Fearmongering is a sales technique used by some shops, and sadly, as it is so often associated with dishonest recommendations gives the auto service industry a bad reputation.
We recently had a client who brought her vehicle to us for a second opinion about some brake work that she was told was absolutely, immediately required and “must be done today or her car would be dangerous to drive”. We inspected her brakes (several days later) and found that the rear brake pads still had 4 millimeters remaining which is a far cry from needing immediate replacement. Yes they were nearly worn out but not dangerous. Through using this technique this shop not only destroyed their credibility but tarnished the reputation of the auto service industry.
We advised our client that based on her driving habits her brakes would be perfectly safe for at least 3 to 6 more months. Four months had passed and we replaced her rear pads and rotors. She had driven 11,000 kilometers and those brake pads that were supposedly unsafe still had 3 millimeters remaining. Three millimeters is worn out but still not unsafe.
There are times when we find something on a car that is unsafe and requires immediate repairs but this is rare. In this sort of case we can show you the concern while the car is on the hoist or if this is not possible send a video or photo via e-mail. We always educate our clients on what is good and what is worn or requiring servicing on their vehicle and let them choose when to repair it.
Getting back to the fearmongering shop, a better, and more honest approach would be to advise the client that their brakes are almost worn out and instead of falsely creating fear and attempting to sell work this shop could have built trust through honesty and waited for a few months to do the service.
