Auto technicians come in three basic categories:

• Honest
• Honest but incompetent
• Dishonest

Let's look at the third category first, dishonesty. There are actually three categories of technicians within this heading.

One group will sell you major repairs any time they can because they think it's necessary. Once they have had time actually to check out the vehicle they find that a minor job is all it will need.

Rather than face the embarrassment of having to explain to the customer that their original diagnosis was wrong, the mechanic will do the major repairs anyway. This eliminates being accused of charging for work that wasn't done.

The second technician, having checked out the vehicle first before voicing an opinion, knows it only needs minor repair.

However, the mechanic will give an estimate on a major repair instead. If the customer believes the story then the garage will go ahead and do the (unnecessary) major repair.

The third technician always tries to give an estimate for major repairs and most times has no intention of doing exactly that.

He/she accomplishes this by an old garage anecdote "Bull s**t baffles brains". This is accomplished by doing a minor job yet cleaning and possibly painting or polishing other parts to give the impression they have had work performed on them.

Coming up in the next article - Honest, but incompetent.

Article by "Dr" John Booth, the CHML Radio Car Doctor www.womensgarage.com