Mechanic’s Tale: Flushing Redux

Mechanic’s Tale: The Flushing of America by Douglas Flint (4/17/2006)
Just a Nightline away from scandal.

Mechanic’s Tale: Junkyard Dogs by Douglas Flint (5/29/2006)
One of the most profitable businesses ever run out of a trailer.

More Mechanic’s Tales from Doug Flint  

I am still getting responses (and a surprising number of phone calls) from the “Flushing of America” piece that ran on April 17, 2006. Evidently it was picked up by AOL and run under a heading of something like “Mechanic Rip-Offs.” A title like that is bound to get the blood boiling, and it did. The categories of respondents went as follows.

The Over-the-Hill Gang rides again

The largest number, and the ones who went through the most trouble to contact me personally, were old-time professional mechanics who, by and large, agreed with me. They had seen the same changes in the industry I had. One who had been a top troubleshooter at a large tire chain had witnessed the arrival of the BIG FLUSH management team. Now every time a tire got plugged or an alignment was done, the hard-sell flush team went into action. The technician with the skill and tools to change a pinion bearing was no longer valued. It was the guy who could sell the most flushes, and no one much cared if he wasn’t capable of putting a set of brake pads on right. Get the numbers up and damn everything else.

The reason those of us in the industry and the consumers should be concerned is, if you reward something, you will get more of it, and if you don’t reward something, you will get less of it. The way things are going, a skilled mechanic capable of actually diagnosing and fixing something looks like a fool, while the kid in the bay next to him sells flushes all day long, stays clean, requires fewer tools, and makes more money. As a shop owner, should I purchase a $2500 tool to help solve troubling check-engine lights, which I may only use once a month, or the newest power-steering flush machine, which may not solve anything, but has a greater profit potential?

Never mess with another man’s rhubarb

The next group who contacted me was the BIG FLUSH gang itself, consisting of mechanics, shop personnel, and flush equipment vendors. I’d have to say that this group by and large doesn’t read very well. The flush machine vendors seemed surprised that I own several flush machines and use them. I never said I didn’t believe in changing or flushing fluids, I simply stated that the services were being dramatically oversold because, of course, now every shop has a full line of flush machines and they are going to be used.

In a sense, the flush machine manufacturers have started an arms race, selling weapons to all sides and acting shocked when the shooting starts. I have a customer with a Nissan Maxima. At 45,000 miles I decided it was time enough for a transmission service and did so. Several months later she was in the dealer on an unrelated recall and was told she needed a trans flush. She said no thanks and came back to me confused. In the bright sunlight of the parking lot I pulled the stick out and it was blood red — perfect.

I can only conclude that either the service advisor or the mechanic was operating on the “It hasn’t been flushed if I didn’t flush it” theory that now pervades an industry that has grasped desperately onto the flush to solve its profitability woes. Or maybe a boat payment was due. I don’t know.

I got a letter from a Dodge shop foreman castigating me for questioning the BIG FLUSH. He even volunteered that at 15,000 miles he sold differential services because the diffs on the Dodge trucks he serviced had significant amounts of ground-up clutch material in them sticking to the magnet. (By the way, it’s not clutch material if it’s sticking to the magnet — it’s metal from bushings or gear teeth.) At any rate, if it is affecting the longevity of the differential I would think it’s a warranty issue, but either Dodge doesn’t think so, or no one pays as well as the consumer.

Them that’ve been flushed

I also got numerous calls from weary consumers who have been flushed every which way but loose. The best way to protect yourself as a consumer, as I stated previously, is to stay with one shop. If you find yourself away from that shop getting an oil change and someone approaches you telling you that you need your brake fluid changed or your diff serviced, smile politely and say no thank you, then have your regular shop check. Be very wary of people looking where they have no business. You’re getting a tire plugged, and all of a sudden you need a trans service immediately. It may be true, but you would do well to get a second opinion.

The final plunge

I have written repeatedly on the profitability issue. Due to the best generation of cars ever (even the bad ones are pretty good), the repair business is sporadic, inconsistent, and less profitable than in days past. But flushing our way to profitability is a short-term solution that will hurt us all in the end. Perhaps we need to limit the number of “professionals” in our business. Try and open a funeral home in almost any state and you find trade organizations have made it near impossible. To do commercial heating and air conditioning in my state requires jumping through a myriad of hoops, taking several years to complete. But anyone can hang a shingle and go into auto repair.

And by the way, we’re not the only business in a profitability squeeze selling questionable services. My wife was at her ex-dentist’s office and was told by the dental technician that she needed a very painful and expensive procedure called scaling and root planing. My wife, who takes her teeth very seriously, was ready to have it done, but when the dentist discovered her insurance didn’t cover it, he declared that it was really not necessary, even though she said she’d find a way to pay out of pocket. I guess the dentist had an ethics code that allowed him to scam an insurance company but not an individual.

My dad had a similar experience with a doctor concerning a procedure that needed to be done “immediately.” When the doctor discovered my dad’s birthday had pushed him out of a generous health insurance plan into Medicare, it too became unnecessary.

No, we’re not the only industry seduced by the dark side. We’re just the only one I write about.

Doug Flint owns and operates Tune-Up Technology, a garage in Alexandria, Va.