Anyone who has owned a car ever knows that its maintenance is a full-time job. From changing the oil to checking the pressure and a multitude of other adjustments needed with the weather.
Credits: HeartOfCars
And while not all of us can be experts on car care, some drivers’ basic lack of knowledge is quite bizarre and at times, funny! How these people managed to not only drive their car’s but face the glaring eyes of their mechanics, we will never know.
Car Rags
Our whole list features major blunders by car owners and yes, we poke a “little” harmless fun at them. Before we start on that, we decided to turn the tables and show you a major blunder done by a mechanic.
Credits: HeartOfCars
Here’s what the mechanic had to say. “Co-Worker left a couple of shop rags in the engine valley when doing intake tests. Now he gets to replace the engine.” A simple mistake that led to thousands of dollars worth of damage and an unsavable reputation!
Cheap Hack
Fixing your car’s exhaust pipe on your own is never recommended. One wrong step and you could inadvertently allow toxic fumes to leak directly inside your car but one owner seemed to know what he was doing.
Credits: HeartOfCars
After hearing his exhaust pipe rattle for months and being too busy to get to the mechanic to properly fix the loud noise coming from the loose pipe, the owner decided to wedge a 25 cent coin in the brackets to secure the pipe. Genius!
Million Dollar Club
Even the most successful Mechanics never get around to earning millions of dollars but when one guy opened a car he was working on and saw a million staring at him, he knew he had to do something!
Credits: HeartOfCars
Sadly, the million wasn’t dollars but miles! “Customer Has Been Coming in Since 200k Miles. Said he’d get to 1 million. I’ve been waiting for that day for years. Today he casually rolled up and asked to plug his tire. Needless to say, Best Tire Plug Ever!”
Smooth Driving
We understand being too busy to make it to the mechanic to fix minor car issues but this car owner has left her stumped! While driving on the freeway, he punctured his tire so badly that he had to remove it.
Credits: HeartOfCars
Sounds like no big deal, right? The owner took the tyre off and then realized he didn’t even have a spare in the trunk! Rather than call a tow truck, he was in a hurry and decided to drive on JUST THE RIM – for three days straight! The worst part, he did have a spare tyre in the trunk. He just never looked for it properly!
Tape It
Duct tape is every handyman’s friend. It can fix leaks, give support and take care of a multitude of issues but one thing it can’t do is fix tyres. Or at least, that is what most mechanics thought before they saw this picture.
Credits: HeartOfCars
Just like the last person, this owner also experienced tyre troubles without a spare but rather than drive on a naked rim, they decided to fix the flat tyre with a few rolls of duct tape and a quick prayer. Funnily enough, it totally worked.
Extreme Tape
Above we showed you a duct tape hack which works great in an emergency situation but in no way can tape be used as a good permanent repair option. One car owner didn’t seem to agree with this.
Credits: HeartOfCars
The owner seems ecstatic in the picture who has found a great victory against a flat tyre which saved her hundreds of dollars but in fact, as soon as she drove off the lot and on the highway, the duct tape melted to the tyre and ended up ruining the rim. A quick hundred dollar repair turned into a weeks-long thousand-dollar headache.
Sign On The Dotted Line
This car was so bad that the mechanic had the owner sign a waiver which insured that the mechanic would not be legally responsible for the safety of the car and if the car was in an accident, the mechanic would not be blamed.
Credits: HeartOfCars
This is a simple yet rare step that mechanics have to take when clients refuse to listen to their opinion. The car owner in this picture refused to fix their rim and tyre and thus was asked to sign the wavier before they were allowed to leave the shop.
No Lies
Mechanics can learn a lot about your life just by looking at your car. They know how much patience you have based on your brakes, they know about your self-control by looking at your clutch and more.
Credits: HeartOfCars
So, when a customer comes in and says that they haven’t driven their Camaro in two years and it is brand new yet its oil filter looks like the one on the right, the mechanic instantly knows you are lying!
A New Friend
It is a miracle that no animals were harmed. A man came into the shop complaining that their cat was making weird noises and rather than investigate themselves, they drove the car down to the shop to get it looked at by professionals.
Credits: HeartOfCars
While the car owner did the right thing, the better option would have been to take a quick look under the hood. Because when the mechanic opened it, they found a wild possum who had made their nest in the car. This is a disclaimer for all car owners, to always tap your hood in the winter months to make sure, no small animals are hiding in the engine.
Slight Issues
On the phone, a customer kept complaining about experiencing steering issues. The mechanic tried to calm them down and asked them details about when the issues started but the owner was vague and rather defensive.
Credits: HeartOfCars
Finally, the mechanic gave up and just asked them to come in. The owner was rather reluctant and wanted to know if the mechanic could fix the car ” over the phone”! Of course, he couldn’t and when the owner finally came into the show and saw that the owner was ” steering” the car with a plier for weeks!
Straight Forward
Mechanics see all types of drives, young ones who don’t know the first thing about a car, experienced ones who think they know better than the professionals and the worst kind, the DIYers.
Credits: HeartOfCars
One mechanic was tasked with fixing this ” fix” that the owner had done when their car wouldn’t stop accelerating! Apparently, the car’s brakes were completely failing and were literally hanging on by a string.
Light Them Up
On the phone, the customer seemed very cheery and jolly and told their mechanic that a “light” was flashing in their car. He asked them for more details about it but this customer seemed clueless.
Credits: HeartOfCars
So, he asked them to come into the shop and what they left them running for the fire extinguisher. Something was burning inside of the engine and the owner had taken days to finally come in and get it looked at!
More Pliers
A good mechanic can end up saving you money in the long run but most people don’t believe that, especially the owner of this car. What should have been a simple 20 to 30-minute button replacement turned out to be a week-long restoration thanks to this DIY fix.
Credits: HeartOfCars
The car owner used pliers on their heating and cooling control panel and while it worked for a time, the undue pressure on the wiring ended up ruining them forever and the whole system had to be gutted and replaced in the end.
One Wrong Move
This entry isn’t from a mechanic but a new car owner. Buying used cars is usually a straightforward process and most sellers tend to list out all the car’s issues immediately. Since any hidden issues can be life-threatening!
Credits: HeartOfCars
One seller didn’t think that this ” simple” problem was one that needed to be dealt with before selling the car. The picture shows a completely rusted parking brake system of a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500. The brakes on this car were seconds away from failing and if the new owner hadn’t inspected them himself, surely would have ended very badly.
Egg-celenet
Another car owner who rather than use some common sense, decided to do the exact opposite. The owner came into the shop complaining about screeching sounds emanating from their hood.
Credits: HeartOfCars
And once the mechanic heard all their concerns and opened the hood, they instantly knew what the problem was. A robin had made its nest inside the vehicle and there was debris everywhere.
Gauge Away
When the mechanic met up with this customer, they seemed rather relaxed and complained that their gauges weren’t working properly. The mechanic thought it was going to be an easy fix until he looked at the issue himself.
Credits: HeartOfCars
The gauges were completely misaligned and it seemed that the car was so overheated to the point that the temperature gauge was messing with the fuel tank gauge. This car was a literal time bomb that needed to be cooled down immediately.
Under Pressure
The owner of this car complained about the car feeling not ” right” without any other complaints, the mechanic had no idea what to do. They did a full body checkup and found nothing wrong.
Credits: HeartOfCars
Before giving the car the all-clear, they checked the tyre pressure and were left stunned! The pressure in one tyre was 111 PSI! And for anyone who has no idea what that means, a normal rating should be around 35-45 PSI. One bad bump and the tyre would have exploded for sure!
Pimpled Tyres!
It seems that tyre concerns are very common for most car owners and a rather easy fix for mechanics except for this one. This picture wasn’t caught by a mechanic but a police officer who spotted it out on the road and asked them to stop.
Credits: HeartOfCars
The car owner who was with their children and on a school run looked rather surprised when the officer told them that based on the air pockets in his tyres, he would recommend that he tow his car to the mechanics now. A request which left the owner confused as he saw nothing “wrong” with the tyres!
Double Security
This one is rather funny and ingenious. Apparently, U-Haul companies face major issues with theft and are considered easy targets by petty criminals. So, to protect their vehicles one company came up with an easy solution.
Credits: HeartOfCars
They created a custom Catalytic Converter cover which is basically a couple of rebars welded together to make sure that the converter doesn’t get nicked! While it’s a smart way to protect from thieves.
Lawn Chair
When this college-student car rolled into the workshop, the mechanics immediately pulled out their camera. The old car was otherwise in great shape except for the simple addition made by the youngster.
Credits: HeartOfCars
The driver seat had been replaced and a mouldy lawn chair was sitting in its place. The student embarrassingly revealed that he had driven around on the lawn chair for quite some time since he couldn’t afford to get a proper seat placed in until now!