“This vehicle is crazy, crazy out of time.”
You need car repairs, but taking your vehicle to a shop means coordinating rides, wasting time in waiting rooms, and disrupting your whole day. A mobile mechanic who comes to you sounds like the perfect solution, plus they may be a cheaper option.
But what happens when convenience comes at the cost of quality and being overcharged by thousands of dollars?
In a trending video with more than 92,000 views, a mechanic at Accurate Auto (@accurateautoinc) shows exactly why hiring mobile mechanics can be risky.
“This truck is the perfect example of why mobile mechanics are high risk when getting your vehicle repaired,” he says at the start of the video.
The truck in question belongs to a woman who found a mobile mechanic on Nextdoor. She paid him $9,000 to do timing chains on her Ford. The mechanic worked on the truck for almost eight months, and when she finally went to pick it up, the vehicle wouldn’t start.
“She was told by the mobile mechanic, ‘Oh, it’s just gonna need a starter,'” the shop owner explains. But after dealing with the mobile mechanic for so long and losing trust, she had the vehicle towed to Accurate Auto instead.
When they tried to start it, the problem became obvious. He says, “The engine was very clearly not having compression.”
The shop tore down the vehicle to figure out why, and what they found was worse than anyone expected.
The mechanic walks viewers through the damage, starting with the sloppy workmanship.
“You can see all this loose silicone here, here, here, here, here, here,” he says, pointing around the engine. “It actually gets worse. It’s even like inside of the radiator hoses as well. It’s inside the intakes, it’s inside the charge pipe.”
But the silicone mess was just the beginning. The real issue was the timing chains, the exact job the woman paid $9,000 to have replaced.
“These lines and that gold has to line up,” the mechanic explains, showing that nothing was aligned correctly. “This vehicle is crazy, crazy out of time. And obviously the workmanship is obviously [expletive] garbage.”
Plus, the keyway on the crankshaft was completely off. The woman had even sent the shop videos of the mobile mechanic taking parts and showing him “beating up” on parts, trying to force them into place.
“Everything is actually not lining up properly,” he says.
“Mind you, this lady spent $9,000 with him and was told it was a bad starter,” the mechanic says. “We had to show her like, ‘Hey, this is actually not just a bad starter, but we have terrible workmanship, the vehicle’s completely out of time, and unfortunately because this truck has actually almost 200,000 miles on the body, now needs an engine.'”
After paying $9,000 for timing chain work, the woman now faces the cost of a complete engine replacement.
“This is the perfect example of why mobile mechanics are high risk,” he writes in the caption.
The woman in the video paid $9,000 for timing chain work. That’s more than three times what the job should cost, multiple sources report.
According to Consumer Affairs, timing chain replacement typically costs between $1,600 and $2,000. RepairPal data puts the range at $2,000 to $2,700, with about $1,300 to $1,900 in labor and parts, averaging around $750.
Mobile mechanics aren’t inherently bad—they just aren’t right for every job.
According to Capital One and Saul’s Autotek, mobile mechanics can handle common repairs, including brake work, fluid changes, spark plugs, filters, and even suspension work, using portable equipment.
The benefits are real: they come to you, work on a fixed schedule instead of leaving your car for days, and often charge less thanks to lower overhead. If your car won’t start, you save on towing costs too.
So for routine maintenance, they’re often an excellent choice. Problems start when mobile mechanics take on jobs beyond their capabilities—like complex timing chain work.
Traditional shops are a better bet when you have complicated problems requiring specialized tools that only shops have. Multi-day jobs like engine work leave your car exposed to the weather and the elements.
For major engine work, transmission repairs, or extensive diagnostics, a traditional shop with proper equipment and warranty protection is often worth it.
In comments on the post, people sympathized with the woman but also defended mobile mechanics.
“That’s not a mobile mechanic problem, that’s a bad mechanic problem. You can get the same poor service at a garage,” one commenter wrote.
“As a mechanic who also provides a mobile service, I would NEVER take a job like this outside of the shop. Some surgery just needs to be done in a proper operating room,” another said.
“Mobile mechanic here. Have 13 years of shop experience. I do this chain with no issues. I also get calls from. customers who have had bad experiences with mechanic shops. It’s not a mobile mechanic issue, it’s a bad mechanic,” a third wrote.
“For 9K she could’ve had the entire engine replaced so that doesn’t add up. Nobody’s paying 9K for a time chain,” a commenter added.
Motor1 reached out to Accurate Auto for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message. We’ll update this if he responds.
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