Appraisers' Free Forum

needed some brake work done, so I bring my ride to a local Tire shop (an old friend) and have em review the needs, in which I state; I need the car by Noon.

Needless to say I get a call at 3:30 PM - from one of the guys who begins to splain that we need Front & Rears, everything and that it will run about; $1,193.00 and he'll need my car back tomorrow for at least half a day. I says, is my car together, he says yes - I said good I'll be right over to pick it up.

Called my regular mechanic, and get a quote from him; $500-$600 for all four.......what ???

Jay Trotta wrote:needed some brake work done, so I bring my ride to a local Tire shop (an old friend) and have em review the needs, in which I state; I need the car by Noon.

When a lady complained to her butcher that his hot dogs tasted like they were half sawdust, he replied, "Lady, it's hard to make both ends meat..."

Shop 1 has larger overhead.

Sorta like appraisers, some do it for $175 some for $350.

Well maybe not exactly the same.

the old friend is on the hook; brought the car to another brotha from a different mutha, ALL I needed was rear brakes, bring it in at 8AM and am outa there at 9 AM.......just like the $175 appraiser

Total Cost - $260 bucks, front brakes have at least another 10,000 miles ta go.......say whaaaaaaaa

Hey bro - in the "Snowglobe" don't ya just use skis, iceskates and skateboards (depending on the season)? Whatcha doing with a car?

Hummm - not much of a friend.

Pays to shop around - when the ol' civic needed the timing belt changed I went to the local dealer for a quote (dealer is the best bet for that on a civic) & he quoted me over a grand.

Called the dealer in Daytona and he quoted $500+/- - Got curious so I called some more and that was same price I was quoted by two dealers in Orlando too. Appears that $500 was the standard price - when you add up the cost of the parts and figure in the labor the dealer is making a fair profit and hopefully paying a fair wage to his guys too.

Now I'm all for getting paid what you are worth, but it just seemed that the local fellow was lookin' to line the old pockets.

Apparently your "friend" is too.

I'd take off a half day and do my own stink'en brakes if it cost $1,000. Were they going to replace rotors with specialty racing parts or what?

I do brakes for 25 bucks an axle plus parts and machining. Most cars I can do within an hour depending upon the line at the lathe.

Brake jobs have turned into a gravy train for most shops. What a scam.

I've done my own brakes many times, and many parts stores will machine the rotors for a few bucks... not hard to take them off unless it's an auto locking 4X4 or a Honda. And while you are in there, you might as well check the bearings. However, lately I've been so busy that I call around and just use a local shop. They can do it faster and get me on the road to make $$$$ the way I do every day... sometimes trying to save a couple hundred bucks cost me more in time and lost productivity.

As for your friend ... I'd might be willing to talk fishing, but I sure wouldn't talk cars.