Highway Robbery

> When Mrs. James Hogsed drove into a service station in Georgia, an attendant pushed the front of her car, told her that she had a bad shock absorber and that "if I had to stop suddenly, I might break a tie rod." She paid $29.90 for a new shock absorber, plus $5 for labor. Later, her father-in-law, a mechanic, inspected the old shock and told her that it was not only in perfect condition but that she had paid twice what she should have for the unneeded replacement.

> Reporters from the Wall Street Journal had a defective rotor installed in an otherwise perfect car and took the car to several Dallas auto repair shops. The one mechanic who fixed only the rotor charged $1. Six others made unnecessary repairs, one charging $54.60 for his services. Two other mechanics wanted the car left for even more expensive repairs, and one suggested a $130 valve job.

These examples of auto repair swindles have a familiar ring to most Americans. They are typical of the many detailed by Attorney Donald A. Randall and Journalist Arthur P. Glickman in their new book The Great American Auto Repair Robbery, which will be published later this month by Charterhouse Books Inc. As the authors describe it, the auto repair industry is fraught with deceit at every level, from gas station attendants who surreptitiously puncture tires with a screwdriver to insurance estimators who take kickbacks from body shops to steer business their way. In a modern version of highway robbery, the authors contend, the owners of the 90 million registered automobiles in the U.S. are bilked out of $8 billion to $10 billion a year--or about $1 of every $3 that they spend to keep their cars running.

Randall, especially, knows whereof he writes: he was director of a four-year investigation of the auto repair racket for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly. In that position he discovered that auto mechanics are, as often as not, incompetent hacks. None of the 50 states requires that automobile mechanics be licensed, says Randall, although "persons engaged in less life-and-death-re-lated professions such as beauticians, barbers, and real estate agents generally must pass proficiency tests and be licensed in order to practice their trades."

The authors even have a word of caution about the professional-looking service managers who greet drivers at the entrance to the service department of auto dealerships: they are often paid by commission and thus have powerful incentive to recommend unneeded repairs. If their persuasive salesmanship fails, they sometimes tack on unauthorized replacement orders. Many garages also make use of "flat-rate manuals" that list labor charges based on highly inflated estimates of the time it takes to do each job. If the repairs are finished in half the stipulated time, the fee remains the same--and the garage may hold the car against a "mechanic's lien" if the owner refuses to pay.

To minimize the chances of being swindled, Randall and Glickman suggest that motorists carefully follow the routine maintenance procedures outlined in the owner's manuals; that should lessen the need for major repairs. If such repairs become necessary, owners should avoid the repair services operated by new car dealers and franchise specialty shops in favor of long-established independent garages and individual mechanics who have proven their reliability.

Taking such precautions might have paid off for William Jeffrey Faren of Torrance, Calif. A few days after the springs and brakes on his 1965 Mustang had been repaired (for $523) at a shop operated by one of the largest tire companies in the nation, he lost control of his car on a curve. The state trooper who investigated the accident concluded that "The brake bands were not seated...All four wheel cylinders for the brakes were leaking and it appears that some fluid other than the normal brake fluid was used...A pinhole leak was found in the 'Mag' wheel,-which should have been detected during the mounting. This leak was probably a vital factor in the accident." Faren, unfortunately, was in no position to take legal action against the repair shop. He was killed in the crash.

The supposedly airtight metal rim on which a tire is mounted.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.