The Road to Ripoff
Your vehicle breaks down on the interstate, far from home. The nearest mechanic says it's your fuel pump—$225. How can you make sure you get a repair and not a ripoff?
By David A. Fryxell
Interstate 25 shoots south from Albuquerque to Las Cruces like a gray ribbon fired from a gun, mostly straight and flat and bordered by a whole lot of nothin'. Once you clear the sprawl south of Albuquerque, except for a rest area or two and the comparative oases of Socorro and T or C, there's no place anybody would want to stop. Signs at the rest areas warn of snakes.
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Leon Brown's repair experience
with his 2001 GMC Sonoma was so painful he ended up selling it. |
It's a bad stretch to have car trouble. It's an especially bad place for your car to die if you're obviously not from around there and you couldn't find your fuel pump with both hands.
Just ask Leon Brown, a Silver City man who believes he was a victim of an auto-repair ripoff. After a breakdown on I-25, south of T or C, Brown maintains that the garage he turned to for help charged him $225 to replace his fuel pump—when all that was really wrong was a stuck gas gauge. He'd simply run out of gas. And when he finally got his vehicle home and another mechanic checked it, Brown was told that the fuel pump hadn't actually been replaced at all. The whole ordeal, Brown says, cost him nearly $750 out of pocket.
According to the New Mexico Attorney General's office, which lists the top 10 most common consumer complaints as of 2002, auto repairs were the second leading source of the 5,000 written complaints and 85,000 calls that year. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) of the Southland, which serves New Mexico and southwest Colorado, warns, "Less-than-honest mechanics frequently take advantage of automobile owners by performing one or more repair jobs that may not really need to be done. . . . Having service or repairs done on your car can be an experience ranging from bewildering to shocking. You may have no idea what the problem is if your car breaks down, and you may be apprehensive about having it repaired by a shop you know nothing about."
Most auto-repair shops, of course, are honest and can be counted on to do what's needed for your car—no more and no less. Justin Woolf, a consumer advocate in the attorney general's Consumer Protection Division in Albuquerque, says you can generally trust garages and dealer repair shops that depend on word of mouth and business from the community. When told of Brown's charges, Woolf takes a surprised beat—a quick audible intake of air. "Even at shops with the worst reputations, you don't see that sort of thing. That's pretty bold," he says, but adds, "The places where you do see that are those that get people in transit, where you get emergency breakdowns. Such places can tell right away if you understand your vehicle or not. You're kind of at their mercy."
That could well describe Leon Brown—who's the first to admit, "I'm not mechanically inclined"—last December 2, on the lonely highway seven miles south of the exit for Truth or Consequences and Williamsburg. He was returning home from a meeting in Santa Fe, southbound on I-25. Without warning, his 2001 GMC Sonoma was suddenly going nowhere fast; it was all Brown could do to pull it off to the side of the road. He checked the gas gauge, which still read almost full. But the Sonoma stubbornly refused to restart. So Brown propped open the hood and stood on the shoulder with his thumb out.
Here's the one point in his story where Leon Brown caught a break. What are the odds of a lone black man catching a ride in the fading December light on I-25? Much less of getting picked up by a guy going all the way to Silver City? But there came his Good Samaritan, and a few hours later Brown was home—albeit minus his mysteriously ailing pickup.
That was pretty much the last thing to go right for Brown and his 2001 GMC Sonoma. To be fair, according to the experts, as he tried to get his vehicle repaired, Brown did almost everything wrong from this point on. He didn't do any homework before heading back to get his pickup fixed. He picked the first garage he found, which wasn't certified by any of the leading automobile organizations. He didn't stick around while the repair was done (not that he would have known what he was seeing, anyway), or ask to see his old fuel pump (ditto). He paid cash.
In short, Brown trusted the strangers he turned to for help fixing his vehicle. In a similar circumstance, with a like lack of automotive knowledge, wouldn't you?
If your car becomes disabled along the road, the Better Business Bureau advises pulling off to the shoulder and out of the flow of traffic. "Tie a handkerchief," the BBS goes on, evidently thinking we still live in the halcyon days when a gentleman always carried a handkerchief, "to the door handle or antenna and turn on your warning flashers. If it's dark, put out road flares."
Next, if the problem is engine failure or something electrical—presuming you'd be auto-savvy enough to make this diagnosis—check the obvious causes: out of gas, loose battery cables or wires, a blown fuse. Consult your owner's manual.
Anti-Ripoff Tips Given the limited recourse available to auto-repair consumers who feel they've been ripped off, prevention may be your best defense. Justin Woolf of the state Consumer Protection Division shares these tips for smart auto-repair shopping: As soon as you get a new vehicle, start looking for where you'd take it to be repaired. Don't wait until you have a breakdown to find a reputable, reliable shop. Get recommendations from friends and others you trust. Understand how a repair shop prices its work: A flat rate? Hourly? What about warranties? Check for any complaint history with the attorney general's office—(800) 678-1508—and on the Better Business Bureau's Web site, www.bbsw.org. (Other Web sites you can try to find certified or approved shops include: AAA New Mexico, www.aaa-newmexico.com; Automotive Services Association Blue Seal, www.ase.com/bluesealsearch; and Motorist Assurance Program, www.motorist.org.) For major repairs, always get a second opinion. Go to a place such as Jiffy Lube that does diagnostic work only, which won't make any money off a repair. For a $1,000 repair, it's worth the $50-$75 investment to be sure. |
"If you have to be towed," the BBB goes on, "keep in mind that there are unscrupulous truck operators who monitor police radio calls, go to the scene of disabled cars, and make their money from kickbacks paid by repair dealers they recommend to the car owners. You may do better in both towing and the repair service if you use a dealer, or if you use an auto club for at least the towing."
To choose a reputable repair shop, the BBB suggests turning to "a full-service dealership that sells the make of your car. If you belong to an auto club, ask the local office for a recommendation." You can also check with the Better Business Bureau to see if a garage has a complaint history—a step that wouldn't have helped Brown, as the New Mexico BBB Web site (www.bbbsw.org) has no listings for auto repair in Truth or Consequences or Williamsburg, meaning no complaints.
You can also call the toll-free hotline for the Consumer Protection Division in the state attorney general's office, (800) 678-1508. Staff there will tell you if there have been any complaints against a garage—or any other consumer-related business—when and how many, and may be able to say generally what about (such as "overcharging" or "unsatisfactory work"). The repair shop where Brown wound up has had only one complaint filed against it, and that way back in 2000.
The Be Car Care Aware program (www.carcare.org) advises selecting a garage that's certified by any of several national organizations. But finding a certified repair shop along that stretch of I-25 isn't as simple as it sounds: The Automotive Service Association lists only one approved garage within 20 miles of T or C, C&K Automotive in Elephant Butte. The closest American Automobile Association-approved facility is in Las Cruces. Ditto for the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence's Blue Seal Program and the Motorist Assurance Program.
Once you've selected a garage, the BBB suggests, "Unless you know something about automotive repairs, it's best not to make a point of telling the mechanics about your ignorance. It's also best to stay with your car, if you can, during the repairs. If you are dealing with an unscrupulous shop, your presence may prevent the mechanic's pulling wires or pocketing something like a gas cap in order to sell you another, or charge for more services."
So was Leon Brown just a sucker, a ripoff waiting to happen—somebody who should have known better? Or are his charges the naïve and groundless claims of a guy who, by his own admission, knows little to nothing about cars?
Or could what happened to Brown on that luckless December day along I-25, have happened to anybody—to you, to me?
You decide.
Brown's pickup died on a Friday. He left it, locked, on the shoulder of southbound I-25, over the weekend. On Monday, December 5—the date's important, as you'll see—he borrowed a friend's car and headed back to the T or C / Williamsburg area to deal with his stranded Sonoma. Taking the first northbound exit after passing his vehicle, Brown stopped at the first garage he came to, Tech III Automotive.
At Tech III, he spoke to Yancy Franklin, who agreed to tow the Sonoma to the garage. Franklin even volunteered to waive the towing charge if Brown had the problem fixed there. Brown filled out the top half of what would later be his receipt, authorizing the repair, and signed at the bottom. Still a bit off-kilter from the whole ordeal, Brown dated the form "11/5/05"—when it was actually 12/5/05.
The next day, December 6, Brown called Tech III from Silver City and again spoke to Franklin, who told him the problem was the fuel pump. A replacement would cost about $100 and the total tab for the repair would be about $200, including two hours labor. Brown agreed and arranged to pick up the repaired truck the following day.
When it comes to things like estimated auto-repair costs, the state of New Mexico has gone to some lengths to guarantee "a level playing field" for consumers, according to Woolf of the Consumer Protection Division. State law spells out, for example, that a garage must provide a written estimate for any repair over $100. If a customer authorizes a repair over the phone, the shop must record the customer's name and phone number and exactly what was okayed, then follow up with a written estimate. Any warranties—or the absence of a warranty—included in the repair must be prominently posted in an area frequented by customers, as well as on the shop's receipts. Labor rates and how they're calculated must also be posted. If the shop finds something else wrong that will add more than 10 percent or $50 to the written estimate, it must again get the customer's OK.
On any invoice over $50, the garage must detail what work was performed, note any work that was "sublet" to another company, and disclose if any parts were used, reconditioned or salvaged; if not disclosed, for warranty purposes all parts are presumed new. (Although Tech III says it put a used fuel pump in Brown's pickup, its invoice says only "Fuel pump.")
When you come to pick up your repaired vehicle, the garage must have kept any old parts it replaced for your inspection—though it doesn't have to volunteer to show them to you. You can even keep these old parts, or take them to another mechanic for a second opinion. Once you've paid your bill and left, however, the garage can throw the parts away.
Woolf says it's always a good idea to ask to see your old parts, even at a garage you've used before that you trust. "Personally, I keep all my old parts," he says.
But would a mechanical novice like Brown even have known a fuel pump if he'd seen one? A good question, Woolf allows. Besides, he adds, mechanics who work for his office say that over the years they've seen unscrupulous shops that keep certain old parts around for show, just in case. "There's always a way to manipulate it," Woolf concedes.
Up to this point in the saga of Brown's 2001 Sonoma, both sides' stories pretty much concur. According to the receipt Brown was given, the cost for parts came to $125; two hours of labor, as promised, added $100—for a total of $225. The garage didn't want to take a check, so he went to an ATM and withdrew $225 in cash. "If you are not completely satisfied with the products and services received at this store, we urge you to return immediately and tell the store manager about it," it says in fine print at the bottom of the receipt, right above Brown's signature. "He wants to handle any problems in a prompt, professional manner. We're not satisfied until you're satisfied."
Brown stopped being satisfied when his pickup died—again—on the way home, not far from the I-10 turnoff to Hwy. 180 near Deming. He called Tech III right away and, Brown says, Franklin agreed to come get the once-again-stranded Sonoma. According to the mechanic's account, in a sworn written statement given to an Officer Hayes of the T or C police on April 3, Franklin said the 180-mile distance was too far, but that they'd fix it under the repair warranty if Brown brought the truck to them. "He was rude and real loud," Franklin added. "He said he was leaving the truck and he hang up on me." That was the last time he heard from Brown, the mechanic said, until after Brown complained to the Seventh Judicial District Attorney's office in T or C.
Brown's version of events is quite different. Expecting Tech III to come tow the pickup, "for the next three days, I called on numerous occasions to inquire about the status of the repairs. Not a single one of these numerous calls was answered, which I found disturbing and worrisome." On Friday night, December 9, a friend on his way to Albuquerque called Brown to tell him the Sonoma had not been towed—it was still on the roadside where he'd left it. So the next day, Brown rented a U-Haul trailer to bring the pickup to Silver City, to the service department at Mills Cooper Motors.
That's where the mystery of his stopping pickup was finally solved: The Sonoma had simply run out of gas, both on I-25 and on his aborted trip home from the repair shop. The gas gauge was stuck on almost full. As Brown now began to see the situation, Tech III had just put some gas in the pickup—though not enough to get him all the way back to Silver City—and sent him on his way, $225 poorer.
A letter from the Mills Cooper mechanic, Edward E. Gomez, confirms Brown's explanation of what was really wrong with his vehicle.
Whenever you're concerned about a repair you've had done, Woolf advises, it's a good idea to get a second opinion by taking the vehicle to another shop. "It's rare that a second opinion is untruthful," he adds.
The statement from Yancy Franklin, however, maintains that the garage told Brown "the gas gauge was not working right" but that "he did not care the gauge was working sometimes" and opted to have only the fuel pump fixed. A statement from William Varble, also of Tech III, backs up this version of events: "We noticed the fuel gauge was not working right and told him, he seemed not to care much, he left and I guess he got to Deming and ran out of gas."
Who's telling the truth? That's the trouble with trying to prove you've been the victim of an auto-repair ripoff—it often boils down to conflicting versions of the facts. To believe the Tech III mechanics, however, you have to believe that Leon Brown, a self-confessed "not mechanically inclined" vehicle owner, would tell them to fix his fuel pump but not his gas gauge, then drive off knowing his gas gauge was faulty, only to (not surprisingly) run dry near Deming.
Although not required by law, Woolf says it's standard practice for a garage to note in writing any repairs recommended to a customer but declined. "Shops want to document that for their own protection," he explains. Nowhere did Tech III note—at the time—anything about Brown's gas gauge.
To decide who's telling the truth, you also have to believe that Brown's fuel pump was really in need of repair in the first place—and that Tech III really replaced it. "We found a good used pump in Caballo, picked it up, Yancy lifted the bed up to replace the pump," according to Varble's account.
But Gomez, the Mills Cooper mechanic, concluded that's impossible: "Mr. Brown told me that the fuel pump had been recently changed on one of his trips. I then told Mr. Brown that I saw and found no signs that the fuel tank had been removed in order to access the fuel pump. Both mud and excessive debris was found on the bolts and the tank."
Once alerted at Mills Cooper, Brown took digital photos to prove that the fuel tank showed no sign of having recently been removed to get at the pump. He also photographed the front bumper, which Gomez told him had been damaged when Tech III towed the pickup. The mechanic told him, "I hate to see something like this. It makes all mechanics look bad."
To prove its version, Tech III later furnished investigators a receipt for "1 used fuel asst 2001 Chev S10 P.U. $75.00," purchased for cash from a Mike Downs in Caballo. The receipt is dated "11-4-05."
Although neither Officer Hayes nor the district attorney's office noticed it, that date is troubling. Recall that Brown's car first broke down on I-25 in December—not November, as he mistakenly wrote on the form. So how, exactly one month and a day earlier, did Tech III know he'd be needing a fuel pump? Or did whoever wrote out the fuel-pump receipt just happen to make the very same mistake in writing the month that Brown would make the next day?
Franklin's statement insists, "We worked on his truck 11-5-05. He said he pick the truck up 12-10-05. His big story does not make much sense. . . . I think he is a cheet [sic]."
But Brown has a letter from the state Historic Preservation Division confirming that the meeting he attended in Santa Fe, from which he was returning when his pickup died, took place on December 2. Gomez from Mills Cooper also says he inspected the pickup in December. The U-Haul receipt ($61.72) for the trailer to retrieve the stranded Sonoma from near Deming clearly says December 10, as does his receipt to gas up the rental vehicle ($23) and for an "emergency tow strap" ($20.34).
By this time, believing he'd been ripped off, what recourse did Brown have? Woolf of the Consumer Protection Division always advises consumers who think they have a problem to first go back to the merchant and try to work it out. Brown says his repeated calls to Tech III went unanswered and unreturned. (According to Franklin's account, however, he called Brown—not the other way around—after being contacted by the district attorney's office "to find out what [was] going on." Brown supposedly told the mechanic "that if I paid him a bunch of money," he would call off the investigation. Franklin says he refused and Brown hung up.)
Next, Woolf recommends consumers file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau—although he concedes the BBB "does not have a lot of teeth"—and with the state attorney general's office in Santa Fe. That office's Consumer Protection Division also has a satellite office in Albuquerque, and will open another in Las Cruces this fall. Simplest, though, is to fill out the form downloadable online at www.ago.state.nm.us/divs/cons/cons_form.htm.
The Consumer Protection Division seeks to be an advocate for consumers, Woolf emphasizes, and will try to mediate the dispute. If mediation fails, however, an aggrieved consumer has no real recourse but to take the merchant to court—in smaller communities, magistrate court—in a civil lawsuit.
Brown, however, sought justice through the office of District Attorney Clint Wellborn of the Seventh Judicial District, which encompasses Sierra, Catron, Socorro and Torrance counties. He drove to T or C—again—and met with Deputy District Attorney Eloy F. Martinez, who suggested that Brown send a letter with the details of his complaint. So Brown wrote Martinez a single-spaced, two-page letter on January 21, relating what had happened and including copies of receipts totaling $742.70. These costs included the original $225 plus towing and transport and a rental replacement while his bumper was worked on.
Despite what he initially interpreted as encouragement from the deputy DA, Brown soon stopped hearing from him. He spent the next four months calling Martinez' office, often several times a week.
Finally, in early April, Officer Hayes paid a visit to Tech III Automotive. Seven weeks later, on May 22, Deputy DA Martinez wrote Brown: "Unfortunately I have concluded that the matter is more representative of a civil cause of action than to be pursued as a criminal case through this office. Voluntary statements and documentation submitted by Mr. Franklin and Mr. Varble appear to negate the elements of criminal fraud."
Not surprisingly, Brown was outraged at what he terms, "to put it kindly, the total gross incompetence of the DA's office."
But Woolf of the Consumer Protection Division says Martinez actually went above and beyond in even having the case investigated. Woolf says he can't think of a single situation anywhere in the state in which an auto-repair ripoff has been prosecuted as a criminal case. "It's civil, not criminal," he says flatly, explaining, "It's very easy for a business to say, 'That's not the case. We did everything right.'"
The average New Mexico consumer might be surprised to learn that even if they can prove that a business defrauded them, it's highly unlikely that merchant would ever be prosecuted for a crime. Ultimately, your only recourse—as Brown learned after months of frustration—is to sue. Even then, getting satisfaction depends on a judge ferreting out the truth from a he said/he said conflict.
"On the one hand, I feel a little foolish," says the sadder-but-wiser Brown. "But I relied on them to provide me honest information about my truck, just as I relied on the DA's office to proceed much more professionally. That's like a double whammy."
He's since tried to move on. He sold the 2001 GMC Sonoma, which has too many painful memories. He brought his story and thick folder of documentation to Desert Exposure mostly in hopes of warning other auto-repair consumers.
Leon Brown shakes his head, almost as if trying to banish the memory of his truck suddenly coughing and dying on that December drive down the interstate. He says, "If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."
David A. Fryxell is editor of Desert Exposure.