Is it standard practice to rip a car a new one when someone comes in to have it checked when they are thinking about buying it? I have had numerous run ins with mechanics telling customers that cars are complete pieces of shit when they clearly are blowing things out of proportion. Todays lost sale is a '97 Civic EX. The customer came in and test drove it saturday, loved the car, but wanted to have it checked out by a mechanic today just to be sure. I saw no reason why she shouldn't, the car drives just fine and I'm not trying to hide anything. This is the list of reasons that he said she should not get the car which, because he is a "professional" she believed and there was nothing in the world I could do about it.
1. Hood release is broken. The little handle you pull inside the car is broken off, I was amazed myself when it happened because I thought Hondas were the best cars in the world, but I have since learned it is a common thing on these cars. You can still pop the hood by hand, you just don't have a handle with a diagram of a car with an open hood on it.
2. Dip stick is broken. The plastic end of the dipstick is broken (probably made by the same people that made the hood release handle) I still haven't seen a reason not to buy the car, but maybe that's because I'm an idiot.
3. Needs four new tires. Complete utter bullshit, tires are absolutely fine, the girl even commented on the car having good tires when she test drove it but since a "professional" said they needed to be replaced, she doesn't want the car.
4. Needs an alignment. Once again, bullshit, I've driven the car on numerous occassions, you can pick your nose and talk on the phone and the car will keep driving straight.
5. Oil pan gasket is leaking. Does anyone understand "normal seepage"? There has never ever been one drop of oil on the ground under this car. I would pay money to see a completely dry 8 year old motor.
6. Needs the brake fluid flushed. Whatthefuckever.
7. Needs the tranny fluid flushed. I guess bright red, unburnt tranny fluid is not desireable

That's it, she absolutely didn't want to hear anything I had to say, walked in with an attitude and threw the keys on the desk as if I was trying to pull some sort of fast one on her. Just to really make himself seem like he was smart, he told her if she was paying anything more than $2k-$3k for the car she was getting ripped off. It's a fucking '97 civic coupe EX!! Why would a "mechanic" blow little shit out of proportion and try to sound like he was smart when obviously 90% of the stuff was BS and the other stuff could be taken care of in a couple of hours as opposed to making the car worth $2k-$3k? The only explanation I could possibly see would be if they thought she was going to bring the car back to them and have the work done, but that doesn't fly if he's telling her she's getting ripped off if it's over $2-3k. Now the poor girl is going out shopping dealerships thinking she's going to get a car like that for $3k. Rough wholesale on that car is $3100 and anyone in the business knows Hondas are going for more than what the book says anyway. Maybe she'll talk to someone that has a decent head on their shoulders and come back, I did tell her that her mechanic was an idiot at the end when I saw it was going nowhere and she told me what he said the car was worth

 

My old boss would sell someone a new arm if it had a scratch on it. Its kinda sad that people would buy the shit, but I got paid.

 

Wow, that's fucking amazing. Did she say who the mechanic was? Oh, and this is just another example as to why women shouldn't be allowed to drive.

 

You should have asked for the mechanics phone number and also told her to go get a second opinion.

D O U C H E B A G

 

I scrutinize used cars quite heavily but I am of the understanding that it is USED and not new, so I expect some issues to fix. For christ's sake, the previous owner probably got rid of a car like that because it had some minor crap to fix, no biggie. That guy who looked at the car must be used to seeing cars only 1-2 years old or something. What an ass clown.

 

I tried, there was absolutely no talking to her. I got to where I just said, "your mechanic's an idiot, good luck" and let her go.

 

Even if those problems did exist, they are all pretty easy to fix.

 

The last time I ran into this was a couple of years ago. I had a '91 legend and the guy took it to an acura dealership. One of the cv joints had a tear in the boot, no clicking, no nothing so I wasn't aware, otherwise I would have fixed it They made it into a two part thing, first talking about the boot that is torn exposing the cv joint to dirt and moisture, then talking about the cv joint that is about to fail because of exposure as if they were completely separate issues and would cost thousands to fix. Then the best one ever, they said that the oil pan had been cracked at some point and welded back together. I refused to let the customer leave, put the car on a lift and explained to them that I could replace the cv joint in 30 minutes and take out half the stuff on the list, and then the "welded" oil pan was nothing more than the seam where the molds came together (cast aluminum pan) I didn't lose that sale because the people were smart and willing to listen and take a look for themselves but I couldn't believe a tech at an acura dealership could be stupid enough to say that the pan had been welded together

 

Thats quite an interesting story lol