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Mechanic rips in after young Aussie scammed twice: 'How do you sleep at night?'

Kristen Knock has revealed the ways you can avoid being ripped off when getting your car checked.

Stewart Perrie
·Senior Journalist
·5-min read
Mechanic Kristen Knock next to Alice Bleathman speaking in the car
Mechanic Kristen Knock has hit out at her industry colleagues after a woman was scammed twice by repairmen. (Source: Supplied/TikTok)

A mechanic has ripped into her industry colleagues after an Aussie woman complained about being scammed twice. Alice Bleathman needed help fixing her van while she was travelling around the country.

However, after contacting two separate repairmen to get the job done, her vehicle was still broken and she was down hundreds of dollars. It's a situation New South Wales mechanic Kristen Knock hears about all the time and she's sick of it.

"I don't know how they sleep at night," she told Yahoo Finance. "They've got parents, mothers, sisters, daughters. How can they scam someone like that and be okay?"

'It sucks being a woman' - Aussie's devastating story

Bleathman turned to social media to vent about being "taken for a ride" by not one but two mechanics in quick succession.

The Sydney-based influencer said it felt like she was scammed just because she was a woman who wouldn't know anything about car mechanics.

"They do such a s**t job and then I have to go pay another person and it's so frustrating because you just feel like a f**king idiot," she said.

"I end up spending twice as much money because they don't do a good job, because they think I don't know any better, and it's just like, far out.

“This is the reality sometimes of being a female and asking for help."

Bleathman was flooded with comments from people who recounted similar stories of being grafted by tradies.

"I’m single & have the same problem. Two plumbers came, quoted $3,750 to fix a 'major' problem. Family friend’s mate is a plumber, he came checked it out, $375 to replace a faulty valve," said one woman.

"So frustrating! Same with me and getting quotes for our house renovation. I just know as soon as they hear my voice on my phone, that they are going to rip me off," wrote another.

"I'm in my 40s and I still get my dad to talk to them even though I used same mechanic for years," added a third.

Knock runs the Hilly's Westlake Auto Repairs in Lake Macquarie with her husband and explained to Yahoo Finance there are ways to avoid being ripped off:

  • Do your research: If you plan on taking your vehicle to a certain mechanic then check the business's Facebook page and Google reviews to see what other customers have said.

  • Get multiple quotes: Knock said you don't have to take your car to every single place when getting a quote, but you can ring around if you know what the issue is.

  • Ask this important question: Will this fix my car?

"I'd want to ensure that this is going to fix the problem," Knock said, referring to her last point. "Try to understand what the job is and what the outcome is going to be.

"If they're saying the car is surging and it needs new spike bonds, is that going to fix the problem, or are there going to be problems after this?"

Knock said this advice applies to everyone, not just women, and being armed with this knowledge can help reduce the likelihood of being scammed by a mechanic.

A mechanic with 10 years in the game revealed on an Aussie radio station this week that he would increase the price for his services if the customer was a woman.

“You do often get some women come in sometimes and you might put an extra 10 to 15 per cent on their charge," Nathan revealed on 101.9 The Fox Melbourne.

He said he has to be careful about the additional charge for women as “they might have a husband that knows their cars back-to-front”.

But Nathan said he'll usually whack on a higher rate for customers of all sexes if he thinks they don't know anything about cars.

“The best money maker ones are the sales reps who aren't paying for their repair, and they pass it on to the company," he explained. "That never gets followed up. They just pay the cash, they get reimbursed, and I put 20 to 30 per cent more onto the cost.”

The mechanic said he'll chuck a 40 to 50 per cent surcharge for high-flying corporate men who come in with expensive cars and no mechanical knowledge.

When asked if he felt bad that he was scamming unsuspecting customers, Nathan explained that's just the way the cookie crumbles in his industry.

"It's industry wide. It's part of the industry, unfortunately," he said. “I didn’t agree with it when I was an apprentice, but now I’ve got my own business and cost of living, cost of rent, cost of factories, you have to do it. You can’t get by otherwise.”

But Knock had a message for mechanics like Nathan.

"While you may get that customer for that day and you may get that quick $1,000... they are going to talk to other people and realise what you did to them," she told Yahoo Finance.

"You're never going to get a repeat customer from that. They're never going to come back.

"You may have got that $1,000, but you're potentially losing thousands by other people not coming in. So therefore your business suffers. Your reputation suffers. And I don't understand how you can sleep at night knowing you just did that to potentially vulnerable people."

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