Any mechanics?

[disbridemimi]

I feel like I am getting hosed by my mechanic, I have NEVER brought my car in and gotten a bill for less than 800 bucks. I need rear brakes on my Jeep, not sure if it is just pads or pads rotors and the works. I just paid 800 to have the front done.

How much should a rear brake repair cost if it is best case scenario and worst case scenario?

Tell me if you think I am getting ripped off, or if this seems reasonable to you:

recent repairs:
exhaust (catyltic cnvrter, muffler, tailepipe) = 812 bucks
Front brakes- rotors, calipers, pads, new lines, fluid & (cant read his writing), bled out system due to rotted lines & labor = 800.00
(in 2006 all front & back brakes/rotors/pads had been replaced) do they really wear out that quick? In just 2 years?

 

[gracie1]

Well, my first question is do you take it to a private mechanic or a dealership? My father was a mechanic all his life...and I have a dodge and deal with the dealerships so I know how expensive it can be. As for the "life" of rotors and brakes, it really all depends upon the driver. Do you ride the brakes a lot? That will wear down the rotors and brakes. I always ask for my old parts back also and I will check them.
Considering they bled out the lines, and did all that work with labor then I would say yes, it sounds right, What was the labor charge? Here they charge between $80-100 an hour.

 

[cheap traveler]

Well, to answer one of your questions, replacing rear pads and rotors on a newer Jeep shouldn't be more than $400.

The fronts sound a little expensive, but if you needed calipers that would drive the cost right up. I used to get 6 months out of my brakes, since I drive A LOT mostly at high speeds. That heats the rotors up a lot faster.

As far as the CAT, how many miles are on the vehicle? There is a federal law requiring CATs be warrantied to 80,000 miles. Honda replaced mine for free at nearly 90k. Chrysler is not as good with their warranties.

Now on my new Honda CRV, I am over 31k miles and my brakes look lke new still. I certainly don't drive any differently, but the car is lighter and the brakes are better designed.

If you are wondering, how can this girl tell me these things? I own a repair shop, have been in the business for 8 years. I actually just priced brakes out for my friend on a 2003 Jeep yesterday. I would reccomend using a less expensive rotor and pad on the rear. They really don't wear any faster than the expensive ones, in my personal experience.

Good luck!! Maybe check with another shop, and see if they reccomend the same repairs.

 

[disbridemimi]

This is a third car, we drive it occasionally in the summer to like BJS or Home Depot and we drive it more in winter. Still not everyday. In 2006 when I bought it, it had 94K miles, today it has 112K miles. So 6-8k miles a year. Not a lot of driving, and we try not to leave it sitting too much, we don't want any rust or anything.

It is a private mechanic, and well you know how you just get that feeling that they think your an idiot? They always talk to me loud and slow like because I am a girl, I dont know what a tire is or something. I just feel like they see dollar signs when I come in.

Cheap traveler, I wish you could take my car there to see how they treat women. Its a sight to see.

 

[riley2008]

From my personal experience, sounds like you may be getting what you paid for and at a comparable rate; HOWEVER, I would really wonder if you actually needed everything that was done.

If everything was replaced in 2006 and you don't drive much, then really I would suspect MAYBE the pads. (If something happened to the calipers and they were faulty, that could certainly cause everything else to wear out.)

Just curious, what makes you think that you need new brakes? Did you get another opinion?

(When I take a vehicle in and they start telling me that I NEED something replaced, I ask lots of questions. On more than one occassion I was told that I needed new hoses or belts replaced, when I knew that they had been replaced only a few weeks before. The mechanic would say that he was only going by my miles, or something to that effect.)

I'd get a second opinion.

 

[mikehn]

I feel like I am getting hosed by my mechanic, I have NEVER brought my car in and gotten a bill for less than 800 bucks. I need rear brakes on my Jeep, not sure if it is just pads or pads rotors and the works. I just paid 800 to have the front done.

How much should a rear brake repair cost if it is best case scenario and worst case scenario?

Tell me if you think I am getting ripped off, or if this seems reasonable to you:

recent repairs:
exhaust (catyltic cnvrter, muffler, tailepipe) = 812 bucks
Front brakes- rotors, calipers, pads, new lines, fluid & (cant read his writing), bled out system due to rotted lines & labor = 800.00
(in 2006 all front & back brakes/rotors/pads had been replaced) do they really wear out that quick? In just 2 years?

$812 for the entire exhaust system is actually cheap. Catalytic converters are real expensive, are you sure they replaced it?
$800 for the entire front brake system is probably about right.

Replacing calipers and rotors will get you. Shops notoriously recommend replacing rotors on brake jobs even though they dont need to be replaced. Calipers and rotors are the two biggest ticket items that dont usually need replacing. If the shop were just replacing brake pads, it would only cost a little over $100. Shop would be out of business if all they did was replace pads for $100, so I can understand they have to find some way to up sell to make it worth their while. Bring your car in, bend over, and hope for the best.

 

[Gretchen3ajoshmom]

I am of no help - but my dh is a mechanic- of course he;s at work now..... Just reading your post reminds me how grateful I am to have a wonderful husband- who is a mechanic and just takes my car and fixes it - usually for next to nothing! Good luck and hugs....

 

[jedijill]

I just paid $200 for front brake pads and to have my rotors turned on my 05 Jeep Liberty.

HTH

Jill in CO

 

[JB2K]

I feel like I am getting hosed by my mechanic, I have NEVER brought my car in and gotten a bill for less than 800 bucks. I need rear brakes on my Jeep, not sure if it is just pads or pads rotors and the works. I just paid 800 to have the front done.

How much should a rear brake repair cost if it is best case scenario and worst case scenario?

Tell me if you think I am getting ripped off, or if this seems reasonable to you:

recent repairs:
exhaust (catyltic cnvrter, muffler, tailepipe) = 812 bucks
Front brakes- rotors, calipers, pads, new lines, fluid & (cant read his writing), bled out system due to rotted lines & labor = 800.00
(in 2006 all front & back brakes/rotors/pads had been replaced) do they really wear out that quick? In just 2 years?

OK, let's "brake" it down...

2 years? Under normal driving conditions, nothing should wear-out like that!

I recently had front and rear brake work done on my SUV (Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute/Mercury Mariner family) -- needed new rotors, too.

The total bill for everything (including labor) was in the low $500's (mine was done at Midas with their lifetime/nationwide warranty).

I should also mention I opted for porcelian brake pads, which tend to be the more expensive of the bunch (but outlast all the rest).

IMO, if you paid more than $530, you probably did get hosed. Did you go to a chain (Midas, Meineke), or to an independent garage?

 

[disbridemimi]

.

If everything was replaced in 2006 and you don't drive much, then really I would suspect MAYBE the pads. (If something happened to the calipers and they were faulty, that could certainly cause everything else to wear out.)

Just curious, what makes you think that you need new brakes? Did you get another opinion?

They are starting to make clicky noises in the back when I brake.

Mikehn- on the receipt it says "catalytic converter Dir-fit" I dont know what that means but that part is under "parts" and was 300$.

Gretchen-he is a keeper!

jb2k - private mechanic

I do suspect they are telling me things are wrong that are not wrong. I got the front brakes done because of a squeal I heard every so often. It was not every day just once in a while. So I brought it in for a look.

I am going to go somewhere else. I think they are ripping me off. I didnt think all the rotors calipers and pads could all need to be replaced if they were all totally replaced in 2006. It just seems to soon for a car we drive less than 10K miles a year.

 

[Kellydelly]

I think you are getting ripped off. How about your husband taking the vehicles in for repairs instead of you?

 

[SandrA9810]

I love the guys at the car care center at Disney. We have all our work done there. And they show me every time what is wrong. Like I had the suspension replaced, he actually brought them out for me to see and to actually push together to show how bad off they were. They have no problems doing a check up every time I go in for an oil change, and if they find anything wrong, they'll take me out to the shop and show it to me.
They also tell me how long I have till I really damage the car or the part will be completly worn out and might start causing other damage. Or like if my tires get worn out, they'll let me know how much longer I can safely drive on them.

They are a chain, part of Goodyear. But no matter if it's a chain or independant... There could always be some jerk trying to mess with you. At least at a chain you can call corprate office on them.

 

[disbridemimi]

I think you are getting ripped off. How about your husband taking the vehicles in for repairs instead of you?

My Df work is in the city,he takes the train so he is gone before they open and home well after they close. He can't take days off every time our car needs a repair, although I wish he could. I have tried. I used to have my dad take it in, but I just feel silly at my age asking my dad to go to the mechanic.

 

[SandrA9810]

If it means saving you hundreds... it's not silly at all.

And plus what's wrong with a little bit of daddy and you time... soon enough you're going to be married and well you won't be his little girl anymore. It probably means a lot to spend some time with just him.

Or at least that's how I think it would be...

 

[stephie1012]

whats their labor rate they are charging you? Catalytic converters do cost alot.
where do u live?

 

[travelgirl06]

I think its always good to get a second opinion. We just took our Mustang to a national chain who stated that we needed new rotors, and all new brake pads (the brake pads on the front are less than a year old, but the mechanic claimed they were "crystallized"). He quoted us over $600 for the rotors and rear brakes, and showed us the parts prices (which were nearly double what we would pay at the auto shop, they also charge a fixed labor rate, that equates to nearly $100/hour).

We went to the autoshop and bought all the parts (plus a new air filter and wiper blades) for just under $200. Then we called out a mechanic with an excellent reputation who installed it all for about $250 and confirmed that the front brake pads would be just fine once they were broken in on the new rotors. We probably could have done better, but the mechanic drove to my fiance's work and did everything there, so it was incredibly convenient. Just by shopping around a little we saved $150.

Based on the prices we were quoted, $800 for just the rear brakes seems high. I would take your dad or a friend, or just play hardball with the mechanic (I talked my way into 20% off labor, just by inquiring about discounts) or leave and go get another quote. Yes, we waited about an hour for our "free" quote at the chain mechanics, but I wasn't going to let the fact that they were "working on our car" for an hour (when the other guy had it done in less time) guilt me into paying their inflated prices...

 

[Donnainnj]

When we last had my car worked on we had a coupon for 15% off for the dealer, we wanted a tune up, and the brakes done. Well we got a price for each, and the brakes were quoted one price, and we thought it was to high, so DH said he would do the work himself, and they quickly dropped the price by $50. We got the tune up, but DH did the brakes for the price of the parts. Nice to have a handy guy around. Good luck finding someone you can trust, might want to ask some friends who they use.
Donna