Yes this is a common scam for sure. One bad thing is that a similar scam can happen at the dealer. A friend who used to work in the customer-facing side of the garage told me that their mechanics are trained to inspect the car and look for wear and to make a list. The "mechanic" who calls the owner of the car, will then try to upwell him or her on repairing lots of other things that may not need repairing or that still have some life left in them.

yelp, google and FB reviews. Just do a checkin on fb and you will have the option to leave review. It will cost him a lot more than 400 he screwed you on

What he said :2 cents:

with car repairs its like with lawyers and anything else, if possible only use them if you got there by recommendation from someone you can trust
(friend, family member etc)

Shop around and research. It's the difference of 2-4x sometimes.

If you have the gall, threaten to ruin him as a bait and switch artist. The keyboard can have a deep impact on his long term bottom line.

Stick to Jap, ever since we nuked them they've been making great cars.

Timing chain replacement cost so much?What car is that ,(what is a price of belt only)?

take to his hand with a ball peen hammer.

Sad but now you know what to do the next time.

Was in same situation and didt want to pay full bill, almost got in fight with that guy, at end i payed maybe 1/5 and got my car, shitheads

Sad to hear this. For me, having a good car serviceman is a Must. I have separate guys, one takes care of my old Opel Vectra B 2001, but there's only One crew in our country who I let touch my Subaru Legacy.. I would Never Ever take it to an unknown / new service. This is a game of Trust, and if you have a solid guy/place to take your car to in case of issues: win-win situation all the time. Otherwise its a struggle, like your case :( Sounds ripoff, but honestly: I would never argue w the price. Never. If its 200 bucks more than the first final price: it Has a Reason. Assuming this is a honest/good businessman not a scam artists :pimp

ANd what auto shop was that?

It's not so much the price of the belt itself. Most of the cost is labour as generally, to do the belt or chain they put the vehicle into service position by removing everything in front if the engine. While doing the belt or chain they will also the water pump any any idler pulleys or the tensioner, since it's such a pain to do twice and the extra $200 or so is good insurance.

For the OP. Was this a Toureg or Tiguan? I've never seen a Jetta/Golf/Passat go over $1,000 for that procedure

Your mechanic is an asshole, he gained 473 dollars but he lost a customer. I'm assuming you're not taking your car to him again.

I know a mechanic if I need him, but do most everything myself. Being a woman doesn't help, they think right off the bat they can con you. Always have a guy go with you, someone big, they don't like to put their life in danger. Tell the guy to look pissed off the whole time.

I can tell my friends to visit him...:pimp after that he'll bring you new car.....for free...

How did you know it needed a new chain? Most cars when they the chain breaks/stretches (extremely rare) or a belt snaps the valves come into contact with the piston.

Most likely it was a CEL that came on, or the chain started to get noisy. Because I think most modern engines are interference, you'd never want to skip the maintenance schedule on a belt. I've always automatically done mine at 100k/160k

Trying to lowball the shop in the first place was a little shady... These businesses have costs too you know. Also quotes are usually pre-sales tax.

Thanks for letting me know! I've always heard that chains are "forever" :)

You own a VW. Expect this sort of hassle on a regular basis or learn to do it yourself.

exactly, you could do worse :thumbsup

I personally do not know of any one who this has happened to, if anything it would be a rare case. Most metal timing chain issues come from them wearing through the Guides/Tensioners, thats when they become noisy. Doesnt necessarily mean it has to be replaced. Nissan 240sx's were notorious for this as well

How come? I thought VW are one of the simpler cars to maintain. VW is called "every mens car" or something along those lines.

that really sucks...and that is very expensive for sure

Why is it shady to negotiate the price? If both parties agree on lower price that is fine. Nobody forced to accept it.

:thumbsup


it's not rare at all. in fact, all metal chains under a load will stretch. due to the components within each link.


drive any car with a timing chain for long enough without the proper maintenance and it will stretch to the point the engine goes out of timing. drive the car around with the timing off by many degrees and you'll be replacing much of that engine after a while.

The guy owns the shop I didn't pull his little worker dude away and ask him that. Why would I not ask if I was paying cash? Most people rather have the cash and not clam it.


BTW car broke down on me today need a new starter now.

I had two people look and listen to it. They didn't know each other and they both said the same thing.

Yea you needed your timing chain tensioner fixed, common problem on Nissan 240sx's. Sounded like a bunch of marbles under the valve cover. About 110 dollar part

This is a 1.8T im assuming?

The work was...

timing chain
timing chain
lower tensioner
upper tensioner
guide
guide
guide
shop supplies intermediate gear
radiator hose assy-uper
hose assy head-throttle



what ever that all means.

He charged you more than the dealership would have...I'd def have a bone to pick with that guy...

Your whole life has more or less been a series of successive failures so really this kind of thing must come as no surprise. Perhaps it's time to try a little introspection and really considering what the one common thread amongst all of these failures is.

They wanted $3000.

They did my friends Vr6 for 1800 out the door with water pump replacement. You can haggle with the dealers sometimes and it also depends on your area. The typical labor rate is $100/Hr and the job takes 8-10 hours. Plus parts youre at around 1800-2k.

Either way the car is all fixed and youre back on the road. Come here next time before ya go to any mechs!

I dove it today and it broke down on me LMFAO now I need a starter.

An extension of this scam is to pressure the customer into fixing something that affects the car's safety. If the customer says no, when they come to pick up the vehicle the workshop will refuse to release the car because it's "unsafe." Often the breakdown of problems will be for parts that are borderline serviceable, so they do need to be fixed in the near future, but not RIGHT NOW.

This is a bad idea, unless you want to get thrown in jail for extortion.

I have a VW, and I know a couple of trustworthy people in Charlotte who sound like they would be more honest than this mechanic who screwed you over. I remember I replaced the timing belt on my jetta around ten years ago, and this mechanic did for $100. I know certain models of VW have gotten more complex in recent years, but I agree with some of the other people who've chimed in on this thread that the price you paid is in the range of getting a rebuild transmission. I don't know where you are in NC, but let me know if you need the name of a couple of good shops in Charlotte.