Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry

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Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry

“Another memorable encounter took place in San Antonio, when I pulled into a transmission repair shop. The owner test-drove the Olds with me in the pasenger seat. As we climbed a hill, the car seemed to be straining. I looked down and noted that he had one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. ‘boy, it ain't got no power at all in second gear,’ he said. ‘It's real obvious the clutches are burnt.’ His solution: rebuild the transmission for $395 to $495, ‘depending on if I can save the torque converter.’ ” –totse.com

A small example of the kind of things mechanics will try to do to turn a profit and swindle customers. This is just one of many stories of repair scams.

The automotive industry is a legendary ethical battlefield, with mechanics and repairs shops known to try to make an extra buck or two by selling customers parts they don’t know they don’t need and overcharging them for it, and wary customers trying to balance their budget, it goes back and forth. In the end however the winner is usually the mechanic. This ethical quagmire brings us to the very roots of ethical decision making.

Why is it so easy to cheat the customers in the automotive repair industry? The car is a complex machine and most people don’t even know the basics of how it works and so they can easily be taken advantage of. Although, because this is such a common occurrence people are wary of it, however, it is still very hard to determine when you are being cheated or not.

During the summer last year I worked in an auto repair garage. I was not doing the complicated repairs by any means, I did more apprentice type work, helping the mechanics to do their jobs and some simple basic jobs on my o...

... middle of paper ...

...isions when a customer walks through the door.

Works Cited

“Auto Repair Scams: An Investigation” totse.com . Online. 1 Mar. 2003.

http://www.totse.com/en/bad_ideas/scams_and_rip_offs/autoscam.html.

Norman, Rich. “The Truth About the Auto Repair Industry” Ford Festiva. Online. (2001) Feb 28 2003. http://www.fordfestiva.com/service/repairshops2.htm.

“Auto Repair Secrets” CarInfo.com. Online. (2001). Technews Corp. 1 Mar 2003. http://www.carinfo.com/repair2.html.

Honeycut, Earl D.; Glassman, Myron; Zugelder, Michael T.; and Karande, Kiram “Determinates of Ethical Behavior: A Study of Autosales People.” Journal of Business Ethics. 1.32 (July 2001) : 69-74.

Eskeldson, Mark. What Auto Mechanics Don’t Want You to Know. New York: McGraw Hill. 1999.

“How Car Engines Work” How Stuff Works.com. Online. 1Mar2003. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm

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