Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry

2751 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ethics in automotive industry

Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry

“Another memorable encounter took place in San Antonio, when I pulled into a transmission repair shop. The owner test-drove the Olds with me in the pasenger seat. As we climbed a hill, the car seemed to be straining. I looked down and noted that he had one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. ‘boy, it ain't got no power at all in second gear,’ he said. ‘It's real obvious the clutches are burnt.’ His solution: rebuild the transmission for $395 to $495, ‘depending on if I can save the torque converter.’ ” –totse.com

A small example of the kind of things mechanics will try to do to turn a profit and swindle customers. This is just one of many stories of repair scams.

The automotive industry is a legendary ethical battlefield, with mechanics and repairs shops known to try to make an extra buck or two by selling customers parts they don’t know they don’t need and overcharging them for it, and wary customers trying to balance their budget, it goes back and forth. In the end however the winner is usually the mechanic. This ethical quagmire brings us to the very roots of ethical decision making.

Why is it so easy to cheat the customers in the automotive repair industry? The car is a complex machine and most people don’t even know the basics of how it works and so they can easily be taken advantage of. Although, because this is such a common occurrence people are wary of it, however, it is still very hard to determine when you are being cheated or not.

During the summer last year I worked in an auto repair garage. I was not doing the complicated repairs by any means, I did more apprentice type work, helping the mechanics to do their jobs and some simple basic jobs on my o...

... middle of paper ...

...isions when a customer walks through the door.

Works Cited

“Auto Repair Scams: An Investigation” totse.com . Online. 1 Mar. 2003.

http://www.totse.com/en/bad_ideas/scams_and_rip_offs/autoscam.html.

Norman, Rich. “The Truth About the Auto Repair Industry” Ford Festiva. Online. (2001) Feb 28 2003. http://www.fordfestiva.com/service/repairshops2.htm.

“Auto Repair Secrets” CarInfo.com. Online. (2001). Technews Corp. 1 Mar 2003. http://www.carinfo.com/repair2.html.

Honeycut, Earl D.; Glassman, Myron; Zugelder, Michael T.; and Karande, Kiram “Determinates of Ethical Behavior: A Study of Autosales People.” Journal of Business Ethics. 1.32 (July 2001) : 69-74.

Eskeldson, Mark. What Auto Mechanics Don’t Want You to Know. New York: McGraw Hill. 1999.

“How Car Engines Work” How Stuff Works.com. Online. 1Mar2003. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine.htm

Show More
Related

  • Why Toolbox Manufacturers Charge High Interest Rates and Mechanics Pay Them

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    We have all been there. We walk into the garage of our mechanic’s shop, taking a quick glance; we see the huge elaborate toolboxes that each mechanic owns. Most of them are from Mac, Matco or Snap-On. Unless you work in the tool industry most people do not realize what the real cost of each of these boxes is.

    Read More

  • The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of New York City

    500 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.

    Read More

  • The Shadetree Mechanics vs Professional Repair

    991 Words  | 2 Pages

    There will come a time when the car a person owns will need some necessary maintenance, or something breaks and has to be replaced. Labor rates for auto repairs have skyrocketed, with rates averaging from $100-$138 an hour. (Roth, 2011) If a repair is complex enough, that hourly rate may not be a factor, but with some repairs, a person may find that the labor costs are a lot more expensive than the part that is being replaced. I...

    Read More

  • Essay On The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire most of all impacted all forms of industry, and changed the way workers worked. Along with the legislations that impacted women and children, laws also centered on the safety and well being of all workers. One of the main reforms and changes came through the formation of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, or the FIC: a legislative body that investigated the manufacturers for various infractions. They were based on protecting the workers: both their rights and their lives. The FIC investigated countless factories and “enacted eight laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation.” The FIC was highly focused on the health and safety of industrial workers, making reports and legislation that focused on “fire safety, building construction, machine guarding, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other topics” and on specific industries like “chemicals, lead trades, metal trades, printing shops, sweatshops and mercantile establishments.” Thirteen out of seventeen of the bills submitted by the FIC became laws, and “included measures requiring better fire safety efforts, more adequate factory ventilation, improved sanitation and machine guarding, safe operation of elevators” and other legislations focused for specific establishments.” Fire safety and new fire codes such as “mandate emergency exits, sprinkler systems, and maximum-occupancy laws,” such as the Fire Prevention Act of 1911, were put into place to limit the likelihood that another fire like the one at Triangle would occur, or be as drastic and deathly. Other organizations like the Joint Board of Sanitary Control “set and maintain standards of sanitation in the workplace,” as well as actually enforcing these stand...

    Read More

  • Auto Body Technician

    680 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the company, you are likely to find all kind of vehicles, which require specific attendance therefore an expectation of expertise. In most of these companies, the technicians work as a team hence fast accomplishment of tasks. Since there is so much to do in a professional auto repair company, you will mostly find different working tools some of which are manual while others electrical machines to enable efficiency. In some advanced companies, skills like automotive painting takes place, which is an added advantage to the company since most clients, are likely to consider. Additional tasks that take place in an auto repair company could be treating rusted metal and replacing metals that cannot be

    Read More

  • Out of This Furnace and Triangle the Fight for Progressive Reform

    1552 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Triangle based on the Triangle Waist Company Factory fire that took place on March 21, 1911 in New York City. Unlike Out of This Furnace the Triangle a true story that focus on the work condition of female immigrant workers who worked in a sweat-house in unsafe condition. At the time of the fire, this started on the eighth floor of the building. The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company locked all the exit doors to assure that the worker may not leave or enter the factory ...

    Read More

  • Strengths And Weaknesses Of Albert Carr's Position In Is Business Bluffing Ethical?

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being ethical or not? Always doing the right thing? These are all questions and thoughts, which arise in a business on a daily basis. However, I personally feel that the answer lies within us. If we choose when to be ethical, and when not to be, does it actually make us a good person? Albert Carr discusses some of key aspects of his theory in the article “If Business Bluffing

    Read More

  • Ford Pinto Ethical Ethics

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    When we consider the case of the Ford Pinto, and its relative controversy, through the varied scope of ethical viewpoints, the results might surprise us. From a personal standpoint, as a consumer, the idea of selling a vehicle to the masses with such a potentially devastating flaw is completely unethical. When we consider the case from other directions and other ethical viewpoints, however, it makes it clear that often ethics are a matter of perspective and philosophy. It’s also clear that there are cases where more information will muddy the waters, rather than clear them.

    Read More

  • Accounting profit and True Profit

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...urvey of ethical behavior in the accounting profession. Journal of Accounting Research, 9 (2), pp. 287-306.

    Read More

  • Ethics in Aerospace

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    The aerospace industry is fairly new in our day in age. It has been recorded in history that the first flight ever by man took place in Kitty Hawk, NC roughly 100 years ago. Since that first model, drastic improvements have been made in aerospace technology. Aerospace has evolved from simple prop planes to sound barrier breaking jets and even to space shuttles. The very definition of aerospace in the adjective or active form is “of or relating to aerospace, to vehicles used in aerospace or the manufacture of such vehicles, or to travel in aerospace.” In general, aerospace deals with any dynamic manufactured vehicle that travels above the surface of the earth. This, as you might expect, leaves two possibilities, the atmosphere or our earth, and outer space. Such basic examples of aerospace vehicles are Cessna planes, Black Hawk helicopters, Goodyear blimps and the Columbia Space Shuttle. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, aerospace has and will continue to be an integrated part of our society.

    Read More

  • Nike and Its Ethical Behavior

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

    Read More

  • Performing Basic Car Maintenance

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    Millions of people own and drive cars, but many of those people go through their whole lives not knowing anything about how to fix or notice the minor details of their cars. Every now and then they shell out hundreds, or even thousands of dollars to take their cars to get fixed for small things. If they were to able to take a little of their time and much less money, they could easily take care of some things themselves. A few of these problems include the following: the charging system, oil changes, and fluid levels.

    Read More

  • Toyota's Ethical Issues

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    Toyota issues in automotive industry resulted from a lack of moral and ethical obligations to loyal customers. In fact, people encounter ethics at one time or another. A business expectation is to act in manner upholding society values. According to authors Trevino and Nelson, (2004) states, “a set of moral principals or values, or the principals, norm, and standards of conduct governing a group or individual.” On the other hand, three ethical criteria determined in this discussion like obligation, moral ideas, and consequences which this article highlights an ethical dilemma with automobiles makers.

    Read More

  • Views on Corporate Social Responsibility

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2011). Moral Issues in Business (Eleventh ed., pp. 230-244).

    Read More

  • The Automobile Industry: The Development Of The American Auto Industry

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    The development of the American Auto Industry took place over many, many years, starting with Mr. Henry Ford building the first car in 1896. The industry has evolved, to what it is today and represents approximately 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). According to the Bureau of Labour and Statistics, ‘the automotive industry includes industries associated with the production, wholesaling, retailing & maintenance of motor vehicles’. These industries are industries that have a tremendous impact on the U.S economy and can be directly impacted by changes in U.S. production and sales of motor vehicles.

    Read More

More about Ethics in the Automotive Repair Industry

Open Document