Weird scam?

[slackerinabox]

This has happened to me 4 times already so I'm wondering what's up. My car has a pretty big dent on the left side - a cab smashed into me but we were equally at blame so we just shook on it and I'm living with the dent... So, yeah, I drive around town with the dent and on four occassions guys come up to me and offer to pull the dents out of my car and sand /prime everything for next to nothing ($200 or so compared to the $1500 quote I got at a repair shop). I offered to get their numbers but they all insist that they're on the job so will only have the tools that day. Kinda fishy if you ask me - is this a common con or what?

 

[GasX]

If they do the work before you pay them, it isn't a scam...

 

[Childs]

Its no scam. I used to get this all the time when I drove a Saab that bad bad dents. They just fix it on the spot and you give them some cash.

 

[badmouse]

You won't get a reciept .

We've used some of these guys. Sometimes the work is good, sometimes it isn't.

 

[slackerinabox]

But ... Umm, how come they can only work at that moment? No one has given me their number and some offer to follow me to an ATM to get the cash out - it all seemed very fishy.

 

[kami333]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212
But ... Umm, how come they can only work at that moment? No one has given me their number and some offer to follow me to an ATM to get the cash out - it all seemed very fishy.

They probably work for some garage, are out on call at some location to fix someone's dent, and have free time so they want to make some cash on the side without their employer finding out. Could be good or bad, you are getting a much cheaper price for the same/similar work you would get by calling a bodyshop and having them come out but you don't have any assurance of the quality of the work.

 

[db]

"...you don't have any assurance of the quality of the work."

 

[GRIFFIN1]

Offer them 25% of what they are asking.

 

[Looney]

It's not a scam. They fix it on the spot, so how the hell can it be a scam? And only certain dents they can fix... not ones with sharp punctures. Go to a mall parking lot on a weekend with some dents, and i'm sure one of these guys will pop up sooner or later.

 

[Zee]

it's not a scam... well it could be. But basically it's people who work at garages, are on personal time, and when they see dents and stuff in cars, they have the tools already needed to pull out the dents and fill in the spaces and kinda smooth it out. You still need to bring it to a garage and have them sand it and paint it.

Next time someone asks you... ask them for a demonstration. Most guys will pull out one dent for you. It's a bootleg job, but aesthetically... it gets the job done.

 

[Slacker]

If you were talking about paintless dent removal that would be one thing, but when a guy is going to do actual bodywork that is quite another, it is a scam, the scam is shoddy work that will end up costing you more than getting it done right the first time, they will drill and pull and use lots of filler, they wont be able to prep the surface properly so you will have issues with the filler cracking or falling out and rust will form behind it.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true.........................

 

[Slacker]

One link about this scam, its been around forever.

Bob,
I have dents on my car on every corner. I have been approached by people when I'm driving on the road with offers to fix it for a couple hundred bucks. Is this a scam or a good deal?
S.

S,
Generally it is a scam. They do bad pull jobs and fill it with body putty. It may look good when they are done, but it is guaranteed to not last very long. If you are keeping the car and want to get it fixed, then either learn to make the repairs yourself or send it to a body shop.

Good Luck!
Drive Safely!

Bob
The Auto Answer Man

 

[Slacker]

Heres another one

Not So Silly Putty

Before I say anything else, I will say that I'm normally a fairly intelligent, logical person, and yet I did something really stupid. My car had a bunch of dents in it and I'd been meaning to get the car fixed up so I could eventually sell it. It's five years old and otherwise a nice car with no problems.

Anyway, I'm driving along one day and am stopped at a light when two guys in a pickup truck called out to me something about there being something wrong with my car. I listened up because I thought maybe I had a flat or something; turns out they were offering to fix my car right then and there for an allegedly rock-bottom price.

Me being female, young, knowing nothing about cars, I was an easy target--and I knew that I could be seen that way--and yet I trusted that these morons knew how to fix my car, and I let them "fix" my car, thinking I was getting a good deal! I don't know how to explain what I was thinking.

They did get rid of the dents, and they put what they said was primer over them. They said all I needed to do was go get it painted, which, they said, wouldn't cost much. Well, today I went to get an estimate on the paint job and found out that these guys did a terrible job, that the primer they used is actually meant for houses and not for cars(!), and that it would actually cost more to undo the damage because now almost the whole car needs to be painted. AHHHH!!!!! I feel like such a fool.

Taken from a message board and sent in by Nick Lopez 12/23/01