Front Brakes & Disc Pads - 190e - £186 ??

[WINDLESPIN]

My partner took my car in to get a price on my brakes and disc pads that had gone on front wheels of my Merc. 190e. Bearing in mind that this is nearly 20 yrs old and the parts I could have picked up new on Ebay for £38 for a brand new set I was really shocked when the garage went ahead and did this and charged £186. They do know my partner so don't think they would rip him off but it was mentioned that they were so eroded they had eaten away at other parts. Has anyone heard of brakes/disc pads costing so much even if they have eroded ???

 

[rpe2]

If you went to ECP, the pads are about £25, and the disks £25 ea, so that leaves £100 for labour and consumables.

Not cheap, was this a main dealer or an independent garage?

 

[WINDLESPIN]

private garage

it was a small private garage (friend of boyfriends) out the back. He said it was in such a state that there was no way this would have got through the MOT as I have recently bought this car.

Yep, you saying £100 to buy. On ebay you can buy brand new front brakes and disc pads for £38 spec. for Merc. 190e and apparently they haven't even used Merc. ones

Partner already paid up so I cna't do anythign now but I feel right royally ripped off and where my partner is involved I don't feel like I can go on down and have it out with them.

They were told to give a price, not go ahead and do the work

 

[rpe2]

A full set for £38 are going to be cheapies that will probably squeel like heck.

Can't really offer any more comfort other than the obvious, find another garage...

 

[Aletank]

I enquired at a small local garage recently for my GF's Pug 206CC for a price for labour only to replace front and rear disk's and pads and was quoted £60 front £60 rear.
I ended up doin them for her.

 

[Dosco]

Can't comment on the charges other than I doubt he would have used really cheap 'lookalike' parts. I replaced the front/rear disc's and pads on my E240 with genuine MB parts a couple of years ago the cost of the parts including new bolts and wear sensors was under £100 inclusive. I did have a quote from the local MB garage at the time and (from memory) it exceeded £400 - hence my decision to DIY

 

[Cole@MBS]

Thats a rip off price!!!

Thats my 2 cents worth!

 

[rpe2]

Surely the most valuable 2 cents here!

I thought as much, but was thinking that I was missing something...

 

[ncooper]

Hello,

I'm not so sure it was a rip off..expensive,maybe.

If it is assumed that the parts were £50,that leaves £136 for the work.
Labour at small garages is normally charged by the hour,as against menu pricing,normally found at main dealers.

It wouldn't take more than a couple of seized bolts and/or a seized caliper to use up an extra hour and the cleaning up involved when replacing badly neglected parts is also much more time consuming.

Then there is the 15% VAT they have to charge.

Many is the time I have regretted taking on a job for a work colleague that should have been simple and turned into a nightmare because something was seized or rusted away.
I don't do repairs for other people anymore,partly because I don't have time and partly because when you explain that you have sweated over the car and effectively restored a sow's ear into a silk purse,they just looked blank.

We all delight in slagging off the motor trade,very often with good reason.
I use a small and extremely good independant garage locally when I am out of my depth and for all my MOT tests because they are fair,friendly and know exactly what they are doing.
A chat with them about some of the nightmare jobs is most revealing,as ever there are two sides to every story.



Regards,
Nick.

 

[wireman]

This sounds like a rip off to me. It cost me 100 quid for new friction parts (disks pads and parking brake) at all four corners, it took about two hours to do the lot.

If they were only asked to quote why did they proceed to repair it? and if extra work became apparent why did they not inform you before proceeding further? sounds like rip off merchant behavior to me.

Two sides to every story? would those be the ones where he says leave it with us we'll sort it and the one where he laughs all the way to the bank/pub clutching an unfair share of your hard earned cash.

Tell them that you are not happy with the costs and if no remedial action is taken tell the world who, what and where he is.

 

[brandwooddixon]

I wouldn't complain too much.

It may seem steep, but it is possible that they had all sorts of nightmares in removing the calipers and discs. If such was the case then hopefully they didn't hammer the discs off as the shock loading can damage the bearings.

I would also be warey of items from ebay purporting to be genuine MB parts as the market is flooded with cheap, chinese fakes, that's why all MB parts come with a hologram fixed to them or their packaging. Always buy from a reputable source.

 

[S80]

It's always tempting to use the 'I can get the bits off Ebay for £xx' argument, but consider the following:

When you go for a meal in a restaurant, you could quite easily say, "£20 for fillet steak!! - I could get it from Tesco for £6..... £3.50 for a few veg - what a rip-off, there's only 50p worth at most..... £24 for a bottle of wine - bet they get that at the cash & carry for a fiver.... coffee? £2.50??" - and so it goes on....

You should have shopped around before deciding whether you wanted a Michelin-starred experience, a 'greasy spoon', a motorway service station restaurant - or stayed home and cooked your own

Personally, I always try to DIY. My inclination to use garages is - like my fillet steak - very rare

 

[SQ_W211]

It's always tempting to use the 'I can get the bits off Ebay for £xx' argument, but consider the following:

When you go for a meal in a restaurant, you could quite easily say, "£20 for fillet steak!! - I could get it from Tesco for £6..... £3.50 for a few veg - what a rip-off, there's only 50p worth at most..... £24 for a bottle of wine - bet they get that at the cash & carry for a fiver.... coffee? £2.50??" - and so it goes on....

You should have shopped around before deciding whether you wanted a Michelin-starred experience, a 'greasy spoon', a motorway service station restaurant - or stayed home and cooked your own

Personally, I always try to DIY. My inclination to use garages is - like my fillet steak - very rare

Very Well put.................

For what its worth, I had all four brake discs and pads changed a few months ago, parts cost me £186 for ATE parts which are used by Merc as well from ECP. Labour to do all of them was £60 (yes you read it right) it was my old mechanic who comes to my house and fix my car without me doing anything apart from making him couple of teas and providing some custard Creams. But as everyone said, the mechanic might have had some issue with removing the old part (very common) which may have cost him an hour or 2 more than usual. Hence the price but get his side of story if still not happy then change the mechanic

 

[ncooper]

This sounds like a rip off to me. It cost me 100 quid for new friction parts (disks pads and parking brake) at all four corners, it took about two hours to do the lot.

If they were only asked to quote why did they proceed to repair it? and if extra work became apparent why did they not inform you before proceeding further? sounds like rip off merchant behavior to me.

Two sides to every story? would those be the ones where he says leave it with us we'll sort it and the one where he laughs all the way to the bank/pub clutching an unfair share of your hard earned cash.

Tell them that you are not happy with the costs and if no remedial action is taken tell the world who, what and where he is.

The one thing that's missing from this is an explanation of the costs.

A second choice to storming down to the garage full of preconceived versions of what happened and haranguing them with stories of what can be bought from e-bay and for how much etc etc,would be to casually drop in,thank them for doing the job and quietly enquire as to why the bill was a little larger than you expected.

There is nothing to be lost, as you have already paid and the subsequent conversation may be quite revealing and let you make an informed decision on whether or not to use them again.

Regards,
Nick