“Yeah, not how that works.”
A mobile mechanic is racking up views after explaining why he walked away from a job—and why he says he didn’t hesitate to do it.
Brad (@bradontheblock), who describes himself as both a mobile mechanic and a car dealer, said he recently declined a repair for a customer he’d already spent more than a week dealing with.
The job: replacing the radiator on a 2015 Toyota Highlander.
According to Brad, he laid out the cost of parts and labor up front. The customer pushed back, trying to negotiate—a move Brad said immediately left “a bad taste” in his mouth. Things went further downhill when Brad asked for a deposit and payment for the parts in advance. He says the customer refused, instead insisting Brad front the cost and get paid after he did the work.
“Yeah, not how that works,” he says. “So I declined.”
Brad adds that turning down jobs isn’t something he does lightly. But if the dynamic feels off from the start, he says, he’s learned it’s better to walk away. As of this writing, his video breaking down the decision had pulled in over 4,000 views.
Mobile mechanics say there’s no single rule. Whether a customer pays for parts up front or sees that cost rolled into the final bill often depends on factors such as the job, the part, and their relationship with the mechanic.
Commenters on the r/Mechanic subreddit also point out a common risk: customers who buy parts themselves and then ask a mobile mechanic to install them. If that part turns out to be faulty, the mechanic usually isn’t on the hook.
One Redditor said they’ve gone that route a few times, paying for the part from an outside source and having it installed at the mechanic’s labor rate, but were “warned EXPLICITLY every time that there will be NO warranty for the repair.” They added that it worked for them, but acknowledged it “might not be for you.”
There’s a reason a mobile mechanic might ask you to pay for parts yourself, though: The setup is meant to protect them from getting stuck with parts they can’t return if the job falls through. Unlike traditional garages, mobile mechanics don’t keep a backroom stocked with inventory or have the cushion of steady walk-in traffic. When they agree to a repair, they’re often buying parts specifically for that job.
And for high-dollar parts that are harder to resell, it might be a less risky move for a mechanic to ask a customer to cough up the cash for parts before they start the job.
Regardless of whether your mobile mechanic asks you to pay for parts upfront, industry experts agree that labor is usually paid after the job is finished. And no matter who you book, remember that any reputable mechanic will be transparent about total costs upfront, so there are no surprises.
Viewers who came across Brad’s video largely sided with him, saying he likely spared himself a major headache by refusing to work with a customer who was already throwing up red flags.
“Saying ‘no’ to bad customers frees you up to overdeliver for the good customers that will actually support and advertise for you,” one said.
“Can’t blame you a bit,” another agreed.
A third said Brad’s decision sounded familiar. “I do it all the time,” they noted. “Some customers you can’t afford to have.”
“As a mobile mechanic myself, I’ve learned that not every customer is a good customer,” a fourth person wrote.
For many, the deal-breaker came even earlier. Some said the moment the customer tried to negotiate the price, they would have been done. “I’m not negotiating,” one person said. “The price is the price.”
Another agreed, saying, “Yeah, the moment he negotiated was the moment the conversation ended.”
Still, a few viewers suggested possible workarounds for pricey car parts, offering alternatives that could benefit either the mechanic or the customer.
“You have 30 days to return the parts,” one commenter wrote.
“I am not going to [sell] a part without some markup,” another said. “If they buy the part and I install and it’s faulty, I also get the labor cost again.”
Motor1 has reached out to Brad via a direct message on TikTok. We’ll be sure to update this if he responds.
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