Is this normal?!
 

My son in law's parents split up about four years ago. His mother takes in her 2004 Porsche 911 to an indy shop for maintenance. The boss/owner finds so much wrong with the car that he offers her $5000 cdn for it. She declines. She gets charged $500 for finding out what is wrong with it! She then takes it to her ex and asks him to fix it. Tacky treatment or what?

I used to go to this same indy shop with my Boxster and although they were good they were expensive.

My son in law fired a young man at his business. A couple of weeks later sil finds his Landrover broken in to. The only thing stolen was his gym bag. Sil suspects the fired employee but no proof yet. Not a great week for the family but I am sure they will survive.

Just like an appraiser can't make you an offer to buy after appraising something (violation of ethics), a mechanic shouldn't be able to make you an offer to buy a car after telling you what's wrong with it (and how much it'd be to fix it).

I've made offers on cars that came in needing a ton of work before. You have to be tactful about it. In some instances, it may come across as sleazy, but there are other times, where the customer tells you, that they are thinking about getting rid of it , sick of putting $ in it and ready to move on .
I guess it depends on how much you trust the guy, could always get a second opinion ..

Yep, I have purchased at least 5-6 cars over the years from customers at the shop who once faced with the repair bill were weighing options of putting more into an older car or taking their losses and buying something newer.

I've seen this before. A woman with a nice car and the shop always finds a laundry list of stuff needing to be done? The list is probably a combination of stuff "that is showing (minimal) wear", "while we're in there" type stuff, and "recommendations" based on the mileage. The shop owner is betting that the owner both doesn't actually understand the work being done and has a strong desire to keep the car pristine.

Heck, I've had shops recommend to me changing parts like functioning brake calipers "just in case". :mad:

I've also seen shady shops charge for work, not actually do it, and then recommend that it needs to be done again in a subsequent visit.

Problematic at best as we don't know if the shop's recommendation was correct. All too often, I've seen higher-end cars that have not had the needed maintenance and somethings broken too. Which if all were resolved could result in a very high estimate / bill.

But offering to buy on the spot....not so much.

It's how I got my 914, except he told me it was for sale as soon as I gave him the bill. I asked him how much, he said $5K (2001) which I thought was more than reasonable. I deducted the bill ($1500) and bought the car.

I've many times passed on customers cars that were for sale, often because I know it needs more than it's worth. I have sometimes bought a car, but only if it's worth my while, I do have to justify it with a few bones in my pocket.

I personally wouldn't offer to buy a car unless the customer says it's for sale, I just feel it's bad form.

I just sold my Boxster to the repair shop. I was just tired of the recent problems and wanted it gone. And I didn’t want to risk putting more into it than it was worth.

The shop didn’t actually buy it, but they made some calls. The water pump froze up and it overheated. The expansion tank also cracked. These were replaced, but the car was still overheating and oil lights were on. I’ve also had a check engine light coming on, 1128 and 1130.

I’ve had the car a long time, it was a 2000 with 125,000 miles. I got $2,500 for it as is..

I get on with my ex ok. I fix her and my step son's (aka: The Baby Jesus) cars.

She does grease my palm but the work is still pretty much a gift.

Will she pay him something?

Our shop would not allow a tech or anyone else to offer to buy a car unless the customer specifically asked if any one there would be interested in it as is. As far as the laundry list goes (which isn't hard to come up with on most Porsches), it behooves the shop to point out everything they see (and prioritize for the customer) so that it doesn't come back to bite them later...as in "I just had my car inspected by you a month ago and now I've got a coolant leak". It's a two way street.

pm sent....

I agree and always try to cover my bases. I just did a IMS solution and clutch/flywheel on a 996. New to the customer the car is in good shape but all he knows about it's history is claimed to maintained by the dealership, no bills. I told him the car doesn't seem to have issues, but without a history I recommend water pump and t-stat.
I let him make the call to do it next season and I have that in writing (email).

Yes, an ethical shop will point out anything the car needs or will need in the near future but also be honest about the priority of the various repairs in terms of seriousness, w safety-related or urgent maintenance items at the top of the list, etc.

As for buying broken cars from customers, there is an ethical way to do it but it's a built-in conflict of interest and must be treated very gingerly. Holding a car hostage for an inflated bill and offering to steal it at the same time as in the OP should get someone a set of broken kneecaps.

I buy broken and project cars all the time but I'm not a shop and I frequently tell people that they may be able to get more $$ for the car elsewhere. They usually say thanks but want a quick, easy sale and sell it to me.

She should report the shop in OP to whatever their equivalent of the BAR is there and write them an accurate and scathing Yelp review. :mad:

Did she ask them how much time it took them to make that list and what their shop labor rate is or is she just going to pay it? :confused:

Just this past weekend I worked on one that I thought about asking if he would sell, but didn't. Had a dead rat near the compressor. 2003 Acura TLS.

Two shops told the guy it was the a/c evaporator, another put dye in it so they could find the leak, but didn't. I found it real quick. New schraeder valves and it's good to go. If it had been the evaporator, I would have asked. I don't own/operate a shop, just help people out now and again.

No she is not that detailed. I believe she paid the $500 and left.

$500 for an estimate of what needs to be done seems high to me. Even at $120 per hour that is over 4 hours.
I wonder if they were recommending changing out the muffler bearings and flush the air in the tires as well...

I had a mechanic tell me that I needed a new radiator for my 69 911s.

To give some kind of closure on this thread my son in law stated that the indy shop said the 911 needed a catalytic converter plus the engine was smoking and the more it was driven the worse it would get hence the $5000 offer for the car by the owner of the indy shop. It could be the AOS though but if they did a good diagnosis then they may have factored that out already. Looks like this 911 is roller material.

I had six or eight Volkswagens and two 356 given to me by customers. For a couple of years I was partners with a really good mechanic in a foreign car repair shop. I was going to college at the time and he hated Volkswagens and Porsche 356s, so I did the VW work and what little 356 work came in and he did everything else. Our customers were primarily students at the local, very expensive, liberal arts college where students were on campus six months and then went off to Timbuktu for six months of work experience. They would often leave their cars with me to be fixed and stored while they were gone. Sometimes they never came back, sometimes they came back in another car, sometimes when they saw the repair and storage charge they just signed it over to me. Two of the cars were a '63 Porsches, all the rest were bugs and convertibles.
Lot's of good times running that shop. :D