Useful tips for motorists, which will help to avoid fraud when referring to garages.
“Master” ride on clients cars and love to find non-existent problems.
Repair and maintenance of car is very expensive pleasure. Motorists stopping at the service station, already mentally prepared to bear the cost and, unfortunately, sometimes unscrupulous employees use it successfully. How to avoid fraud on HUNDRED and not pay for non-existent jobs?
REPUTATION, FORUMS AND TOMER
To maintain the car better in one place, the regular customers and stations, and the master always cherish. And before you call for service it is better to study the problem in advance on the forums of owners of cars of a certain make and model — the Internet is full of such. There, as a rule, there are reviews about the service, starting with the official service and ending of “garage masters.
Giving the car in for repair for a few days, be sure to record the odometer — there are times when the staff station client use a car for their own purposes. For this reason, respond with a categorical refusal to a request to write master documents for the car: stories about possible police check you can skip past the ears.
BE SURE TO COME TO THE DIAGNOSIS
Most deceptions during unscheduled repairs originate at a stage of diagnostics of the car. Often at the service station client, trying not to let in the repair area, arguing that the safety regulations. But if the car owner came to repair the room along with the master-receiver, it is usually make an exception and especially not hinder. The presence of the client when the diagnosis is not excluded, but would complicate the most common fraud at a service station: identify non-existent faults in addition to real. After all, even fictional minor malfunction gives you the opportunity to “earn” several hundred to several thousand hryvnia, and the cost of a part, and to “work” for her replacement.
HOW TO AVOID IT.
Be sure to be present during diagnosis of the vehicle. However, there is one “but”: the owner is a little bit to understand its structure. After all, a master in a matter of seconds to assess the level of knowledge. Therefore, if about the structure of the car and its maintenance, the owner has no even basic knowledge, he should at least not agree immediately on the suggested list works. Perhaps a trip to another service station or an appeal to a familiar, trusted professionals will clarify the situation and considerably reduce repair costs.
THE PARTS BUY THEMSELVES
Often after diagnosis, the master offered to the owner by purchase the necessary repair parts. Well, if we are talking about official service or time-tested masters. If not, it is worth considering the cost and quality of the same parts can vary considerably.
Installing cheaper counterparts of brand parts, “the master” kills two birds with one stone — it settles in your pocket the difference in cost (because the customer pays for a good item), and the resource parts are notoriously low — so there are chances that the client will come with the same problem. But the fragility of the parts can always be attributed to bad roads, poor fuel quality and a host of other factors.
HOW TO AVOID IT.
To buy parts by the tape, giving preference to quality products and not chasing cheapness.
DESIGN, VALIDATION AND THREAT OF COURT
Before you put your signature in the invoice, is to make sure that they done completely. You should always require documentary verification. Properly executed documents in the event of improper repairs or deception are given the chance to prove his innocence in dealing with the management of the service station or, in extreme cases, in court. However, if you decide to enter into litigation, be prepared to spend a lot of time. If you believe that cheating was the same, you first need to write a letter of complaint setting out the situation and send the leadership of the STO by registered letter with notification. They have to respond within 14 days. If the answer is no or you are not satisfied, you can make a claim in court.
THREE MAJOR FRAUD AT THE STATIONS
Unfortunately, there are cases of cheating customers when the basic scheduled maintenance — in particular, when changing the oil and spark plugs. Most often because of fraud suffer girls and drivers with little experience.
OIL
Motor oil, especially good, is not cheap. So unfair “master” instead of a full replacement can only change the filter and refill with fresh. Another option of fraud — oil change for cheaper. For example, the customer pays for the “synthetics”, and he poured “semi-synthetics”, which cost half as much. Variances of hundreds of hryvnia, is in the pocket “master”.
HOW TO AVOID IT.
Be not too lazy after replacing his own to pull the dipstick and check the level of oil, but also its transparency. To distinguish one kind of new oil from the old slightly diluted can even inexperienced motorist.
Oil is best purchased in advance, bring your own replacement and to check that the engine has flooded it to the extent recommended by the vehicle manufacturer.
By the way, everything said above applies not only to engine oil. Similarly, you can cheat when changing the oil in the transmission — gearbox, drive axle. Good gear oil is even more expensive motor, so the temptation from would-be masters is great. But, by and large, this applies, albeit to a lesser extent, all technical liquids.
CANDLES
Often at the slightest instability of the engine operation the client is strongly recommended to change the spark plugs. Beginners or those drivers who don’t want to delve into the details, hooked on it, and 10 minutes later leave happy, rakosiensis on a new set of spark plugs and replacement. Deception can be that “master” instead of replacing just clean old candles and slightly adjust the gap. In most cases this is enough to make the engine began to work steadily and ran a old candle a few thousand kilometers.
HOW TO AVOID IT. Know and comply with the terms of the planned replacement of candles specified in the documentation, and also to present when changing.
TRANSMISSION
Another common and insidious method of deception is pseudoriemann transmission. When changing the oil in the pan defaulting master quietly throws a little metal sawdust, and then shows this to the owner as an argument in favor of repair. A transmission repair is an expensive “pleasure”, after its removal and subsequent installation will have to pay a lot of money, not to mention the parts and work.
HOW TO AVOID IT. It is best to present when changing the oil — it is unlikely someone dares to throw something at the owner.
