How to tell if a mechanic actually replaced a part
Auto repair shops sometimes charge for parts they never installed or fake fake problems to upsell unnecessary work. This leaves drivers paying for labor and components they did not receive and makes it impossible to trust whether routine service was actually done.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Pulling and inspecting filters or parts personally
- 2Doing simple servicing by oneself
- 3Not trusting shops or dealerships anymore
- 4Fixing the issue oneself
- 5Taking the vehicle to a different shop for a second opinion
- 6Testing the mechanic with a staged setup
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Supposedly both filters were changed last month at an independent shop when I had my car in for an ac compressor replacement. Today, I had my oil changed at a different shop and they told me both filters needed replacement, so I declined and pulled the cabin filter out myself..”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Are these marks and leftover parts normal after a brake job?
- 13Are aftermarket auto parts safe and reliable to use?
- 10Are new brake pads with a chipped corner safe to use?
- 4Finding a mechanic to rebuild struts instead of quick struts
- 13Why is my truck shaking and popping after replacing wheel hubs?
- 3Cracked engine head while torquing oil pressure sensor