Waltham Mobil Mechanic tries to rip me off during an emissions test Cambridge, Massachusetts

I went in for the emissions test and the mechanic tells me early on that the exhaust pipe is leaking and I failed the test.

He then disappears for another 25 minutes and  comes back and tells me my car is a mess.

However, looking at my inspection report I see the car passed everything but exhaust pipe inspections--which is a safety failure.

Then he tells me he'll give a 10% discount on all repairs.

He then wrote out an estimate telling me that repairs would cost $5500 (or something in that range).

Of course repairs NEVER cost that much unless you've totalled your car.  I guess I must've looked dumb that day.

Anyway...I told him the car wasn't even worth that much and I asked for the piece of paper with the written out estimate.  I knew he was full of crap.

He refused to give it to me.

I know better than to fall for a scam like this, but I'm concerned he's ripping people off  with this ploy.

The first red flag was looking at my car beyond what was necessary for emissions inspection. 

I'm letting my local mechanic know about this because he warns his customers off of scam artists.  He is quite popular--and deals with other car-related businesses-- so if word gets around--it will hopefully disrupt this thief's business.