Quotes for auto maintenance - worth doing your homework!

[FINate]

We got a nice reminder today on the importance of getting multiple quotes for auto maintenance. Sharing here for the benefits of others who may encounter something similar.

DW's vehicle needed an oil change, so we took it to a local place where we've had good experiences in the past. When they called to let us know the oil change was done they mentioned that the brake pads were worn, needed replacement. We knew they were getting thin so not surprised. They quoted about $575 to replace all, which is in the ballpark range we expected for this vehicle in our area, so we gave the go ahead. About 15 minutes later another person (manager?) calls back:

"Uh, so the other guy quoted incorrectly. It's $575 each for the front and back."

Yikes, almost $1200 total! I know the rotors are pretty new, so that doesn't explain the exorbitant cost. Nope, not paying that. Told them not to do the work.

Started calling around town. Got estimates as low as $400 and as high as $800, with a median somewhere around the original quote of $575. Ended up going with a place with good reviews near the median price point.

Not sure what happened to the shop that did the initial work as no issues in the past. Ownership change maybe? In any case, I suspect they were banking on the inconvenience of shopping around. I get the sense that lots of oil change places do this: go in for an oil change, they find some issue (real or made up...it was definitely real in our case), then charge outrageous prices knowing that people are busy and don't want to take time to get a better price.

All this to say: It's worth your time and effort to call around.

[nemesis]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

[SC93]

Wow! What town do you live in?

[FINate]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

I should probably do more of it myself. Changing the brake pads looks straightforward, but need a couple tools and need this done asap, so will have to bite the bullet on this one. Agree, shop around.

[FINate]

Wow! What town do you live in?

Santa Cruz. It's a HCOL area so most of the cost is overhead.

[tyler2016]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

I trust Yelp reviews as far as I can throw them.

https://thetechnoskeptic.com/yelp-extortion-starring-role/

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/01/09/yelp-accused-hiding-positive-reviews-non-advertiser/

[kendallf]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

I should probably do more of it myself. Changing the brake pads looks straightforward, but need a couple tools and need this done asap, so will have to bite the bullet on this one. Agree, shop around.

Do them yourself next time and save a bunch!  You can order parts from Rock Auto and you'd probably come in below $150 for rotors and pads, front and rear.  My recent brake parts costs, to set a high and a low: 2004 Prius, front rotors, pads, rear drums, shoes: $96.  2006 Corvette Z06, front and rear rotors, pads (rotors the size of the Prius' wheels, 20 pads, doh!): $340.

[FINate]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

I should probably do more of it myself. Changing the brake pads looks straightforward, but need a couple tools and need this done asap, so will have to bite the bullet on this one. Agree, shop around.

Do them yourself next time and save a bunch!  You can order parts from Rock Auto and you'd probably come in below $150 for rotors and pads, front and rear.  My recent brake parts costs, to set a high and a low: 2004 Prius, front rotors, pads, rear drums, shoes: $96.  2006 Corvette Z06, front and rear rotors, pads (rotors the size of the Prius' wheels, 20 pads, doh!): $340.

Agree. Looks simple enough. Just need to get to it earlier next time.

[inline five]

It's generally not a do or die to replace pads. One week or two difference won't change much. Especially if you are doing rotors, it won't matter a bit...

I try not to buy generic brake components, personally. It costs a little more but I stick with Brembo rotors and either Akebono or OEM pads for my car.

I actually just pulled the caliper off my rear brakes yesterday to check pad thickness as I was getting a squeal. It was the parking brake shoe that disintegrated...

[FINate]

We were pushing it, down to 1-2 mm of pad...oops. Didn't want to risk damaging almost new rotors. The parts are cheap enough and pretty sure I can DIY it after watching a few YouTube videos. Definitely doing it myself in the future, worth it given what all the garages are charging around here.

[nemesis]

I do a lot of the work myself, so I know exactly how much things should cost.  You can also look for a trusted shop on Yelp and get them to give a competitive quote.  When in doubt, always shop around.

I trust Yelp reviews as far as I can throw them.

https://thetechnoskeptic.com/yelp-extortion-starring-role/

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/01/09/yelp-accused-hiding-positive-reviews-non-advertiser/

Fully aware of that, but still better than nothing. I let a company know I used Yelp and will leave a positive or non-positive review depending on how they handle my business.

[SugarMountain]

We were pushing it, down to 1-2 mm of pad...oops. Didn't want to risk damaging almost new rotors. The parts are cheap enough and pretty sure I can DIY it after watching a few YouTube videos. Definitely doing it myself in the future, worth it given what all the garages are charging around here.

I bet the quote of $1150 included new rotors.  If it didn't then it's really, really ridiculous.  Pads are generally $100 or less for each pair.  Labor shouldn't be more than 2 hours and that's stretching it.

How do you have new rotors but old pads?  Generally shops will either resurface or replace the rotors with every set of pads (and they love to just replace the rotors instead of resurface). 

If you start working on your car yourself, start with oil changes, then move on to brake pad replacement.  It's pretty easy. 

[FINate]

I bet the quote of $1150 included new rotors.  If it didn't then it's really, really ridiculous.  Pads are generally $100 or less for each pair.  Labor shouldn't be more than 2 hours and that's stretching it.

No mention of rotors in the quote. In any case, they did not need replacing.

How do you have new rotors but old pads?  Generally shops will either resurface or replace the rotors with every set of pads (and they love to just replace the rotors instead of resurface). 

If you start working on your car yourself, start with oil changes, then move on to brake pad replacement.  It's pretty easy.

I think the pads wear more quickly than the rotor, especially for certain pad materials. So the pads were worn but the rotor is fine. Just checked them myself, almost no lip whatsoever on the outside edge (very very slight) so yeah, they are fine.

Don't mind paying for oil changes...relatively cheap for the work involved. But paying more than $500 for $100 in parts and a couple of hours of labor, now that's worth the effort.

[JLee]

Holy shit that is expensive.

If any of you MMM'ers are in my area (northern NJ, just outside of NYC), I'll do brakes for you for way less than that!

I just bought new pads/rotors for the front of my car (granted, brakes for my car are cheap), but my total parts cost was under $50 with shipping and it'll probably take me about an hour to do both sides.

[BTDretire]

Holy shit that is expensive.

If any of you MMM'ers are in my area (northern NJ, just outside of NYC), I'll do brakes for you for way less than that!

I just bought new pads/rotors for the front of my car (granted, brakes for my car are cheap), but my total parts cost was under $50 with shipping and it'll probably take me about an hour to do both sides.

  I agree, it's just pads, I just looked up my truck, $26 for two wheels, or I can buy the deluxe set for $52.
$1150 is way to much.

[AM43]

I have always been doing my rotors, pads, calipers, alternators, starters etc myself.
There is nothing to it and you only need basic tools.
Youtube is a big help.
Just the other day alternator on my wife's car died and I was able to replace it in no time.
Shop has quoted this job at $500 plus i would have to pay $160 to tow it to the shop because she got stock on the road.
Ran out and got an alternator for $140
Savings of over $400
Yay me!!

[FINate]

Update: Heard from a reliable source around town that the place with very high quote has a broken rotor resurfacing machine. Instead of fixing the machine they are replacing rotors for everyone, whether needed or not. IMO, even including new rotors it's still way too expensive. More concerning, however, is that they aren't being upfront about it. Again, no mention of new rotors in the original quote, and certainly didn't specify that they only replace rather than resurface.

In the future I'm still going to DIY my brakes. But this brings up a new question for me: For the home mechanics out there, do you always replace both the pads and rotors? Only replace the rotors if they are worn and/or pulsing while braking? Or do you have a way to DIY resurface?

Parts for always replacing pads and rotors at the same time are still 1/3-1/2 the cost of having a shop replace pads and resurface rotors.

[WranglerBowman]

In the future I'm still going to DIY my brakes. But this brings up a new question for me: For the home mechanics out there, do you always replace both the pads and rotors? Only replace the rotors if they are worn and/or pulsing while braking? Or do you have a way to DIY resurface?

Parts for always replacing pads and rotors at the same time are still 1/3-1/2 the cost of having a shop replace pads and resurface rotors.

If you replace the pads you should resurface the rotors or put new rotors on.  Most of the time the brake pad materials cause uneven wear on your rotors, leaving very small hills and valleys on the rotor that match the old pads wear.  Then you put new pads on that are flat, that lay against these small hills and valleys on the old rotors so you only get ~50% of the brake pad actually touching the surface area of the old rotor...what happens when you need to stop fast with only ~50% of your braking potential being applied?  Bottom line is you want new pads on flat (new or resurfaced) rotors.  Most rotors can only be resurfaced once, sometimes twice, before the thickness of the rotor is too thin, then you can get rotor warp or even rotor failure based on the heat and pressure applied to the rotors during normal braking.

[Roots&Wings]

I'm about to shell out $900 for timing belt/water pump replacement, which is better than the $1150+ quotes from other places. Alas, couldn't find a lower price, and timing belt/pumps are more involved than I can DIY. Definitely shop around!

[Michael in ABQ]

Just had to get a new clutch and slave cylinder on my truck. About $900. I took it to a transmission shop that was recommended by my semi-regular mechanic. Older place that's out of the way and didn't look great but the owner answered the phone right away and diagnosed the problem over the phone in just a few minutes. Once I brought it in they did a free diagnostic and drove me to work and picked me up. Plus they offer a military discount that takes care of the 7.5% sales tax. In the end it was done a day early and he indicated they didn't need to replace the master cylinder which would have added another $100 or so in parts.

I'm happy to give my money to a local business that treats me well rather than having them diagnose it for free and then try to shop around to save a few bucks.


I often use a nearby Valvoline instant oil change if I can find a good coupon but I politely tell them no to any added services. That's where all their profit margin is. I can go across the street to AutoZone and get a new airfilter and install it in about 2 minutes and save myself $10 over their price, same with wiper blades. Anything more than that and I'd rather take it to a real mechanic or a specialist (in the case of brakes).

[MilesTeg]

It's generally not a do or die to replace pads. One week or two difference won't change much. Especially if you are doing rotors, it won't matter a bit...

I try not to buy generic brake components, personally. It costs a little more but I stick with Brembo rotors and either Akebono or OEM pads for my car.

I actually just pulled the caliper off my rear brakes yesterday to check pad thickness as I was getting a squeal. It was the parking brake shoe that disintegrated...

Yeah, it pays to shop for good quality parts (OEM is a good place to start). I used to do a lot of maintenance myself (both as a kid with my dad and while I was less financially secure). I remember changing plugs about every 20k, brakes every 2-30k and shocks about every 50 and that kind of thing (usually autozone brand lowest cost parts). My current daily driver (2003) has 110k on it and still has original shocks and only one brake job and one new set of plugs/coils. I think the plug/coil lifetime has more to do with engine design than quality though.

If you're doing the work yourself, definitely pay for the good parts (unless your time has no value to you).

[JLee]

In the future I'm still going to DIY my brakes. But this brings up a new question for me: For the home mechanics out there, do you always replace both the pads and rotors? Only replace the rotors if they are worn and/or pulsing while braking? Or do you have a way to DIY resurface?

Parts for always replacing pads and rotors at the same time are still 1/3-1/2 the cost of having a shop replace pads and resurface rotors.

If you replace the pads you should resurface the rotors or put new rotors on.  Most of the time the brake pad materials cause uneven wear on your rotors, leaving very small hills and valleys on the rotor that match the old pads wear.  Then you put new pads on that are flat, that lay against these small hills and valleys on the old rotors so you only get ~50% of the brake pad actually touching the surface area of the old rotor...what happens when you need to stop fast with only ~50% of your braking potential being applied?  Bottom line is you want new pads on flat (new or resurfaced) rotors.  Most rotors can only be resurfaced once, sometimes twice, before the thickness of the rotor is too thin, then you can get rotor warp or even rotor failure based on the heat and pressure applied to the rotors during normal braking.

Eh, once you've bedded the brakes in properly they'll be fine.

If the brakes are not pulsing at all, I'm not afraid to just throw pads on and call it a day. With rotors so cheap now I have a hard time paying to resurface them.

[GuitarBrian]

In the future I'm still going to DIY my brakes. But this brings up a new question for me: For the home mechanics out there, do you always replace both the pads and rotors? Only replace the rotors if they are worn and/or pulsing while braking? Or do you have a way to DIY resurface?

Parts for always replacing pads and rotors at the same time are still 1/3-1/2 the cost of having a shop replace pads and resurface rotors.

If you replace the pads you should resurface the rotors or put new rotors on.  Most of the time the brake pad materials cause uneven wear on your rotors, leaving very small hills and valleys on the rotor that match the old pads wear.  Then you put new pads on that are flat, that lay against these small hills and valleys on the old rotors so you only get ~50% of the brake pad actually touching the surface area of the old rotor...what happens when you need to stop fast with only ~50% of your braking potential being applied?  Bottom line is you want new pads on flat (new or resurfaced) rotors.  Most rotors can only be resurfaced once, sometimes twice, before the thickness of the rotor is too thin, then you can get rotor warp or even rotor failure based on the heat and pressure applied to the rotors during normal braking.

Eh, once you've bedded the brakes in properly they'll be fine.

If the brakes are not pulsing at all, I'm not afraid to just throw pads on and call it a day. With rotors so cheap now I have a hard time paying to resurface them.

Give the new pads a day or so, and the "hills/ridges" from the rotors will be worn into the new pads.

If the brakes were pulsating... Then replace the rotors. I haven't resurfaced rotors in years.

Once I had a pad wear all the way to metal. It scratched the rotor up really bad. (Lots of ridges about 1mm high) I was in Mexico, and out in the desert. So I caught a bus, and brought back new pads. I put them on the truck, and the set lasted 25k miles. (Vs about 30k for the previous set) I always meant to swap out the rotor, but... Finally it needed new brakes and I replaced everything. It never shook or behaved erratic.

It isn't that scientific.

[inline five]

In the future I'm still going to DIY my brakes. But this brings up a new question for me: For the home mechanics out there, do you always replace both the pads and rotors? Only replace the rotors if they are worn and/or pulsing while braking? Or do you have a way to DIY resurface?

Parts for always replacing pads and rotors at the same time are still 1/3-1/2 the cost of having a shop replace pads and resurface rotors.

If you replace the pads you should resurface the rotors or put new rotors on.  Most of the time the brake pad materials cause uneven wear on your rotors, leaving very small hills and valleys on the rotor that match the old pads wear.  Then you put new pads on that are flat, that lay against these small hills and valleys on the old rotors so you only get ~50% of the brake pad actually touching the surface area of the old rotor...what happens when you need to stop fast with only ~50% of your braking potential being applied?  Bottom line is you want new pads on flat (new or resurfaced) rotors.  Most rotors can only be resurfaced once, sometimes twice, before the thickness of the rotor is too thin, then you can get rotor warp or even rotor failure based on the heat and pressure applied to the rotors during normal braking.

Eh, once you've bedded the brakes in properly they'll be fine.

If the brakes are not pulsing at all, I'm not afraid to just throw pads on and call it a day. With rotors so cheap now I have a hard time paying to resurface them.

Yep with most rotors costing $25-$30 why resurface for $15-$20...doesn't make a ton of sense IMO with the down time. You've got to pull them off and drive to the shop, wait while they do it, etc.

If cost is an issue and it's not pulsing just throw new pads on. If it's pulsating resurfacing is a fools errand.

[Just Joe]

I have not had good luck with bargain rotors. They warp. Buy mid-riange or better.