A Bible-quoting mechanic took clients' cash, then disappeared without finishing the jobs
A Bible-quoting mechanic took clients' cash, then disappeared without finishing the jobs
"I got scammed," said one victim who hired God’s Garage Mobile Mechanics
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Last month, after her car’s transmission stopped working, Carrie Wendlandt was in need of a mechanic. It was an emergency because the Oklahoma City native didn’t have any alternatives, telling the local news, “My daughter needs a ride back and forth to her job. I’m going to disability right now. There’s quite a bit of doctors appointments and my son needs rides around for school when school starts back.”
That’s when she came across “God’s Garage Mobile Mechanics” on Facebook. (Tagline: “The mechanics you can have FAITH IN!”)
The owner of that place, who goes by Derek Martin, routinely cites Bible verses on Facebook posts, using religion as a way to lure in new customers. Wendlandt didn’t care either way; she just needed her car fixed.
Martin came out to see her car for a free diagnostic—“He seemed like a good guy,” she told me—and he later offered her an estimate. As requested, she sent two separate payments totaling $350 to the company… and then no one showed up to fix her car.
Then Martin stopped answering her emails and calls.
Then he blocked her.
Wendlandt later posted on Facebook that “they are frauds” and that she got “scammed.”
While I can’t fault her for giving money to someone who seemed legitimate, especially when she was in a bind, there were other hints of shadiness when it came to Martin: The website for his company is no longer functioning, though an archived version still exists.
Martin also ran a separate Facebook page called “Faith on Wheels Mobile Mechanics.” That company has since changed its name to “Elevation Mobile Mechanics” but maintains the old URL. Facebook notes, however, that the page was only created on July 4, after he screwed over Wendlandt.
A brand new website recently popped up with the Faith on Wheels name, but it’s mostly boilerplate content.
Even the home page just uses a stock image.
If you’re looking for information on Martin, good luck finding it on those websites. It’s all extremely ironic given that the older website said, “We guarantee transparency throughout the process and provide top-quality work at a fair price.” (Was this his writing or the template he was given?)
Reporter Taylor Mitchell with KFOR found that Wendlandt wasn’t the only victim of this faith-based scam:
Freda Hill said she’s having the same problem.
She said she paid Derek $1,200 cash to fix both of her cars after he told her the payment machine was down, so he needed a different form of payment.
“He only fixed one car… He assured us that he would be back, and he didn’t come back,” said Freda Hill.
…
She told KFOR she believes Martin does a good job at hiding and deleting negative reviews, and claims the positive reviews are fake.
“He’s real big on, ‘Hey, man, thank you, Jesus, God is good’… He tricks and uses that as his bait to lure you in to trust him,” said Hill.
I’m actually surprised he fixed one car. That suggests this isn’t merely a scam; he has some skill! He may actually be a Christian mechanic! But it doesn’t explain why he’s cutting and running in the middle of a job.
Mitchell’s attempts to contact Martin were, not surprisingly, unsuccessful:
KFOR attempted to reach Derek multiple times. KFOR found six different phone numbers. Four of them were out of service, and two of those numbers were listed on his Facebook pages.
KFOR also tried calling and texting the two numbers he has used to communicate with clients. They are google voice numbers. KFOR left a voicemail and text with those numbers.
KFOR also sent messages to the Facebook pages and sent emails.
There were also no addresses found to a possible mechanic shop, and one of his websites didn’t work.
So which is it? Is Martin a scam artist who’s using God to con people into giving him money… or just a Christian mechanic who decided to screw clients over and just ask God for forgiveness? (And is Derek Martin even his real name?)
Who knows. But it shouldn’t surprise people that he used God to convince people he was trustworthy. There’s no shortage of people who used their public piety to gain unearned trust, only to take advantage of the situation, from Catholic priests and abusive pastors to low-level crooks like Martin.
The clients in this case were in positions of desperation, just looking for anyone who could fix their cars for a fair price. Martin seemed fine—a good Christian!—until they realized he wasn’t. (Martin did not respond to my requests for comment.)
Wendlandt has since set up a GoFundMe page to help her get a new car. As of this writing, no one has chipped in.
I like when businesses advertise their Christianity. It let's me know right up front to avoid them. Remember 'Christian ethics' is not an oxymoron, the modifier is there to let you know that their ethics is different from real ethics.
Never pay in advance. That's a sure sign of a scam.
Come to think of it, tithing falls into that category.