How Much Do Car Repair Shops Charge For An Oil Filter

How Car Mechanics Can Rip You lot Off, and How to Avoid Being Taken for a Ride

... and how drivers can avoid existence taken for a ride.

— -- intro:Have you always gone to an auto repair store for an oil alter, just to accept the mechanic say your car needs a new transmission? Has the "check engine" low-cal come on, and suddenly the mechanic says you demand expensive new engine parts?

1 seasoned auto mechanic is warning consumers to be well-versed in how a auto works to avoid being ripped off at the machine repair shop.

"Joe," who has been a mechanic for 40 years, agreed to reveal the secrets of his trade to ABC News' "20/20" on the condition that his identity would remain concealed.

He said some mechanics may try to squeeze more money out of customers by doing unnecessary repairs. What drives mechanics to crook or button unnecessary repairs, Joe said, is the tiny profit margin at many repair shops. Most mechanics are honest, he said, just many are pressured past their bosses to perform unnecessary work.

"The store has to stay in business," Joe said. "At that place are pressures to practice things that perhaps y'all wouldn't practice normally."

Joe admitted that he has used shady tactics, himself, in the by.

"I'm ashamed a bit to admit it, but when your boss tells you ... 'Either yous practice it here or the door's right there,' what are you going to practice?" he asked.

The Automotive Service Clan says the majority of the service repair manufacture is ethical and only charges the consumer for necessary work.

"20/20" went hole-and-corner at several car repair shops in New York and New Jersey to see if mechanics would add unnecessary repairs and fees to service a "20/20" producer's machine, which had been given a make clean bill of health by two licensed mechanics beforehand.

One of those licensed skilful mechanics was Giuseppe Mendola, possessor of AutoTech Diagnostic in College Point, New York.

"If they found a problem with this car, it would probably be a problem they invented or that didn't exist at all," Mendola said.

quicklist:title: 1. Calculation on to 'Gravy Work'text:At that place are special names mechanics apply for questionable repair practices, Joe said, such as "gravy work," which, he said, ways billing the customer for more time than a repair job actually takes.

"Most shops will charge you an 60 minutes and a half to ii hours to turn the rotors and put pads on it," Joe said. "If you're skilful and got good equipment, you can do it in 20 or xxx minutes. ... That'south gravy."

quicklist:title: 2. Doing a 'Wallet Flush'text:The so-called "Wallet Flush," Joe said, is where a routine oil alter can plow into something much more than expensive.

"An $18 oil modify -- well, they lose money on that," he said. "The thought is to become you in so they can sell you the coolant flushes, trans flushes, ability steering flushes. ... That's where the coin is."

quicklist:title: 3. Billing for Work That Was Never Donetext:Joe said information technology'southward non unusual for mechanics to bill for work they don't even perform, such as saying they installed a new air filter without actually touching information technology.

"Some [air filters] are difficult to alter, and it'southward real piece of cake to accuse for information technology and not put it in," he said. "And yous would never know because you couldn't go become it."

quicklist:championship: 4. Jacking Up Repairs Based off the 'Idiot Lite'text:Ane of the most common, and profitable, ways to jack up a repair bill is exploiting fears over the "check engine" light, affectionately known by some in the merchandise as the "idiot light," Joe said.

"The cheque engine light will direct y'all to a failure code," he said. "Guys kind of have the phrase where every code deserves a role."

"twenty/20" put the "idiot light" tactic to the exam. Before heading out cloak-and-dagger, "20/20" had adept mechanic Audra Fordin purposefully unplug a cord to disconnect the mass airflow sensor in the engine of a "twenty/20" producer's machine, something that would be quickly detected and easy to set. Both Fordin and Mendola deemed the auto perfectly fine otherwise.

One repair store in New Bailiwick of jersey stock-still the cord issue in 15 minutes without even charging our producer -- though ABC News' proficient mechanic say it would exist reasonable to charge betwixt $50-100 to diagnose the problem. The manager at a unlike repair shop in New Jersey also just plugged the cord back in, simply then told our producer the calorie-free was on because the mass catamenia sensor needed to be cleaned. He recommended a fuel system cleaning for $99.

A mechanic in New York also fixed the string trouble quickly just told our producer she needed to replace the entire mass air flow sensor, a cost of more $300. He and then offered to take the sensor apart and fix it for $190. For that $190 fix, a "20/twenty" subconscious camera video showed the mechanic just sprayed and rinsed the outside of the engine.

"The light was definitely on considering of the sensor," Mendola said. "And plugging information technology back in should have the solved the trouble. ... I can give y'all an instance. If you came home and your lamp wasn't working and yous realized, 'Hey, somebody unplugged information technology from the wall,' y'all wouldn't get out and purchase a new lamp. Then basically, all you had to do was plug it dorsum in and y'all'd be fine."

quicklist:title:5. BONUS: How to Avoid Being Ripped Offtext:"If you become to a shop, and they ... spring you upwards for all this stuff, go find another shop," he said. "Ask your friends, ask coworkers. ... Effort to find a reputable shop that you can build a relationship with, and they will take intendance of you, and that'southward key."

Also, he added, just read the owner'due south manual.

"People don't read the owner's manual," he said. "They don't know how to open up the hood half the fourth dimension. ... I honestly don't sympathise what they look out of the motorcar if they don't know anything nigh information technology."

Marty Guerrero, fifty, of Los Angeles, admitted she didn't know anything about cars when she took her crimson Mustang into a mechanic when it wouldn't start. She said that was all the mechanic needed to know, to take her for a ride.

"He ended upward wanting to accuse me nearly $i,000 for services, and it turns out all my car needed was a bombardment," said Guerrero. "And the only reason I busted him was because my car wouldn't starting time two days after I picked it up. After he supposedly fixed it, information technology wouldn't start."

What should have been an $80 bombardment replacement suddenly became a very expensive trouble for Guerrero.

"When I recall about it now I feel like a fool," Guerrero said. "I really got taken."

Just Guerrero battled to become her money back from the mechanic and won. She even enrolled in car repair classes and is educating others through an e-book she wrote, named, "Exposed: Motorcar Repair's Dirty Little Secrets to Rip You Off!"

"I ended up writing a book because I wanted to share all this knowledge with people," Guerrero said. "It really makes me angry that these mechanics are taking advantage of women. ... They primarily cheat women considering they think we don't know."

Guerrero had a message for the mechanic who she said ripped her off: "I got yous," Guerrero said. "You thought you were slick, but I got you."