Keep an open mind sorting out scams and honest mistakes

Dear Car Talk:

I recently moved to a new city and took my 2011 Subaru Forester to a local auto repair chain store for an oil change and a general going over.

They informed me that the pump motor for my windshield washer was not working, so I asked them to order the part. A few days later, it rained, and I discovered that the pump worked fine. I called the store, they apologized, said there must have been air in the line and canceled the order.

Does this sound legitimate, or did I stumble upon a place that may not be completely trustworthy? I chose them because of their convenient location and good online reviews. — Alice

This doesn’t strike me as an obvious scam, Alice. I mean, if you came in my shop, I’d try to hit you up for at least a transmission, not a piddly $39 dollar washer pump.

Actually, there are a few reasons I don’t think these guys are necessarily bad actors. First, it’s such an easy thing to verify. If someone told me that my washer pump wasn’t working, I’d get in the car and try it. And since they had to give you back your car and order the part, they had to know you’d likely try it at some point and say, hey, wait a minute!

So, they’re either not crooks, or they’re really bad crooks. If they were good crooks and wanted to rip you off, there are a thousand parts that you’ve never heard of, have no idea what they do and wouldn’t have the foggiest idea how to test. Those would be the kinds of things I’d urge you to get a second opinion on if you’re dealing with an unknown shop.

So, why didn’t the washer pump work for them? I don’t know. Maybe it’s on its way out and is failing intermittently? Maybe the switch on your steering column stalk is starting to fail? But it’s not out of the question that it didn’t work for them and then did a Lazarus a few days later.

If your pump or switch is failing intermittently, by the time you read this, it may have stopped working again. The good news is that you’ll then know you can trust these guys. The bad news is you’ll discover it when a moving van passes you on the highway and drives through a mud puddle.

So, I’d probably give these guys another shot and keep an open mind about them, Alice. Unless they try to sell you a washer pump and a transmission next time.