New brakes on my vehicle

[packerbacker]

$1500 for new Brakes, new Rotors and new Calipers as well! A couple weeks ago on Sunday I was hearing a severe grinding sound in my brakes and took it in right away on Monday. He fixed it by Thursday and it cost me $1500 for it. What do you guys think of this? The guy is my Dad's best friend. I dont think I will bring my car there anymore cause I think he overcharged me by alot. I dont want to come off as a whiner though and very grateful I have new Brakes and my car is back to full health.

[xxlt]

(10-22-2016, 07:36 PM)packerbacker Wrote: $1500 for new Brakes, new Rotors and new Calipers as well! A couple weeks ago on Sunday I was hearing a severe grinding sound in my brakes and took it in right away on Monday. He fixed it by Thursday and it cost me $1500 for it. What do you guys think of this? The guy is my Dad's best friend. I dont think I will bring my car there anymore cause I think he overcharged me by alot. I dont want to come off as a whiner though and very grateful I have new Brakes and my car is back to full health.

Year, make, model? I know enough to know some car parts are way more expensive, but yeah, sounds like you got hosed.

[packerbacker]

2008 Chevy Malibu with almost 85000 miles on it.

[jfkbengals]

The type of vehicle makes an big difference in the cost. If the car is an '85 Accord, round up some buddies to have your back and go retrieve your money. If it is a modern all-wheel drive vehicle with self inflating wheels and sensors out the wazoo, well that price might not be as bad as you think.

Call some other shops and ask for a quote over the phone to have the service done by them, then compare this to what you paid. Maybe you'll be surprised.

[jfkbengals]

(10-22-2016, 07:48 PM)packerbacker Wrote: 2008 Chevy Malibu with almost 85000 miles on it.

I wouldn't think it would be that much, but then again you got the whole 9 yards replaced.

I drive a 2000 Mountaineer and it costs me around $800 just for pads and rotors.  If I replaced the calipers as well, it might get to around that cost.

[jfkbengals]

Holy Shit!

I just looked at the cost of caliper/rotor/pad kits from Rock Auto for your vehicle (maybe yours, I picked the 3.6 L V6). OEM equivalents are only $165, but there are performance kits that run as much as $695 per wheel!

[SunsetBengal]

(10-22-2016, 07:36 PM)packerbacker Wrote: $1500 for new Brakes, new Rotors and new Calipers as well! A couple weeks ago on Sunday I was hearing a severe grinding sound in my brakes and took it in right away on Monday. He fixed it by Thursday and it cost me $1500 for it. What do you guys think of this? The guy is my Dad's best friend. I dont think I will bring my car there anymore cause I think he overcharged me by alot. I dont want to come off as a whiner though and very grateful I have new Brakes and my car is back to full health.

You got rooked.  Chevy's are the most common vehicle, meaning the most parts made, thus the cheapest to purchase.  The entire labor for the entire project should have been 6 hrs...max.  As a grown man, you need to start looking into doing some things for yourself.  You likely could have purchased all of the parts off of ebay motors for just a couple hundred bucks, and found a buddy that you trust to help you do the work for a case of beer and a home cooked meal.

[xxlt]

(10-22-2016, 07:48 PM)packerbacker Wrote: 2008 Chevy Malibu with almost 85000 miles on it.

So, not a Porsche or a Lamorghini. I would expect parts for a car like this to be very modestly priced, and a brake job - even on new "modern" cars - is still one of those things many guys can DIY - so pretty straightforward and labor should be modest too.

I like JFK suggestion to call for some quotes... sounds like time to find a new shop.

[packerbacker]

I agree Sunset but I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to cars. I should report this to the better business bureau. You guys think it's a screw job then I know I got jipped.

[SunsetBengal]

(10-22-2016, 08:52 PM)packerbacker Wrote: I agree Sunset but I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to cars. I should report this to the better business bureau. You guys think it's a screw job then I know I got jipped.

To put it in perspective, my wife's brakes bit the dust on a week that I was out of town working.  Normally, I would do the work in the driveway, but she had no choice but to go to our local shop.  She didn't need calipers, and to be perfectly honest, I would question weather your car needed them or not.  The typical time to replace a caliper, is if it refuses to open.  Anyway, brakes and rotors all the way around on her 2012 Corolla, for $289.  Their labor rate is $60/hr (fair) and they don't mark up the parts. 

Had I known that her brakes were about to go, I could have purchased the parts online, did the work myself (about 2 hrs), and only had maybe $150 in the whole deal.

[WeezyBengal]

I have a 2007 Acura and got them replaces recently for $700. Sounds like you got ripped off. No way should brakes ever cost more than 1000.

[WeezyBengal]

(10-22-2016, 08:52 PM)packerbacker Wrote: I agree Sunset but I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to cars. I should report this to the better business bureau. You guys think it's a screw job then I know I got jipped.

Nothing wrong with paying someone to work on your car, there is something wrong with not shopping around and finding a fair price. Not sure how that guy can call himself a family friend when he blatantly ripping you off. 

[Benton]

(10-22-2016, 08:52 PM)packerbacker Wrote: I agree Sunset but I am not mechanically inclined when it comes to cars. I should report this to the better business bureau. You guys think it's a screw job then I know I got jipped.

I'd take it as a life lesson and learn from it.

I was fortunate growing up, my dad was a gearhead. He worked a lot, but he had a fully stocked garage. So I taught myself to work on  cars with his tools and Chilton manuals. It's even easier nowadays where there's a youtube video for just about every job on just about every make and model. I redid the wife's breaks a couple months ago on her 2013 Camry. I've done dozens of break jobs, but I watched the video anyway just so I'd know about any surprises ahead of time. Most of the videos are detailed enough, they tell you the tools you'll need to get started.

[XenoMorph]

(10-22-2016, 07:36 PM)packerbacker Wrote: $1500 for new Brakes, new Rotors and new Calipers as well! A couple weeks ago on Sunday I was hearing a severe grinding sound in my brakes and took it in right away on Monday. He fixed it by Thursday and it cost me $1500 for it. What do you guys think of this? The guy is my Dad's best friend. I dont think I will bring my car there anymore cause I think he overcharged me by alot. I dont want to come off as a whiner though and very grateful I have new Brakes and my car is back to full health.

rotors and calipers can be expensive with the labor...  when I bought the car I have now I got the car for about 2,000 but had to do all that work you mentioned for an additional 1,300...  so it sounds on par think I had to replace the control arms too... but it was an older model than yours as well.

[Au165]

Interesting the backlash of people who think he should know how to work on his car, but I'd bet most people here couldn't work on their own computer (beyond running a virus scan). Not trying to derail things, just an interesting thought especially in the world we live in today.

[CKwi88]

One of the first lessons I learned was to not have friends/family friends do work for me. It never seems to work out well.

But even if you do, you gotta get a few different estimates on these sorts of things.

[WeezyBengal]

There is actually a pretty easy resolution to this problem:

Just ask him to show you the receipts for the parts. From there, you can figure how much he charged for the labor.

If he only paid a small fraction for the parts and then charged you out the ass for labor its pretty easy to prove your point about him ripping you off.

[packerbacker]

(10-24-2016, 04:10 PM)Au165 Wrote: Interesting the backlash of people who think he should know how to work on his car, but I'd bet most people here couldn't work on their own computer (beyond running a virus scan). Not trying to derail things, just an interesting thought especially in the world we live in today.

I don't. When it comes to cars I am a complete moron. You would think a family friend would cut a guy a little bit of a break.

[*bfine32*]

(10-24-2016, 04:10 PM)Au165 Wrote: Interesting the backlash of people who think he should know how to work on his car, but I'd bet most people here couldn't work on their own computer (beyond running a virus scan). Not trying to derail things, just an interesting thought especially in the world we live in today.

This is why we should do away with cash and go to the barter system.

As to the OP: I have no idea, but this is why I trade cars about every 3-4 years. Keep them under warranty.

[*rfaulk34*]

Sounds a bit high but you have to take into consideration how long it's been since each has been changed. Since they were grinding, sounds like it's been a while. Most of the cost should have come from labor and if the bolts were hard to get out--not knowing what kind of tools your friend has--it will take longer. 

I've had varying degrees of difficulty with "stuck nuts" on all different kinds of cars. 

Your issue isn't so much that he charged that much, it's that you didn't find out how much it would be ahead of time AND that you didn't shop around and buy the parts needed, then allowed him to put them on.