I have been a Mechanic for 35+ years now, and I am so glad that I can pull vehicles off the road, if they refuse important repairs. I know most Mechanics aren't able to do that, which is a shame. Hell, I have had customers "threaten" to call the cops, so I dial them up on my phone. The cops are always pissed off that these people are trying to drive their death traps on the road, and side with me. Have a great day, Sir! o7 And God Bless!
_"Hey, my vehicle has Problem X."_ _"Yup, your vehicle has Problem X. To fix it, we'll have to---"_ _"I don't like what I'm hearing. I'm driving home!"_ *vehicle bricks within sight of the shop* _"What have we learned?"_ _"You broke my vehicle?"_ *heavy, wet impacts with crowbar*
I'm surprised he had it towed back to the same shop to face the "I told you so"s. You'd think he'd have it towed to a different shop, where he could tell them "the other shop said it was OK but it died."
@@solandri69 @solandri69 I would imagine if it's the closest shop, it would have been the cheapest option to tow back to but am surprised also. It was likely a nice conversation had when repairs were advised and declined otherwise I doubt he'd have returned.
Ok, don't know if you read any of my comments, but I have a laugh for you. I was staying in one of my fathers houses with his mother after I got out of the navy and worked security at a refinery, I was married at the time. But wife was in Florida. Well a female cousin decided she wanted to work security and got a job at a Goodyear warehouse about 30 miles from the house mentioned. So on a night off the phone rings and mamaw answered it as she always did. I'm sitting there one ear on the TV and one on the phone call and mamaw asking cousin about her car. Turns out cousin told mamaw she would not be home because her car was broken down, termites ate her radiator. The worse part was when her car actually broke down and mamaw asked me to go get her. Well in the house, her bedroom was across the hallway from mine. So I go down and pick her up and the entire 30 miles back to mamaws all she talked about made me sick. All she talked about was my room was across from hers and how much she wanted at night after mamaw was asleep was to crawl into my bed naked and give me what my wife could not. I brushed her off and she never entered my bedroom. She later married a man who was well into his 80's even though she was 30'ish. Sorry, humor and sickness in the same story.
The whole "bungee cord on the parking brake release thing" wouldn't be so scary if it were something the owner did just so the vehicle could be limped into the shop - but the voice-over says it had been that way "for some time".
That, and those Chevy trucks use tiny drum brakes that sit inside the rear brake rotors for the parking brake. They are smaller than the drum brakes that you would find on a 90s Honda Civic, only on the rear axle, and definitely not designed to stop the vehicle.
Be a lot of top entries sorted by how many years ago they bought the vehicle. Some people think vehicles are just life-sized toys needing no maintenance or upkeep. Or even gas.
I once made it 14,000 miles on a single oil change in my Pontiac Vibe. At the oil change place, the guy was telling me all about how dirty it was going to be. The oil was *still clear*, and had the viscosity of water. Surprised the hell out of the tech. They flushed it and service went normal. Gotta love a good Toyota engine. I went 198000 miles and the only part i ever had to replace was the water pump cause the bearings went, and the electric fan motor, for the same reason. Miss that car.
Commercial trucks with (aftermarket) secondary oil filter systems on them have gone several hundred thousand miles without an oil change and without any damage or noticeable wear.
' Customer wanted timing belt inspected ' .. mechanic advised belt change overdue & belt on verge of failing .. customer declined repairs .. mechanic wonders why he bothers & makes space so when vehicle ' just dies ' next week he can replace engine .... seems a common scenario
at that point you gotta wonder if the repair is worth it for the car, although we probably know better most of these declined repairs should likely end up as a paddock basher or scrap. My wtf was the merc, it's not like they should have the $$$ for that.
@@lucasvyner1502lots of people buy cars that are too expensive for them to maintain properly. But hey, at least they have a Merc. Sitting at the curb.
I had a friend do the same thing back in the '80s with his 78 Monte Carlo. His brakes went out so he put a pair of vice grips on the parking brake release and used the parking brake for stopping. It worked for about a week. Then he got to a serious accident totaling his Monte Carlo. No brakes, no insurance. Cost him dearly.
FYI.... at the local HD dealer.... I've heard from the mechanics that they have people complaining about slipping clutches, and wanting clutches replaced under warranty. They are always on bikes with crap hanging from the levers.
@@drttgb4955I don’t hear the same complaints about Indians. Those are made in the US as well… just saying. Maybe it’s more an engineering and design issue?
Caused Audi a huge problem many years ago, but with electronics and some of the funky gear changes in modern cars, I get how people might get confused. Worst part is that clip is from Australia!.
Try in any car. Floor accelerator and press the brake moderately at the same time. The car will stop in no time. This is always people who intend to brake, but hit the accelerator instead. They panic and press harder. Some times it is the accelerator pedal getting stuck that starts the whole panic attack.
I will never get the logic of people who request certain parts to be checked and then dont want them repaired. Like why would you even ask for it to be looked at then?!
Because now they can go down to Elcheapo Auto Parts, buy the part and do it themselves. Of course, not knowing what they're doing means they will be back to the mechanic and end up costing twice as much because now the mechanic has to fix their junk repair and now do it right. They never learn. That's why my mechanic charges for all service check ups. Then when he does the repair he takes that off your bill.
I did that with the AC years ago. I didn't have enough money for the fix. At least that doesn't leave me stranded or make me a danger to everyone else, though
As a powersports mechanic myself, you would be amazed by the number of people who have absolutely zero clue when it comes to their vehicles and toys. All the know is "get in/on, turn key, go". If "it no go", they call me. You shouldn't have to pay me $100 to change spark plugs in your jet ski, but you do, and I won't complain.
At least they accept you replacing Spark plugs, would be much worse if you told them spark plugs needs to be replaced and they refuse and drive away like 50% of times on thia channel 😂
That lil rice rocket hitting the ramp was hilarious. I can’t believe with what looks like at least two people standing around there nobody could tell him to go slow and that it’s going to hit it. All he needed was a couple pieces of wood to help get it up there. Duh 😂
@carlgarrett5142 I don't trust shops at all. I do everything myself until the machine shop is needed.... but I would trust a shop with modelo cans/bottles in the trash over budlight or corona. Same as a white boy shop with natty lights instead of fancy beer. Drinking nattys and smokin fatties!!!!!
So as a commercial driver, I cringe and feel my blood pressure rising every time a customer "refuses" repairs, particularly when it comes to brakes, tires, rust problems and front end parts. I could never get away with doing that, DOT would f**k me every which way but sideways. We all have to share the road in a responsible fashion, big or small, poorly maintained vehicles will kill someone.
That last clip of the yellow car. My first ship was an LST home ported in San Diego and every 6 months we were deployed overseas for 6 months. One of the benefits was that if a ship had room a service member could have the ship take their car from stateside to their overseas duty station on the ship and for free. Well an officer was transferred to Hawaii and had his car put on my ship as Hawaii would be our first stop. So My ship had a ramp that would extend onto the pier like a tongue and a ramp that lowered onto the tank deck. This car was something like an MG Midget size but cannot recall what it was.. So we drive it up the bow ramp and into the tank deck and griped it down, no problem. We get to Hawaii and time to offload and what happens? The officers car sat so low it could not clear the ramp from the tank deck to the main deck and onto the bow ramp to get to the pier, where the officer was waiting. Several attempts and methods were of no use, it sat too low. So one of the enlisted guys gets in the car and backs up halfway down the tank deck. He then hits the gas and off he goes toward the tank deck ramp and gets the car on the ramp and drives it to the main deck, to the bow ramp and onto the pier where the officer is waiting. BUT,,,,, there's always a but. The navy is not responsible for any damage. When the car hit the tank deck ramp it was so low that the ramp tore up the oil pan and did other damage to the underside. Remember those ramps were designed to support tanks. Down the bow ramp the enlisted drives the car, trailing oil and other fluids all the way. Stops and parks in front of the officer, hands him the keys and walks back on the ship. All the while the officer throwing a fit about the damage to his car.
@@chrismaverick9828 Serves him right for what, having a car that's sitting too low to unload despite being perfectly fine when loading, or for relying on idiots to do anything properly?
The parking brake and bungee brake setup had me laughing. If people would only put that effort towards fixing their car...... Well maybe that's not a good idea.
It pisses me off that they are allowed to drive 2 ton unguided missiles without any consequence here in the states. No brakes, frames rusted completely through, steering and suspension components just hanging any old where... It's bullshit. And people ignorantly wonder why insurance rates are astronomical. DUH!
The UK is smart enough to have mandatory vehicle inspections throughout the country,. Most of 'Murica doesn't have any vehicle inspection requirements, and those that do only have it for emissions systems. In most cases, shop owners have zero recourse to prevent vehicle owners from driving away in death traps.
The beer can and JB weld transmission leak fix is honestly kinda smart, or at the very least, more well done than 90% of the stuff we usually see on here.
I live in Pennsylvania where we have mandated vehicle inspections, so some of that crazy won't happen here to any degree. Scares me to think that some of the tourists are driving this junk here, but then I doubt many of them could survive the trip. The beer cans would fall off or the bungee cords would break.
I had to google what a "get back whip" is, as I've never seen or heard of them. Apparently it's part decoration, part tradition, part weapon in states where it's actually legal.
Seems utterly stupid to me. As an occasional motorcycle rider, the last thing I need is some great long piece of leather whipping around, possibly catching around the wheel.
As a former new car dealership mechanic I enjoy watching these videos to see what I am missing. I don't miss the flat rate ripoff pay system. So glad I got out of auto repair and got a good job with good benefits and overtime pay.
Companies not doing a proper oil change is no joke. I decided to save a bit last month and change my own oil, found the filter had sharpy saying it was last changed in 2015. I tried setting up a lawsuit because the car started smoking last year but even though I had video of myself finding this in disbelief, they claimed I wrote that myself. Now I'm stuck with an embarrassment on the road. Love this new world we created.😢
Y’know… when I hear “customer declined repairs” it’s not necessarily that alone which makes me cringe because obviously not everyone has the cash to cover sudden extras that they weren’t perhaps anticipating… But it’s the fact that most of the ones that decline then just casually drive off or think that they can just ignore the issue… if everyone was just towing their shit away and parking it up at home until they can afford to fix the issues then fair enough - I’ve done that with my Mini. But if it’s something serious like your fucking brakes are nonexistent, your tyres or wheels are fucked or your chassis is rusted through and you just shrug and drive off, then your financial situation is irrelevant because now you’re gambling with people’s lives. Not to mention how fucking stupid it is going to a professional and then just deciding “nah fam, don’t fix that engine problem, I don’t need it” and driving away after said professional has just told you that your car has a serious issue that needs fixing. It’s like going to a doctor to get a lump scanned only to decline treatment when they tell you it’s a tumour that you need to get removed now while it’s still an option. The end cost of ignoring the problem almost always costs a lot more than just getting it fixed at the time. Don’t be a prick, either take it off the road until you can afford to fix it or else just fucking get it fixed…
Watching those videos gives me a good feeling about losing €3,000........ Because that money was spent on proper car repairs and maintenance in a trustworthy shop. And "trustworthy" is really important these days. Not only will a shitty shop rip you off, but deliver bad services and leave you with a worse vehicle. Couple months back the switch from winter tires to summer tires was due. Wanted to do this myself, no biggie. As I was starting to lift up the car, I heared crunching in the spot, where the jack is supposed to be placed. I took a look and it didn't look good. Went to a local shop for switching the wheels AND told them, they need to check for rust. They billed me for the rust check and said, everything was dandy. Okay. I had a bad feeling about this shop. So servicing the car and having another rust check done, I went to a shop 600 kilometers away (being part of a long trip, visiting friends across country). In that shop, the responsible mechanic almost got a heart attack, there were huge holes in my undercarriage. that alone needed a fix for 1,000 bucks. And it had a few other issues, which are cleared now. It was a good decision to not use that local shop for works on my vehicle. Who knows, what kind of sloppy work they would have done. I should actually sue them for billing me for something, that they either didn't do, or gave me an absolutely wrong result about, basically lying to me for whatever reason. Moral for me: Put extra effort into my car maintenance, to get it this long distance to the trustworthy shop.
I had that in the UK when I purchased a 2nd hand car. I asked for a service to be done and I marked the oil filter when nobody was looking. The service was never done but the parts had been taken from the store. The mechanic was using the ports to do services at home for a fee using parts from the garage. He got sacked, I got the service and a new set of tires for free.
I don't understand the timing belt guy 🤷♂ Why pay a shop to check your timing belt, then when they tell you its about to fall off, decline the repair 🤦♂
2:58 *ROFL* That same thing happened to my friend's friend mechanic in a Volvo shop while he was working on XC60. He didn't "bump" the sensor. It happens, when you work in the area and the sensor is in the way and you unscrew it and put it aside while turning it upside down while not having disconnected battery and not waited sufficient time for the condensators to discharge. He was in a shock an in a huge debt at the same time. XC60 has A LOT of airbags. 😀
Never take your vehicle to a Mercedes dealer. Their inflated pricing alone should be enough of a turn off. They wanted to charge me $1200 for a serpentine belt replacement and 4 spark plugs (both were still good), $300 for an oil change as well. I just bought a pump for $20 and do it all myself for a fraction of the cost.
Mine told me that the air conditioning unit needed a new compressor when I took it in due to not blowing cold air. They quoted $1500 to fix it. I took it to an air-conditioning specialist around the corner and he found it only needed regassing at $167.
2:58 know the guy in the red shirt in the background is shooting a video, but at first I thought he was just standing back there chugging a beer. Either way, the utter lack of reaction when the other guy smashed his car into the trailer gave me a chuckle! 😆
I once saw a Mercedes-Benz SUV earlier this year that had 46 000kms on it and the rear brakes were completely worn out! I think it was a 2021. Electric parking brakes.
Timing belt is about to fall off.. Customer declines repair... That timing belt is going to be a lot cheaper to fix then having the engine replaced when it finally breaks and trashes the pistons.
As someone who does a lot of my own work on my vehicles I do wonder if some of these where the customer declines repairs is just the customer trying to get the problem diagnosed correctly before they start swapping parts out. I hope these mechanics are charging for diagnosing the problem in these cases
I especially like that not only was a transmission case patched with a beer can and JB Weld, but it was patched over a pressurized feed to one of the clutches. Some people can’t be helped.
My 94 F-150 rear wheels stayed on the ground when the mechanic started to hoist it up the brackets were rusted away. New springs and brackets fixed her right up I do a bit of off roading with a few jumps here and there I guess lady luck was with me.
I watched several times and the funniest part is the driver face planting the air bag because he had no seat belt on and holding his ears from the deployment gunshot. LOL!!!
One if the dealerships I owned for fairly near aonther dealership for a different manufacturer. In the trade locally this other dealership was a cause of concern as we heard all sorts of weird and wonderful tales regarding it's practices. One of which was that it had hire cars, never serviced them, then when these hire cars got to 80,000 km, they wound the odometer back to maybe 25,000 km and sold it as a one owmer car. Then one day I had one of these ex-hire cars into our workshop. The mechanic called me down to look at it. When he'd removed the valve cover he found it was literally soild carbonised oil, still in the shape of the valve cover which came off like a jelly mould. The vehicle was showing 29,000 KM. I spoke to the customer who refused to believe me, told me to "Put it back together and I do not expect a bill!!" So that is precisely what happened. That guy could not believe he had been fooled by the dealership that sold him the heap of ex-hire car garbage. About 6 months later the other dealership was caught ... The tax inspectors started the fun, followed by the police with the directors and others being charged with fraud plus much else. Within another 3 months it was gone for good. {Gallic shrug}
First story: considering it was not "another shop" literaly, I'm inclined to believe the customer this one time. Its not like no dealers cut corners....
Now I'm sure that my Mercedes dealer doesn't actually inspect every last 152 points, but they sure as hell change the oil and filters and the major check list points are annotated with remarks and left in the passenger seat. 13 years and she's like new.
If you cant afford maintain your vehicle, you cant have one...why is this so Hard to know in the USA? And decline repairs at broken brakes and drove away? How? I would not let him drive this deathtrap and call police.
I feel like any time a mechanic finds stuff like those mercedes brakes, tires that are completely bald, frame that is falling apart, they should be required to call the cops and prevent the car from being driven away.
Our local Mercedes dealer in Launceston lost our service books while our car was there. They deny all responsibility and now I have MB AU getting involved. They are rather useless too.
I know this wasn't your fault but did you always get it serviced at that authorised dealer. They can replace the service manual with an official "replacement" version and fill in the details of the previous service dates and mileage from their records. There is a cost to do that of course which they should be covering. I bought a Mazda MX5 which had been owned by the one old lady for 17 years and always serviced at the same local Hobart dealer but she had lost the service manual. I was able to buy a replacement one and they completely filled in the full record of service dates and mileage for me.
As a mechanic myself I'm very annoyed by those morons who think they are specialist. Yes doing yourself can work but only if you have enough skills and tools. I own a small amount of tools but unfortunately I don't have a lift and neither a barn or something to work. I'm fed up with cars because most of the companies I was working for had a pretty bad tool supply. I often being amazed how is it still possible to have a business but some are selling cars as well. I imagine how much more money could they make if the mechanics has better tools on their hand
Tale as old as RU-vid, see oil sludge and people argue about who is lying: the customer or the dealership they took the car to. I just saw another video like this where they took off the valve cover and it was all sludge, but the carfax actually said they’ve been doing 8k mile oil changes.
I used a bungee cord on my E-brake pedal once. It was 2002, in a 1984 Buick Skylark. I only needed the extra tension to keep the "BRAKE" light off. I wasn't going to put money into the car, as the transmission was beginning to fail (previous owner drove it hard, due to the front right brake hose failing, not releasing pressure to the caliper, and the drivetrain having to fight against the brakes). Two weeks later, I traded it in on an fresh-off-lease '99 Intrigue; they gave me $1,000 trade-in on a clunker I bought for $400. 🤣
I totally believe it. I brought my VW to a dealership for its 2nd oil change and it was brown/black when I checked the dipstick later that day. Wish I had done it at the dealer. Weird thing was, the filter looked new. I think they changed that but and topped it up, never open the pan drain plug. 10,000 mile oil left in. Maybe 14,000 if they did the same.thing on the first change (since I did one at 6000)
