Steer Clear of Auto Fraud

Rotary Club of Cayucos-Seaside Thursday, September 10, 2009 Call to order: 7:10 Pledge Invocation In attendance: Dan, Jessica, Sherry, Jan, Scott, Liz W., Liz G., Linda, Scott, Gary. Club Business:  Tonight is the District Governors Social at the Embarcadero Grill.  50/50 Drawing tickets earns money for our club.  The 17th is an important meeting due to Interact Guest Speaker.  Club Social is also that night at Emily's house.  November 5th is the official DG visit to our club.  Senior Health Day still in the works, maybe a blood drive for our community.  Guest Speaker: Richard Leonard  Auto Fraud: Bureau of Automotive Repair  Handles over 20,000 consumer complaints  Main goal is to mediate a complaint and keep it from going to small claims court. Next goal is to take the person out of the automotive repair business. 90% of the business is honest, but it's important to know what to do if fraud has happened.  Excuses from the shop will sound reasonable, but you need to contact the bureau for even those instances.  If one shop says one thing and that contradicts another shop's diagnosis, contact the bureau.  Filing a consumer complaint can be done online. Type in "BAR" on Google; they are the first one on the page. Richard has also supplied our club with business cards and phone numbers.  When picking a repair shop look for shops that are clean, tidy, courteous, pleasant, get an estimate, you can get the old parts back, etc…  Be wary of not only independent shops, but the dealerships as well.  Richard left keychains, pamphlets and business cards. Put these items on your dash, and with your keys when you drop your car off and you won't believe how great the service is.  50/50 drawing  Meeting adjourned @8:00