Why are you so shy about naming the car? £85 + vat sounds around a mainstream car marque. I was paying Jaguar a touch more than that over 10 years ago. How can you expect anyone to comment when you wont provide a basic detail?
Yes they are all at it now. My daughter has a MOT and Service plan for her 2014 ecosport. This year it passed the MOT - no recommendations, but service report said new front discs, pads and new rear road springs required due to rust. £3000. I used to do all our servicing and repairs when I had a pit in my garage. I dont have the garage now, but I still have all the tools- I bought the branded parts from Motor factors at £92 and laid in the ground in the pouring rain to replace them but not requred at all - pads were not even halfway and the springs only had surface rust - original paint on most of them. Not what I expected for a 67 yar old retiree. I'm now building a garage with a pit at my current house. Happy retirement!
Insane... That's a BMW dealer I assume, bet it's half the price from an independent place. When I was looking at new cars I was contemplating Audi A4 and VW Passat. I checked out some servicing costs and found that a main dealer charged twice as much to do a cambelt at Audi than VW. They have practically identical engines!
Bought a used S-max bus a few months ago and reading through all the service record receipts shows it has had 3 lots of disc's and pads replaced in the past six years. All over the span of about 45000 miles . Thats some serious fear mongering going on by the garage.
In 30 years of motoring I've carried out my own car maintenance. While of course there are some first class mechanics, I've rarely seen a diligent main dealer repair. £300 for an oil change and some basic checks? No thanks.
Yep, the retired couple i purchased it from had obviously been fleece by a garage they trusted. Back in the day I had a cavalier CDI that went through pads like no tomorrow, but the discs lasted a good 80k even though they were glowing red hot on many occasions due to enthusiastic driving .
Heard a true story about Kwik-fit some years ago. While the customer was having a tyre replaced, they advised the rear shocks needed replacing. Are they guaranteed? He asked. Of course, they replied. OK, great, please replace them he confirmed. After they had been fitted, he was presented with the bill. I'm not paying, he laughed and showed them a receipt. The same branch had replaced them just a few months ago!
So you've got an MOT/service plan, but it doesn't pay for anything?! Why not just take the car elsewhere for things the plan doesn't cover?
Good Evening. I have a Toyota Camry I purchased new Sept 1995 yes 95. First pads lasted Circa 50/60K miles I changed them myself but Toyota ones. I went to main dealer for pads at circa 100k They had a deal on (lol) Pads for back and front + Discs for back and front £200. I snapped them up. My local garage fitted the lot for £80. This was about 3 years ago. One of the mechs asked me if I would let him have the old discs as there was nothing wrong with them I still happy with it at 127k Johnny M
To be fair to some garages. Lack of use let’s the discs rust up and pit which is probably worse for them than a lot of use.
So much useful information here. Many thanks! Sounds likely they were looking for extra work to make up for the devastating year they had. As far as the mot was concerned, the brakes weren't a problem and that point is important. They were fine about me declining the work and just said to have them looked at again in 6 months or so. My concern is that next year they say it must be done or will fail the mot. If I take it elsewhere for a brake check they'll probably find a problem as they'll know I'm already concerned enough to book in. Aside, I haven't noticed any brake performance problems. It's done about 45k miles, half motorway, half urban. I don't think I'm heavy on the brakes and I've never had a similar issue with any previous cars, even the same make and model. I reckon I'll shelve it for now and deal with it next year if they raise it again. If I got it done now, they could well find something else next year. But if I think they're not playing fair, I'll be taking my custom elsewhere after next year when the service plan ends.
The MOT would only pick up on brakes being ineffective, normally they work fine right until the pads are down to the metal. If they're able to see the brake pads are almost out, they will probably advise.
I've been using a local independent garage for years, decades actually. I know and trust the chap who runs the place and they're far far cheaper than other garages yet alone main dealers. These kinds of places are like hens teeth these days, if you find one, treasure it.
We have been using the same local garage since we moved here 8 years ago. They are great guys and couldn't be more helpful. They pick the car up from the house on their way into work and drop it off again on their way home when its done. If we aren't in the keys and bill get pushed through the letter box marked pay when you are ready. Labour charge is £45 per hour but they don't charge for collection or delivery.
It’s a wonder how that company survives ! Years ago when I had company cars, I bought in a Toyota for two tyres. It had plastic wheel covers that looked like alloys, but it fooled no one as you could clearly the steel rims beneath. The fitter than proceeded unscrew the fake studs, I stopped him in time just before he wrecked it with his air wrench. What are you doing I asked. He looks up with a face that suggested a mix of pity and disgust and said “ sir, one has to remove the wheel nuts, then remove the wheel before one can remove the tyre” I pointed out the steel wheel lurking underneath, you should have seen the look on his face ! on another occasion, the fitter was explaining to two ladies, how high performance tyres may have prevented their predicament of flat tyre. Also he says, better to replace the pair. How much, they ask. He say about 70 each (this is going back to late 90). Me thinking they must be driving a Porsche or something like that looked out towards the garage! Up on the ramp is a Nissan Almera
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