My car was missing, so dropped it into mechanic to be checked. He fixed the problem and I was also charged $50 petrol money for the test drive he did in it, to make sure all was OK. He didn't keep a receipt for the gas and I don't notice the needle any higher. They won't give me the car back until I pay in full. I think I had about a half tank of gas when I dropped it off. My question is, am I being screwed, because it sure feels like it!
gman35,
Aug 10, 7:36pm
$50 seems a large amount to put in even if you did take it in dead low , $20 should have been tops unless he asked you first , and him not keeping a receipt to show you at least is crazy.
thunderbolt,
Aug 10, 7:36pm
Was it a 250 km test drive!
gooddealz2,
Aug 10, 7:38pm
I'd say the answer to your question is YES. They could have put $10 in it. For goodness sake how far did he have to drive it!
gunhand,
Aug 10, 7:41pm
Do you know what the KMs were at when you took it in!And the $50 prob went in his car at lunch time. Unless theres a part of the story missing I would want my money back and some. What test drive uses $50.Are you sure you had half a tank! even so %50 is over the top.
trogedon,
Aug 10, 7:59pm
The AA had a feature on (not very good) backyard mechanics who had customers. One charged the customer for 40 litres of petrol "for cleaning purposes" !
msj23,
Aug 10, 8:06pm
Are you serious! Did you take it to a backyard mechanic cos no authorised mechanic would do that and expect to get away with it unless they explicitly told you they were going to charge you in the first place
supernova2,
Aug 10, 8:10pm
No receipt = no pay.Demand the car back, if not released call the cops.Either Fraud or theft.
jason18,
Aug 10, 8:25pm
Yeah Need a reciept or he needs to show his eftpos bank account for $50
curlcrown,
Aug 10, 8:32pm
I have had cars with a miss that do not miss untill 30km or more have been covered non stop. Insuring such a miss is fixed can be very time consuming and use a lot of petrol.
johnf_456,
Aug 10, 8:32pm
I would demand proof, other wise use the spare key.
msigg,
Aug 10, 8:39pm
Well your going to pay for it either way, as petrol or on the bill, save the hassel pay it and maybe next time take it to anoyther garage. May be he dumped the old shit out.
johnf_456,
Aug 10, 10:58pm
Either way he should provide proof
mugenb20b,
Aug 10, 10:59pm
Spare key will do SFA if the vehicle is locked inside the workshop.
johnf_456,
Aug 10, 11:02pm
Never said anything about a locked workshop, most cars end up outside to make room to work on other cars. Anyone can make up lies and say they did this and this.
bellky,
Aug 10, 11:06pm
Haha, yes.
kazbanz,
Aug 10, 11:11pm
Hang on a minute OP on the face of it $50 gas is say 18l of fuel Imediately I think ripoff. Then I thought about it.IF the mechanic drained the tank of contaminated fuel having established that this was in fact the cause of the problem.(you had a missfire) then it would be common sense to put say 15-20l of clean fuel in the tank along with a bit of meths to pick up the last of the water. Not saying this is the case but it is a logical possible cause of a missfire this time of year
jmma,
Aug 10, 11:15pm
Part of the story missing! Yes, what did he do to fix the miss!
austingtir,
Aug 11, 12:30am
If you want to be all anal about $50 of gas you have to be anal about the details so you need to know the km's the vehicle taveled before you took it to him.Also you need to know his side of the story before you go around jumping to conclusions.What was the overall total of the bill!And what other parts and labour did that amount to if any!
nzdoug,
Aug 11, 12:36am
He may have billed for his time on top of the gas.
beblowin,
Aug 11, 12:54am
why did he put gas in the car when it had gas in it !
jason18,
Aug 11, 1:11am
Check out post #17 it does actually make sense
cubasesx,
Aug 11, 2:04am
People just want there car's fixed for free these days. An intermittant or hard to diagnose miss fire could easily soak up a fair bit of fuel. Wouldn't be surprised if he wrote some time of and thought he was doing good by filling your car back up to save you the inconvenience.
beblowin,
Aug 11, 2:19am
no mention ofyear, car or engine either from OP, and it was fixed but OP didnot disclose what the mechanic found ! something stinks.
noswalg,
Aug 11, 2:31am
Yes, I do want my car fixed for free. Do you know of anywhere!
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