What is upselling? Let’s say you visit a franchised oil change place, cool your heels in the waiting room for 15 minutes with the dogeared car magazines, only to have the technician come out shaking his head and holding a blackened component. “This is your air filter,” they say. 

Of course, new air filters get dirty quickly after they’re installed (especially if you go off-road), so visible filth is not truly proof positive that a new unit is needed. But most consumers will opt to replace the filter for an additional charge, so the shop makes more money. It’s usually company policy to upsell, though maybe not in writing.

But auto franchises can be somewhat blatant about the upsell. Consider, It’s Never Just an Oil Change: How to Upsell Your Auto Repair Services, a how-to from ARI (Automotive Repair Invoicing), a company that develops and sells invoicing and accounting software to automotive repair shops. 

The story asks, “How many times has a client come to you for ‘just’ an oil change, but you realized that their car also needs a new air filter, maybe a brake fluid top-up, or transmission fluid, engine coolant, etc. That’s a perfect opportunity for you to upsell these auto repair services, but it could be a bit cheesy when you do it straight in front of the client. A recent survey showed that more than 67 percent of vehicle owners believe their mechanics are overselling them.” 

The solution, the site says, is to create a category of “recommended services” on the estimate. 

Sometimes you really do need a new air filter (after 15,000 to 60,000 miles), and topping up the brake fluid is a good idea when needed. But consumers can and do pay for services they don’t need. And that perception is certainly there. It got bad enough that in 2012 Jiffy Lube ran a TV commercial that intoned, “Some mechanics are just determined to find something to repair.” 

It’s no surprise that, according to a 2021 study by marketing firm Upswell, “Only 34 percent of consumers are always satisfied with their auto service provider.”

You can’t entirely rid yourself of upselling victimization, but here are some tips for making sure it has a minimal impact:

When you first talk to the service advisor, they’re going to say something along the lines of, “We’d like to give your car a thorough going over to make sure it’s roadworthy.” Rehearse your reply, “No, thank you. I just want the oil change.” 

Suppose the guy in overalls comes out and says, “Well, you’re down to 50 percent of useful life on that fan belt. If it breaks, it can be disastrous. Should we replace it?” The answer is most likely no. According to Firestone Auto Care, a serpentine belt is good for 60,000 to 100,000 miles. So if it’s at 50% it has at least another 20,000 miles to do its job. 

In the old days, your antifreeze life was much shorter, but today it’s good for five years or 100,000 miles for an extended drain coolant (orange) and 30,000 miles for a silicated coolant (green). So most of the time, you can duck when the mechanic says, “Your coolant hasn’t been changed in a while, and it may not be doing its job.” If your car overheats frequently or you smell coolant, it’s definitely time for attention. If you just need a top-off, it’s easy to do it yourself. 

This is a minefield for the consumer. The adviser can ask to do a) a brake fluid top-off; b) brake bleeding; or c) a brake flush, i.e., all new fluid. Again, today’s fluids have improved quite a lot. It’s best to keep track of when your brake fluid was last changed, because it’s a full three years before it needs to be done again. 

You can probably do a top-off yourself brake fluid from an auto parts store and a paper funnel, just be sure to keep brake fluid off of yourself and your paint. 

They may just want to rotate your tires, or tell you that your rubber is “dangerous to drive on.” A rule of thumb is that tires are safe if they have three to four 32nds of tread left. An easy way to check this is to stick a Lincoln penny into the tread, head first. If the President’s head disappears, you’re good. 

However, if the top of his head is always visible on several treads it’s time for a replacement. If you’re at a tire shop and they want to replace your flat with a new tire, make sure the old one can’t be saved with a simple puncture repair. 

The humble spark plug once needed frequent changes as part of a tuneup. Mechanics sometimes rely on you operating on old rules. So if they come out waving a dirty plug, you may go along with a replacement. Spark plug life varies by manufacturer and vehicle (particularly in vehicles over 20 years old) but on many modern vehicles, they should be good for 100,000 miles or more. Conceivably, you may never need to replace plugs during your ownership. 

Since the great majority of cars on the road have automatic transmissions, a fluid replacement is somewhere in your future. But maybe not today, when the service advisor is waving the dipstick in your face. This is another liquid to track—your owner’s manual will tell you exactly how far you can travel on it. The recommended lifetime for automatic transmission fluid is 60,000 to 100,000 miles. If you have a manual, the life is shorter—30,000 to 60,000 miles. 

We’ve heard of all kinds of scams. Unscrupulous mechanics spray oil on your shocks and then “show” you the damage. They charge for resetting the “check engine” light, or use the excuse that it’s on for performing unnecessary work. They drag out repairs to get more billable hours, or do a repair you didn’t authorize. Or they even bill you for stuff they just plain didn’t do. It’s a mean old world out there, but these tips can help you face it. There are also some tools you can arm yourself with at home, like an OBD-II scanner. These are the same units mechanics use to diagnose those mysterious check engine light appearances. Forewarned is forearmed. 

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