NY state inspection is like a "license to kill" for auto shop to rip off (scam) customers.
First of all, I am the type of guys who do a lot of maintenance work with my car (s). So I know what jobs are reasonable and what are not reasonable.
Example #1,
Last year, I brought in a car for inspection. They called me over the phone and told me they could NOT pass the emission. They told me they needed to do fuel injection tuneup and couple other things. I told them to hold on and I was going over to the shop!
By the time I got to the shop, they already renewed my sticker. When I asked them what happened, they told me. "Oh, it was REALLY difficult to pass the emission test. It took us three times and finally we passed the test. But I would still suggest you to do the fuel injection tune up... Etc".
When I looked at the emission test numbers, all 3 categories were way below the state limits. How would they have problem passing the test???
Imagine - if i authorized them over the phone to do the fuel injection tuneup. They would have done and charged me some work NOT necessary! My guess is, before they called me and told me my car needed fuel injection tuneup, they ALREADY passed the inspection, and had my sticker renewed! They just called me and hoped that I would say "okay, go ahead and do the work".
I think they are crooks!
Example #2
I just brought in another car recently for inspection. Again, they could not pass the emission test. This time they showed me one category failed.
And to pass the test, they told me they needed to do 8 things (total cost of $400).
I said NO WAY.
I paid the inspection fees and left!
Next day, I took the car to Firestone. Again, they could not pass the same category for emission. They did a fuel injection tuneup for $60. And passed the test right away.
Here we go...
$60 work from Firestone vs. $400 work from PepBoys.
Honestly, I'll NEVER go back to PepBoys for inspection.
These are just 2 examples. I have 3 cars. So every year I have to deal with 3 painful experiences with Inspection...
M.F.
Long Island, New York
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