Scams related to ownership, service & repair... Service centre replaces good parts of your car with bad ones, or uses your car for joyrides. The scam: This is one of the most under-reported scams, since it is hard to detect or prove. The mechanic could swap out a failed component from his friend's car with a working one from your car, and in the process collect some money from his friend too. In a variation of this, the mechanic could put a spurious (non-OE) spare in your car and sell the OEM spare in the market for a higher price. You are especially vulnerable if your car is just out of warranty, or going to be out of warranty by the time the next scheduled service comes up. Other daring mechanics might even take your car out for a midnight joy-ride. How to avoid: Be very watchful of your car when it is being serviced. Refuse to leave the car overnight with the ASC if possible. Once out of warranty, find a good FNG and get the majority of your service requirements attended to by him. Some cars, whose costs of spares are very high, are more common targets for such scams than others, as also certain types of spares - the suspension components, for example, or the turbocharger, brake and clutch master cylinders with initial signs of failure, faulty brake boosters that sometimes work and sometimes don't, etc. Such a failed part does not attract immediate attention because the car continues to run, and most customers psychologically have a "feeling good" mindset when they receive their cars fresh from service. To prevent the joyrides, take note of the odometer reading, or install a stealthy GPS logger / tracker in your car. Related threads:
Last edited by Rehaan : 5th March 2013 at 13:26.
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