[GH85Carrera]

My mother in law owned a Mercedes and there was no dealer in the little town she lives in. So she would make a trip down to spend the night with us, and then she would "let" me drop off the car, and they took me back to work.

It was just a routine service, and the car had no issues at all. The mechanic looked at the owner's name and saw Bertha, and assume she was an old lady that does not know much about cars. They called my number since I told them to call me when it was ready. He stammered a bit when he heard a man's voice, but the service writer said the mechanic noted that the front struts were shot, and the entire brakes systems needed to be replaced. The car had 30,000 miles and was driven by the epitome of the little old lady going back and forth to church and the grocery store.

I told them do NOT touch the struts or brakes, just do the normal service it was supposed to receive. I got the car home and looked at the brakes. I knew if the brakes were shot there would be a warning on the dash. There was none. I pulled the front wheels off, and the brakes were at 75% of the pad left. The rotors were pristine. I pried and shook the front end. I noticed zero noise or issues at all.

She sold that car 10,000 miles later with the same brakes and struts that the factory built the car with.

They quoted many thousands of dollars for the work that was "needed" to be done according to them.

I just know they saw her name, likely talked the the salesman that sold her the car new, and found she had written a check for it and figured she was an easy mark.

She drives a Nissan now and the dealership she uses is owned by a guy that she taught in 2nd grade. They treat her like a queen, and she loves it.