Auto Repair - How Much Fraud is There Really?

We received an inquiry from a reporter recently with one simple question - how much fraud is there? We thougt we'd share our response here as well...

"You ask a great question. RepairTrust studies show that 98% of all car repair shops are charging excessively in one form or another. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that automotive service consumers are scammed tens of billions of dollars every year. And repair shops—dealerships, local shops, and franchises—are repeatedly at the top of consumer complaint lists every year.

RepairTrust Consumer Surveys indicate the following...

• 86% of repair customers stated car repair prices are either too high or outrageous
• 78% of car repair customers suspect that they pay too much for car repair
• 70% are concerned about getting overcharged for car repair
• 40% stated that they knew they were overcharged for car repair
• 73% want a resource to determine fair car repair prices
• 78% want information that will help them avoid car repair scams
• 69% want information that would allow them to advocate for themselves
• 62% want information that will help lower car repair costs

It's important to note that there are three broad areas of car repair fraud:

Consumer Fraud - this is probably the area that you're looking to investigate, and the area with which most are familiar

Warranty Fraud - very few realize the millions stolen from the vehicle manufacture by their dealer partner

Dealer Fraud - In-house fraud, or one department stealing from another (e.g., a service department billing fraudulent repairs to a sales department)

The information that we've collected from the auto repair industry is massive... I would encourage folks to review the following FREE articles at the Master Article List below...