didn’t involve hiring an attorney. That’s a rich people response. The world I came from solved things with a baseball bat.

Which should be somewhat of a warning to every auto shop that chooses to use unscrupulous tactics like that. By being deceitful and manipulative in your business practices you put yourself, your employees, and your shops reputation in jeopardy. Because not everyone will pay the added cost or be willing to simply let things go.

If you are a customer that has experienced this type of treatment at one of your local automotive shops, feel free to post about it below in the comments and make sure to inform your local network communities of the business practices you’ve experienced. Perhaps together we can put at end to this type of business practice in its entirety.

Copyright©2023 Jacob C. Larson All Rights Reserved

***Don’t get me wrong, Ima not opposed to mechanics letting people know of repairs they discover. I think it’s a good thing. However, how they are presented to the client is key. People take their things to a repair shop to solve a problem. The moment the repair shop becomes the problem, we’re done. The ONLY reason I take my stuff to get repaired is if I can’t fix it myself or I simply don’t want ta do it myself. So if a shop isn’t there to help solve that problem, then they can sod off. 

*****We drove the truck home safe and sound. The shops frivolous efforts to keep us safe were in vain. None of the work they suggested needed to be done to drive the vehicle home. I already have another mechanic lined up to do the work I don’t want to do on it and plan on paying a lot for him to help me solve the problem. My son paid almost $200 and the short in the headlight was never fixed.