A TikTok skit about how female customers are treated when they walk into a car shop is getting head nods from multiple users on the application.
Ash (@smokeeash), who often posts skits about working in service-based jobs, seemingly admits in his video that mechanics will overcharge women or attach fees to services that flat-out don’t exist.
“That one mechanic when a girl brings her car in,” a text overlay in the video reads.
“Britney? Your car’s done,” the auto tech says as he walks behind the counter to look at a computer. “OK, so 2019 Jaguar, right? First, the oil change came out to $190. Wheel alignment was $320, and then we noticed when we were turning the blinker, the blinker started smoking, we’ve never seen that before.”
The prices of the other services he mentioned are also much higher than average: Jiffy Lube, for example, lists the cost of a wheel alignment anywhere from $50 to $75. Oil changes typically cost much less than $190. Asbury Automotive group says it should cost around $88—so the TikToker could very well be driving home that women, when dealing with auto techs, inevitably get monetarily hoodwinked.
As for the blinker, the “mechanic” continues, “That was $300 we had to get you a new part. And then…you needed new tires too they were bald like an old man we changed all those and it was $150 each so $600.”
The TikToker concludes, “So the total’s like around two grand. All you wanted was an oil change?”
@smokeeash “Honey they charged you HOW MUCH?!”😭😭😭😂 #foryou ♬ original sound – smokeash
“It’s $2,000 plus tax and then also if you wanna leave a tip for the labor,” he says, looking into the camera.
Do women often get scammed at auto shops?
Even though Ash’s sketch is performative, it hits on a very real phenomenon: Auto mechanics taking advantage of female customers by tacking on service charges that are either superfluous or completely made-up. A Redditor who penned a post in the r/AskMechanics sub asked if there’s any real-life truth to this trope, and several folks responded that unfortunately, in their experience, it is.
“Sometimes its not just independent shops but also dealerships. Especially when trying to sell them a car or maintenance that they dont need,” one person said.
Someone else echoed this sentiment, adding, “Anything offered in the finance office is guaranteed to be overpriced and essentially useless in some regards. Never buy anything they’re selling in there.”
One person said that being screwed over doesn’t really have that much to do with gender but rather the perception of a shopper on behalf of the auto repair business: “I think its more trying to screw anyone out of money if they think the customer would pay. If some ‘nerdy’ guy turns up im sure it would be the same.”
Someone else thought these practices are directly geared toward women: “This is the key answer, do a lot of mechanics probably assume that females know less? Sure…But really the main issue is just why mechanics think they can get away with it, we don’t hear about this in many other industries, even service ones (though of course we do hear stories) but it’s like a worldwide thing that mechanics will overcharge women… Pretty bad culture there.”
Several users who responded to Ash’s post on TikTok appeared to relate to this treatment of female customers as well.
One person explained how they combated getting bamboozled, writing, “This literally happened one time and I legit said ‘Nope! Take it all off and put everything back how it was. Just the oil change, Thanks.’”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Ash via email for further comment.
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