ComplaintsforPrecision Auto Repair

• Initial Complaint

  05/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Based on second opinion from **** dealer service department and an independent smog service facility, it appears this mechanic falsified computer readouts to mislead me into approving work that was not required to get my vehicle ready to smog, and work which in fact does not even apply to my year make and model vehicle. I already spent over $800 on what ultimately was $200-$300 to fix the actual issue, then Precision Auto Repair claimed (based on a fraudulent computer readout) that the vehicle would need another $200-$300 job in order to be made ready for a smog check. According to an independent smog shop, this readout (which they let me take a photo of) only even applies to a 2011 or later **** (mine is ****).

  

  Business response

  06/03/2022

  Please see attached.

  Customer response

  06/07/2022

   
  Complaint: 17203043
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Regarding the jargon cited in the business response, I believe it is precisely the general publics lack of specific technical knowledge and vocabulary that permits such shops to take advantage and recommend or present work that is unnecessary. In this case (and unfortunately after I went against my gut feeling and approved the initial wild goose chase work, including what even I as a layperson knew was an expensive and unneeded compression check), it was after I solicited a second opinion from the **** dealer that I learned all of this (the compression check proposed based off of what the internet was telling the mechanics and the subsequent claim that more work beyond what was ultimately the single faulty sensor that had already finally been addressed would be needed for the vehicle to smog), **** told me all this did not add up and I was being taken for a ride. The smog shop I went to confirmed that nobody should have suggested a compression check on this vehicle with the codes it had previously given (especially given the business long-term knowledge of this vehicle), and due to the year of the vehicle the business was able to cite any of a myriad of codes for further work suggestions. I would also note that the business did not present the additional work as an optional step, or that the sensors might still simply reset due to drive cycles at this point; they simply texted: That pending error code is directing us to replace that one specific oxygen sensor. The estimate would be $241.82.
  Do I know what exactly, technically is going on inside my van? No. That is why I trust a professional. However, when two other professionals (the dealer who represents the company who made the vehicle and a smog shop who pre-tested, tested, and passed the vehicle) tell me that what this business was saying and doing was outside the convention of the profession and even unexplained by mere negligence, then I feel I have confirmed my own initial feeling of being misled for this business illegitimate profit.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

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