Thieving Mechanics

There is a joke that was used in comedy skits back when I was in camp.
(I'll be nice and leave out the ethnicity of those portrayed in this skit)
"We have good news & bad news, the good news is today we all change our underwear.
the bad news is: you change with him, he changes with him etc."


Earlier today I noticed that my car is passed due for an oil change. As I was contemplating where to bring it for the oil change I remembered the last time i took my car for an oil change in Brooklyn...

There's this mechanic shop (I can't remember the name) that would put cards under my windshield wipers approximately every 3 days advertising super low rates for various check-ups & maintenance. I've been wanting to try the $6.99 oil change for a while, but i figured it has to be some kind of scam, it's too good to be true.
eventually I decided to try it out, I figured I'll just be very wary, keep my guard up and hopefully I'll figure out the catch or scam before it's too late. I figured i can always go elsewhere if I don't like what they tell me.

Early the next morning I pulled into the garage and told the guy I wanted an oil change. "Alright" he tells me, "that will be $16.99" so i showed him the coupon and asked for that rate. he told me if I want that it's fine, but for that rate i get some super-cheap generic brand of oil, if I want the good stuff i need to pay more.

So I'm thinking "Aha, so that's the scam, the classic 'bait & switch' they just publish the low rate to get you in the door then try to sell you a more expensive product" so i figured I'm already there i might as well get it done there, I wasn't interested in shlepping elsewhere. I opted for the more expensive option & the mechanic went to the back room and got the bottles of Mobil oil.

I didn't particularly trust these guys, so I stuck around watching the guy change the oil. I started getting really bored and decided to read the label on the bottle of oil. Immediately I realized that something is not quite right, I thought it was pretty strange that a new bottle of oil should be so dirty and oily. Then i noticed that the seal was broken, the Bottle had been opened previously! So It's not just a bait & switch...

I didn't say anything yet, I decided to wait and see what he would do. He finished with draining the oil and changing the filter and prepared to refill my oil, he reached down, took a bottle of oil and was about to start pouring. "You know what?" I told him, "I would feel a lot more comfortable if you used an unopened bottle of oil for that" the guy didn't even bat an eyelash, I doubt he would've blushed if he could have (he was a really dark Jamaican). he simply took away the old bottles of oil without saying a word and came back with new bottles which he gave me to inspect before using.

I can only hope that they had refilled the bottle with the cheap generic oil. I sure hope they weren't about to fill up my car with the oil from the last guy who came for an oil change. I really hope the next sucker that came in didn't get my oil.

If I'm not mistaken "honest mechanic" is on the list of top 10 oxymorons.

So now I need to figure out where to take my car for an oil change. I was considering just changing the oil myself, but than I read this thing about how to change your oil and i changed my mind.

I guess it's off to Jiffy Lube...

to be continued...