Bait and Switch

Auto Repair Bait And Switch Tactics

Oil Changes, Brake Service, Cooling System Service And Air Conditioner Service

Oil Changes: We've all seen advertisements for very low priced oil changes. I've seen them as low as $9.00 but they tend to average between $15.00 and $20.00. Some shops even have an "every day low price" for their oil changes so that every oil change is sold at a loss. I have often wondered how they can do this. Are they doing this as a public service? Do they consider this a charitable cause? Are they a non-profit organization? Or is this a bait and switch tactic? How can they make a fair profit on a $20.00 oil change? The answer of course is: they can't. If it takes about a half hour to change oil, filter, lube and perform a 20 point inspection, and the shop's labor rate is $68.00 per hour, then the labor alone on the oil change should be $34.00. Add the price of parts and you are up to nearly $50.00. In order for them to break even or make a slight profit on a "loss leader" oil change, they need to sell you more stuff while you are in there or upgrade you to a more expensive product such as synthetic oil or a "premium" oil filter. And since they are losing money on the oil change, they will need to sell the additional parts and service at an inflated rate to make up for the loss. Of course most people are defenseless against the scripted mind control tactics a good salesman uses. Selling the extra items are almost guaranteed. Air filters, pcv valves, breather filters, transmission fluid changes, differential fluid changes, cooling system flushes, wiper blades, fan belts, radiator hose, light bulbs... . These up-sell items are where they are really making their profits. Granted these are valuable and sometimes necessary services but why use these hook and reel or bait and switch tactics to get the work? Why not just be up front and honest with people? Why not just charge a fair price for everything instead of lowering the cost of one job as a hook then inflating the cost of other jobs to make up for it?

Brake Jobs: Here's where they've got you. I saw a brake service special from a shop down the road from me for $14.95 per axle (!). But let's take an average "brake service" special. The bold print will usually read something like this: "Brake Service Special $69.95". The fine print will read something like this: "Most Cars, Semi-Metallic Pads Extra, Rotor Resurfacing Extra, Shims and other hardware extra, You will be charged for additional parts and services as required to bring your brake system back to normal operating condition". I don't know what kind of cars are being attracted by these ads but the average car coming in for brake service today is 5 to 10 years old and front wheel drive. It is impossible to meet the conditions listed in the fine print for these vehicles! The semi-metallic pads they will be charging extra for are used across the board on all of these cars. Every one of these cars will be due to have the caliper slides cleaned and lubricated. Nine out of ten of these cars will need new rotors because from the factory they are usually just thick enough to make it through one set of pads before becoming badly rusted or dangerously thin. The one out of ten rotors that can be saved will need to be resurfaced to prevent brake pulsations, noise and abnormal wear. About half of these cars will need new brake hoses because of cracked weather insulation. About half of these cars will have uneven pad wear requiring replacement or overhaul of the disc brake calipers. About half of these cars will have either frozen or leaking wheel cylinders. I have never, in 23 years of repairing brake systems, been tempted to re-use old, rusty tin brake shims. Eight out of ten of these cars will be over due for a brake fluid change (All brake system manufacturers that I know of require brake fluid changes every 2 years). Have you guessed yet that there is little, if any, chance of getting a brake job for the advertised price? Is it ethical to advertise a price that you know 9 out of 10 times is impossible to deliver? Oh, but you ask "What if I insist that they perform the minimum service they advertised"? They will probably have to refuse the job in the name of safety. One thing a professional Auto Technician does not want is to have his name put on a repair order for a brake service that was not performed up to code. If that car is ever involved in an accident, and they blame the brakes, it's the Technician that is to blame. Not the customer. No matter what the customer requested. No matter what the customer signed. No matter what disclaimers are on the invoice. The technician is the professional and the customer is the layman. The technician just simply has to refuse to do partial or shoddy brake work or risk a major change of life style. Now, is a business that practices this type of deception in their advertising the type of business you would trust the safety of you and your family to? Do you think it is possible that they practice other types of deception? Why even bother to find out? My advice: Just find a shop you can trust that does not practice this type of deception and let then do all of the work on all of your cars. You will be amazed at how much better your car will serve you, how much better you will be treated and the extra mile they will go for you when you stop shopping and stay with them for everything.

Coolant Flush and Fill: This is probably the most covert killer of head gaskets in the auto repair industry today. Today's high tech aluminum engines need someone with a thorough knowledge of how the newer cooling systems operate in order to properly bleed the cooling system and prevent hot spots before the engine is started. I hate to say it but it's probably better to never change your coolant than to have an inexperienced technician perform the service. Yes, old acidic coolant can ruin your gaskets as well as corrode your radiator and heater core but improper bleeding techniques will surely take a substantial amount of life out of your head gaskets and will more than likely ruin them. The process is simple to understand. If any air is left in the heads before the engine is started that area of the head will expand very rapidly due to heat from the combustion process. When the metal expands it presses down very hard on the area of the head gasket right under the hot spot in the head. This is like putting the head gasket in a vise and clamping it as hard as you can. It gets squished hard! When the cooling system finally bleeds itself (as the thermostat opens) the hot spots cool down and contract. This leaves a head gasket with not enough clamping pressure on it. It is doomed to failure. Probably not right away though. In fact, it will probably not go out completely until months later when a connection between the improper flush job and the blown head gasket is not obvious. This is not only true for flush jobs but for any job that involves draining a portion of your coolant. The bottom line is proper cooling system bleeding takes time. More time than an average technician can afford to spend for $20.00 labor. Most flush jobs take 20 minutes to flush and over a half hour to bleed. That's nearly $60.00 in labor alone plus the price of the coolant. Since a vast majority of the cars on the road today have this type of engine how can you expect to get a proper job on your cooling system for the $40.00 special most low ballers advertise? Do you think the technician might feel pressure to cut corners to speed up the process? Do you think management cares? Especially considering the blown head gasket will likely not be traced to the flush job? In my opinion this is sabotage!

Air Conditioning Service: Every spring they come out of the wood work. Air conditioning service specials. I usually see them priced from $20 to $40 and the bold print usually reads something like "A/C recharge $29.95" or "Air conditioner service special $24.95". The fine print usually says something like "Freon extra" or "plus refrigerant". First of all we need to understand why you may need your air conditioner serviced. Refrigerant or "Freon" is an odorless, colorless gas that is under high enough pressure to become liquid in your air conditioning system. It is mixed with special oil that is responsible for lubricating the compressor as the refrigerant circulates in the system. It works just like your home air conditioner or refrigerator by removing heat from inside and dispersing it outside. The Freon gas is constantly recirculated in the system and is not used up in the process. So where does the Freon go? Why do you hear about cars needing A/C recharges but not refrigerators or home air conditioners? The answer is the conditions under which a mobile air conditioner is asked to perform. Ambient temperatures from twenty below zero in winter to under hood temperatures topping three hundred degrees in the summer. Not to mention constant vibrations, bumps, pot holes and salt water baths. Corrosion, temperature extremes and physical stress cause leaks! Step one in every air conditioner service is to find and fix the leaks. Finding where an odorless, colorless gas went is not an easy task. It involves use of some very sophisticated electronic leak detection equipment and sometimes partial disassembly of the vehicle for access to components that may be leaking. Do you think they will do all of this for the advertised price? In most cases the advertised price won't even cover a thorough leak detector test let alone a leak repair or recharge. And knowing what you know now, what are the chances you have a refrigerant leak if you are low on Freon? Of course the answer is that there is a 100 percent chance you have a leak. And if there is a 100 percent chance you will not get the special price as a final invoice then why advertise the special price? What sense would it make to fill up an empty air conditioner with some very expensive Freon that you know must have a leak? Why advertise a service that sounds complete when you know that what you are really selling is just the first step in what will surely be a much longer more expensive process? Why not just be up front and honest about it instead of trying to bait people with a fictitious price then switch them to the more expensive job you knew they needed in the first place? This is perfect for those who thrive on confrontation but being open and honest is so much easier for the rest of us.

Summary: So why do they play this game? Why not just be honest about how much to charge for every job? Because it is a proven fact that most human beings will flock to where they "think" they will get the best deal. Even if they would have spent the same amount or less for the same job at a reputable shop that doesn't play the bait and switch game, they "feel" like they got a deal because the telephone quote or advertised price was low. Unfortunately, in most cases they have been fleeced. An honest Technician will not stay in a shop that plays these games. An auto shop owner that plays these games with the public tends to play these same games with the employees and they don't like it! So these shops usually end up settling for entry level Technicians who are ignorant of these practices or Technicians who don't mind the games because they are dishonest themselves. Bait them with a low price, set the hook with slick sales scripts then switch them over to the higher dollar job you knew they needed in the first place. Of course it is just fine to advertise a low price special if the vast majority of customers have a final invoice for that job at the advertised price. But advertising a price for a product or service as a way of getting people in the door for a different product or service at a higher price or profit margin is the very definition of "bait and switch". It is also deceptive to advertise a price for a partial job and make it sound like it is complete. This is an unethical and illegal tactic that many businesses have been in trouble for. Why people would frequent an establishment that practices this kind of unethical behavior is beyond me. If a business displays deceptive behavior in their advertising you can probably count on deceptive behavior when doing business with them or working for them.

For More Information Contact:

Anoka Auto Care
306 West Main Street
Anoka, MN 55303
Tel: 763-422-4120
FAX: 763-422-9600
Internet: repaircar@cs.com