All mechanics are crooks!

[Larry" <rocco16v@netzero.com (Larry)]

I would have to side with Mark on this one. My many years of dealing with
cars/mechanics leads me to feel that he is right on the mark (so to
speak...)
And I must give him a LARGE helping of credit for not coming back in a
defensive/aggressive response to Chris' post.
Mark, you have my respect.

Larry

> Chris,
>
> I'm not cynical by default, I'm drawing from my experiences here...
> And my experiences have led me to be cynical when dealing with auto
> mechanics.  Honestly, I only know one mechanic who I would trust to not
> rip me off...  While my auto teacher's statement of "All mechanics are
> crooks" is a bit broad, there is a reason that this was the first thing
> he said to the class.  This guy was in the industry for over 20 years
> before he became a teacher, and the class was as much about NOT getting
> ripped off as it was about auto mechanics.
>
> When you can count the number of "pleasant" experiences with mechanics
> over 15 years of driving on one hand, there IS reason to be cynical!
> I've watched friends and family get ripped off time and time again.
> That's why I do 99% of my own work, and do most of the routine
> maintenance on my friends' and familys' cars...  I also worked at a car
> dealership (GM) as saw first hand the rampant abuse of people's
> ignorance...
>
> As another lister mentioned, this industry is ripe for consumer abuse.
> Even the one mechanic who I trust agrees with my teacher's statement.
> He said, unlike when they first started their careers, most of the
> mechanics he knows get jaded with years of crawling under dashes, and
> scraping knuckles, etc.  The longer these guys are in the industry the
> more likely they'll be one of the "bad ones" simply because they don't
> give a shit anymore...  That, and the fact that it's hard to run a
> profitable business without getting "creative"...
>
> He actually talked me OUT of becoming an auto mechanic...  I'm not
> saying that every mechanic that stays in the industry for more than "x"
> number of years is a "bad" mechanic, but there IS some truth to what
> this guy is telling me...
>
> The hard part is finding someone you trust, and for the average person
> who doesn't know much about his/her vehicle, this is extremely hard to
> do.  If you don't know much about your car, how are you going to know
> if you're being ripped off or not?  Once a mechanic has someone's
> "trust", IF they're the greedy type, they can basically do and charge
> anything they want and they know it!  I'm not just saying this - this
> has been PROVEN to me over and over again!!!
>
> Contrary to what you may think, I don't go through life in my "simple
> minded negative little bubble" being cynical about EVERYTHING...  I
> generally have a very positive outlook, BUT I learn from my life
> experiences and lessons.  There is a reason that that simple sentence
> someone said to me years ago is still fresh in my memory - it proved
> true to me (WAY) more often than not...
>
> Mark.
>
> --- Chris DeLong <green536@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Mark,
> >
> > have a nice life living in your simple minded negative little bubble.
> > Your
> > predisposed judgement of those you dont know will, hopefully, cost
> > you and
> > put you in the stuck up society of idiots.
> >
> > Cynicism would definitely be an understatement for your way of
> > thinking.