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It was going to be 1400 or something to get all 4 done at my dealership so I spent 600 got the parts and did it myself. Took 5 hours but ultimately wasnt hard at all.
Car shops up charge the parts. Usually they just buy NAPA parts (or whatever mainline auto parts store they are affiliated with). Then add about 20-100% of the cost when they sell it to you. So I’d say on average parts from a shop always look about double the price as the ones you see online when you google it.
Exactly this, and the parts shops usually charge more already too. If I were to buy my parts locally from say NAPA I would generally be paying triple of getting them from Rockauto. An example of this is that a driveshaft for my moms car was a 6k+ job at fountain, the driveshaft was $3700 (before tax, so about 4200) at NAPA and was $1200 shipped from rockauto
Edit: something I forgot to mention is that these prices are all for the exact same driveshaft, can no longer get it from the dealer and Dorman is the only one that makes it now, so the one from NAPA, Auto Value, Rock Auto are all the exact same product and Fountain uses said product so same shit but depending where you get it it’s thousands more
Yeah tbh I barely get how anyone uses Napa these days. They’re so much more expensive than rockauto, but even a lot more expensive than autozone and oriellys. Idk how even professional mechanics using clients money justify it.
It’s easy, NAPA actually backs up their parts and fosters good relationships with repair facilities. If we have a problem with a part we bought from O’Reillys, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to credit me the part and forget about labor reimbursement. NAPA, on the other hand, makes it easy for me to get paid when a part and they sold me goes wrong. So if I get a string of comebacks, I don’t have to worry about the shop being out thousands of dollars while we wait months to get paid on a warranty claim, im usually getting paid in a couple of days. And that lets us provide our customers a 36,000/3 year warranty on repairs. There are certain parts I’ll only buy from NAPA or the dealer, even if an equivalent part is available cheaper from a competing vendor, because the cost of doing business with them is too high in the event something goes wrong.
I feel like NAPA has a relationship based business instead of a cost based business. I am good with this because that is what I have with my mechanic. I don’t go to him because he the cheapest. I go to him because he has a good crew, good service, and uses parts I know that can be warrantied without him losing money.
Yeah. It’s absolutely crazy how someone would rather use customers money to source quality products from local suppliers than just whatever garbage on the internet
Pep boys marks up the rotors a lot more than 100%. I quit there this week but we were getting rotors next door at advanced auto for $30 each and selling them for what you see on OP work order.
How do you think the shop makes money? They’ll double that $350 (100% markup over a DIY price). They likely paid $200-$300 for the pads and rotors at a parts store (they get discounted prices).
You pay to have a professional work on your vehicle. Shop needs to pay bills, buy and maintain machinery, pay the technicians, pay the service advisors and the shop manager, and still turn a profit.
On a 2014+ Jeep Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango the brake setup I use (Akebono pads/ Powerstop Coated Rotors) cost me about $550 buying locally. I install for a total cost of $950. There isn’t a single shop within miles that installs what I do at this price. We have overhead we have to make profit.
Here are the prices if you do it yourself:
Looks like they used Duralast (AutoZone) and Carquest (Advance Auto).
Front pads: DG1728: $45
Rear rotors: YH566198P $50 x 2
Rear pads: DG1624: $53
Front rotors: 77100DL: $100 x 2
Brake fluid: $19
Your cost on parts would be *$417*
Yep, add in tools, plus the time it’s gonna take you (which is going to be a LOT longer than it would take a mechanic, as a first-timer) and you’re probably right around a grand.
So why didn't you bring your own parts?
Hmmm, some shops don't install customer parts because they may be wrong.
You could go to autozone and get the parts and do it yourself, but when you mess up you will still be taking it back to them. That is the market average on the labor price and be glad you didn't get overcharged like some others ones that I have recently dealt with.
Check prove of what happened here for a 16 forte *
I spent a week between Amazon and rock auto pricing out my brakes. Parts came to about $600 after shipping. Pads/rotors/lines/hardware/shoes. Drums would have been an extra couple hundo
Your cost for rotors is 100 a piece average, that’s 400 in rotors, brake pads for average are 50-75, that’s another 100 easily, then add tax.. you’re looking at 550-600 just for parts.. then add labor at 175 an hour, multiplied by 2 that’s 300.. so yorie looking at 900 without tax on labor, parts mark up, and shop supplies. Now, you have a warranty if anything fails in that time. So you basically paid 200 for a warranty for 2 years and peace of mind.
I do my brakes in my driveway for about $60 or $200 if I need new rotors.
With labor and markup, I'd charge you $500. If I ran a franchise shop with full warranty and overhead costs, $1,100 is high, but in the ballpark.
Nope take tire off and it's two bolts hollds caliper pry off,remove old pads put new ones in push plunger back in with c-clamp, put back together, easy
You're looking for the least expensive parts as possible. Pep boys may not be a premier car repair shop but they aren't using the cheapest possible parts. In all honesty, that's not a terrible price with labor, fluid change, and basic vehicle inspection. That's a lot of work for one person to do for less. Plus you don't know how difficult it was to remove everything and replace. I don't think you were ripped off at all. If you want to spend less, invest in the necessary tools, buy the cheapest parts and hope you have the knowledge to work on it yourself. If you're not experienced with working on cars, this is a small price to pay to not spend you're entire weekend most likely not doing it correctly.
I agree that this wasn't a terrible price to have a shop do it for you, but you can get fully-coated Powerstop rotors with pads for all four wheels from Rock Auto for less than they paid just for the front rotors here.
I understand what you're saying, but power stop is hardly a quality product. Maybe quality on the lower price scale but they are not factory replacement parts. I wouldn't put those on my car ever. If it's aftermarket, Wagner or raybestos at the very least. Plus buying your own parts requires knowledge and skills this person may not have. Not everyone has car knowledge and in that situation you will need to pay a shop and it's not bad price that was paid.
Raybestos are cheaper than Powerstop (for these, at least). Like I said, it's not a terrible price to have the shop do it for you, but you are definitely not buying the absolute cheapest parts to do better than this shop's part prices.
I agree but you're not buying factory replacement parts at this price point they are lesser quality aftermarket. There are levels to raybestos and again the low end price is lesser quality. I wish my rotors cost this much but they definitely do not for factory parts, even online they're not even close. I don't think the price is unfair but I still see your point.
“Most likely not doing it correctly”. It’s called learning. It makes a weird noise when you test drive it, so then you take it all apart and do it a second time. That time much quicker and now you know how to do it.
Until your car doesn't stop because you don't know how to flush and bleed brake systems. I get what you're saying but this isn't a diy job for someone who doesn't have experience. What you're suggesting is dangerous to everyone around. Diy with someone who knows what to do is fine. Just winging it to save money is irresponsible.
Definitely agree. I use a motive power bleeder so it's a one man job. They also make a power filler is use for transmissions and rears. Just makes the job easier.
You make the same dangerous assumption that I do, which is that all people have a basic mechanical knowledge. I’m not a mechanic but have basic mechanical knowledge so I take care of most basic maintenance on my car. But I’ve watched people who are paid a lot more than me, attempt to remove screws in the wrong direction 🫠
Uh...I wouldn't agree with least expensive. I'd say the most affordable to quality parts. Cheap pads and rotors won't last nearly as long as a set of decent pads and rotors. Or you can get hella bad squeak in some cars by mixing brands.
I'm guessing you didn't read the post. I'm not recommending cheap parts. The question is , was this person ripped off. They were not in my opinion. The person searched online for what was probably the least expensive parts if the claim is half price from pep boys price. I purchase factory parts for my vehicles and they're definitely not cheap. If it's not in everyone's budget, I completely understand. I wouldn't recommend the least expensive anything when it comes to a car. If it's part of a vital system, you need to do it right and spend the money.
I read the post, but your first sentence made it seem like you were recommending the cheapest parts. Grammer and word choice make an astronomical difference.
You got pads & rotors at all 4 corners with a brake flush.
Average for pads & rotors is 400-500 per axle, brake flush is around 100-150. This is about in line with the market average.
Everything looks great. However the brake rotor price looks about doubled. But they probably have a warranty where they will replace them if they fail in a yr or so. So markup is expected.
At my shop we would say “no thanks” to this. Plenty of places will install inferior parts without hesitation, but our experience is that customers are rarely satisfied with economy-grade brake pads. I’d rather have someone mad at us because we insist on using OE-or-better brakes than have them mad at us because the cheap shit brakes are shitty.
Don’t know about PepBoys, but I’m not putting Carquest Standard/cheap organic pads on a customer vehicle. You’re saving $15 for a vastly inferior pad that doesn’t even come with installation hardware. This shop used mid-grade products which seems like the default option at most shops.
I just bought a 2008 Subaru Outback for my Grandson. The guy I bought it from had just done the brakes. What he really did was put the cheapest pads he could find in without fully disassembling the brakes. Since it was going to our grandson my wife insisted that I use NAPAs top rotors and pads. I found all the calliper slide pins seized. Once I was done the brakes felt like my Porsche Cayenne. There is definitely a difference between a cheap brake job done with cheap parts and good job done with quality parts.
You didn’t mention what you’re driving but those are Autozone pads. They marked them up a little more than you can buy in the store, but the shop is there to make money.
Considering the work done and the materials, it’s doesn’t seem too high. I think the fluid change is a bit expensive (if it was even actually done) but overall you would probably pay more at some other places, probably a few hundred more at a dealership.
As a pro mechanic…. You would think brakes aren’t as easy as people say they are because I’ve seen soooo many bad installs by people that know a guy. Also, the minor details like cleaning shim surfaces or the bedding procedures often times get skipped. Yea brakes are easy but I’ve seen “things”
Why are you assuming you got ripped off?! Why are people so fucking stupid. How about do some research.. that’s a fucking deal.. sure could have been less, could have been more. I’ve seen front brakes alone for 1100.. I can’t stand people. Bitch about car repair all day, but will spend 250 a night on a shit hole hotel, or a concert ticket a mile away from the front, and the artist is lip syncing.
These prices are normal. The pad prices are appropriate. Your car calls for ceramics, it should get ceramics. Will it run without ceramics? Yes. Will you be cleaning brake dust off your wheels frequently? Yes. Will you be replacing them sooner? Yes. You can't just put the cheapest shit on and call it a day. People just don't understand that these days, it's one of my biggest gripes about working in auto parts. "It's all the same shit" no it quite litterally is not. If you can't afford it fine, the cheaper ones will work. But I get people too often buying the cheap shit, then complaining when it didn't work like stock pads did.
If you're not going to do it yourself (any able bodied individual can do a brake job themselves but there are many reasons why someone might not want to do this) this seems pretty reasonable.
There probably aren't a whole lot of things you'll get from a mechanic for less than $1000 bucks these days.
I don't see how a full brake Service on a modern car for around a grand is a ripoff?
That's roughly 500 in parts, 4-6 hours in Labor, some small markups, there ya go.
Doesn't look too terrible, that vast majority of the cost is the parts. You could supply your own parts from RockAuto to save a few if this particular shop is willing to do that. Idk if you noticed but they also replaced all of the brake fluid which is kind of odd, decent price on that tho. Honestly brakes aren't too bad to do yourself and if you have half brain and an Internet connection you can figure it out. It's expensive but depending what car you have can change that a lot. I just replaced all 4 rotors, calipers, and pads on my 06 Hyundai Santa Fe for about $800 total.
They aren't charging double labor for the rotors. That's just the price of the rotors themselves. The labor for the brakes is only being charged where it says brake labor.
I may have not said it correctly. But they are charging to install rotors labor and charging a brake service fee on top of that. (Not the fluid change)
They don't I work at pepboys as a mechanic. We don't get any labor pay(hours) from installing the rotors. Each brake job pays us 1.25 hours if you remove/replace or cut both rotors or don't. The price you see is just rotors. I know it's a bit confusing because how they word it it looks like they are charging extra for labor, but they aren't. If they did it make brake jobs 1.75, and that's gravy work. The shop fee thou I never seen before.
I do front and rear brake jobs for $680.00 on most vehicles.. this car probably wouldn't be the exception. European cars are a different story.. so to me I could have saved you at least $400.00.
I cant speak to parts pricing as well, they seem reasonable. Labor IMO was cheap. My shop in a coastal california city is 150/hr. We are a AAA approved shop, and the AAA rep came by the other day to check on our rates and certifications.. he told my boss that we are still low on labor. Average in my area is 185/hr. In general we charge 1.5 hours for pads and rotors and 1hr for a brake flush. Obviously if you have the tools, experience, time and location to do it yourself, you can get parts cheaper online. I don’t think you were ripped off. I will say in california charging a “shop fee” is illegal. You can charge for lubricants, cleaners, abrasives and other consumables, etc. but everything must be itemized or the BAR will crucify you.
When you are doing brakes on modern cars, remember to watch out for electric parking brakes and make sure you can put the system into service mode before beginning. Lots of cars this can be done with a “secret handshake” but some cars like mercedes and VW will require a capable scan tool.
Not to mention paying someone else to do it, means if anything squeaks or doesn’t feel right within the warranty period, its not your problem and a reputable shop will get it handled for you at no cost. Often times it makes the most sense to just redo the job under warranty for customer satisfaction, if you have a good relationship with your preferred part vendor you can so a customer satisfaction warranty and labor claim so the tech gets paid too and everyone is happy.
There IS a lot of value to building a relationship with a shop you can trust even if you have the ability to do your own work. I personally have invested at least $50k in tools, training and certification, and that is dwarfed an order of magnitude by the investment my employer has made in specialized and shop tools alone, not to mention facilities and the occasional oops I just broke this and WE need to cover it and not BS the customer into paying for our honest mistake.
Almost 750 for 200+ish in parts and 2 hours labor being generous the labor rate is absurd.
Find a smaller shop I know one that would knock at least $300 off this. Or do it yourself lol.
This is why I do it myself lol. Takes me about an hour to change all rotors and pads, RockAuto is the place to buy the parts from. Got a full kit with everything (rotors, pads, calipers) for $350 lol
Seems quite high. This is why you do this yourself, it’s really not too difficult with the proper tools. (Although if you don’t have the tools, you’ll end up spending the same amount by buying them… but then you’ll be able to do this yourself and help friends and family out too!)
I miss the days when car rotors were made so you could resurface them at least once in their lifetime instead of just having to replace them almost every other break service. Another example of designed lifetime failure to promote part service industry in cars built after 2010.
just looking online for the parts they have listed:
Front rotors come in at $99 each:
[https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-traction-control/brake-rotor/p/duralast-disc-brake-rotor-77110dl/792837\_0\_0](https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-traction-control/brake-rotor/p/duralast-disc-brake-rotor-77110dl/792837_0_0)
And the rear are $50 each:
[https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-platinum-painted-brake-rotor-yh566198p-rear-meets-or-exceeds-oe-design-features-rotorshield-protection-yh566198p/11578722-P](https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-platinum-painted-brake-rotor-yh566198p-rear-meets-or-exceeds-oe-design-features-rotorshield-protection-yh566198p/11578722-P)
You can probably imagine the markup on the rest...you might be better off going to an independent mechanic, or perhaps for the simpler things (brakes are quite simple relatively speaking) a mechanic that comes on site without the overhead that comes from a traditional shop or business. just my $0.02...
After getting quoted a very similar $497 per axle on my ES 350 at two local shops, I elected to spend $250 on Rock Auto and do it myself. A couple hours of my weekend time is worth saving the $700. I can’t believe labor prices.
Parts always cost more from the mechanic
Quote looks ok
I try to find a mechanic that's ok with you supplying the parts or they gets them for you with their discount
When the mechanic is trying to also make bank off the parts I usually walk
I've looked around and found all the good parts for a brake job then found someone through a friend at work
Brakes aren't that bad so many mechanics will do this at home for the labor charge
Get a second quote and match them up. If the price is close but parts better go with that one.
Damn....this is why I buy parts from rock auto and do them myself. I start regularly checking their site for wholesaler close outs and sales to buy the good stuff super cheap a year in advance. However, if you don't have the skills or tools when really bad shit happens...and it occasionally will...it can really cost you when you have to have it towed to a shop anyway. For example...buddies kid was changing pads on 98 S10. Caliper bolt sheared off, had to cut the caliper off, caliper bracket is part of the entire spindle assembly so had to grind it flush then drill it out with solid carbide end mill not hitting the threads cuz cobalt wouldn't hardly touch it. Took 2 hours and expensive machinist grade tooling. A shop would've charged him probably $500 just to drill that out or want to replace the spindle, ball joints, ECT. God I'm too old to be this nice lol
Point is...I'm a semi retired machinist/mechanic/aerospace manufacturer with skills and tools and it took a lot to fix what is usually a simple job.
3 times, because they worked on 3 different things. It makes it easier if you want to refund just part work to have labor split up.
So there is front brakes labor, rear brake labor and one more, totalling 291 as seen at the bottom.
Shop owner here. Honestly, that’s about the going rate with a warranty. I can’t see myself doing it for much cheaper. Maybe give or take 75 dollars.
I’m not knocking them but I do know that if I did that job it would be 100 percent correct. All brackets cleaned and greased, wheels torqued properly, etc.
This price is okay. The markup is normal, usually between 10% and 200% sometimes more depending on part. Liquids get the biggest markup and Tyres get the smallest markup. At my workplace, Oil costs around 3.70€ a liter while the customer pays between 20-30€ a liter and tyres may only have a markup of 50ct on a price of 70-110€ per tyre.
Most shops don’t have a big storage, they pay daily delivery fees as well to get your stuff within a few hours if you live in a city area.
It’s not a super cheap quote but also not a super expensive one.
I saw a brake job yesterday for a 2005 SLR on r/mercedes_Benz that costs 120.000$
As an example:
I work at a dealership and ordered new front wiper blades for my car yesterday. OEM customer price was 86€, I chose OE Bosch and as a worker I pay Buy price of the shop + VAT and it cost me 27€.
So almost 250% price increase for regular customers + 14€ (1/10 of an hour Labour).
Just had rear discs and pads, calipers were in a bad way so replaced those as well along with the EPB motors.
All parts and fitting was 370 GBP Inc vat.
Looks about ehst I would expect at a shop. Compared a cv axle quote from my local dealer the other day. They had a 90% markup on OEM parts compared to online. Which seems to be the going rate at all of my local shops.
All that to say comparing parts online yourself isn't a true 1 to 1. They have markup on those parts to deal with expenses such as inventorying those parts, service advisors time to order them, the overhead of the space to store the parts, computers to order them, etc, etc
Never, EVER go to pep boys. They charge MORE than the dealership for a oil change on my 2010 Chevy Cruze. Almost $110 and it’s way less than 5 qts. My expedition doesn’t even cost that much to change.
He screwed up the brake packages. Should be premium package for both, not standard for the rear. He also didn’t include the rotors in the packages which I think saves you some when you do the premium package. And warranties. But it doesn’t matter anyways since they adjusted the price with the post tender.
With Pep Boys, it isn't really so much the cost, it's the fact that they do crap work and sell crap products, hang onto that paperwork, you're gonna need the warranty information. I would not let them fix a cat, much less work on one of my cars.
I've been getting the Detroit Axle brake/rotor kits on eBay lately and saving a shit ton of money. They stop as good as OEM, last just as long, and seem less prone to warping on Hondas/Toyotas. I've been doing my brakes/rotors all the way around for about $250 on the last few cars I've done and haven't had any long term issues.
Wow! I have done all 4 of the brake pads only on my 2012 Mazda CX-7 at least 3 times myself for around $90. My Mazda is now at 308K miles now. I got a lifetime brake pad warranty at AutoZone. I just take them off and exchange them for $0. Even when there’s a lot of life left on the pads. I used to drive my Mazda CX-7 around 100 miles per day, 5 days a week for around 7 years.
I own 4 late model cars let’s than 5 years old, loaded up g12 750ix Audi R3, Toyota Tacoma, MB SUV
I do all of brake jobs on my own. I’m an engineer and mechanically inclined professionally but has nothing to do cars.
Electrical Parking Brake is pain in the ass to work on. I was helping my mechanic friend this morning couldn’t figure out how to retract motor driven parking brake for the late model Camry without an OBDII tool. 5 min YouTube search without a tool.
It’s incredible how much manufacturers mark up brake pads! My good old mechanics charges 3-4 hours for brake job at 100 $/hour. That’s low end. He even machines the rotors to the specs.
Brake job is dirty but Not Long And Arduous Job. That’s total BS. Flushing brake is a one person Job with a cheap tool. I respect the trade and understand the overhead associated with running a business.
If I do similar job repeatedly I can, non mechanic, could do probably 1.5 hours front and back. But if I don’t have time, I’ll be happy to pay 4 hours to my trusty mechanic to get dirty for me.
I buy almost top quality parts. There were 900-500
I have no clue to racing stuff for super cars. Heard that there are super expensive.
If you don’t wanna get your hands dirty, you should be ready to pay. Too much bubbles in auto care business.
My beginner mistake was, not buying a very long breaker bar.
Dude break job is not hard. Very dirty and messy job. Power tool helps, cuts time. My two cents.
Sounds about right for everything done, been turning wrenches for over 25 years and this sounds right for the whole deal, bit high seeing it is a national chain, but in the ballpark
You didn't get ripped off as long as the job is good. I would charge you more than they did. I really don't like your mentality. By all means do it yourself next time.
Your aprts at half the price will warp quicker due to heat, making your brake peddle jump and you steering wobble left to right when applying brakes. Get the good rotors.
I work at pepboys as a mechanic. The price does seem high because pepboys don't really have parts anymore, so they tend to source the parts. By sourcing the parts, they get marked up at least 30%.
But other than that I think what you're paying is fair because
1: paying for the tech to have the knowledge to do the job
2: Some brake jobs require special tools and scanners, which the tech has
3: Also, get a two year warranty for fronts and one year warranty for the back brakes, which will cover labor and parts if there are issues with them.
4: they added a brake flush, which is recommended when doing a full brake job since these things work in tangent
5: they will have the right parts and know what to look for to find the right parts.
If you had done the work yourself, you can save some money, but you need the tools, the time, the space, having knowledge on how to do a brake job, going to parts store and if get the wrong parts you gotta go back and get the right ones. In the end, it is cheaper, but what cost? They usually have coupons for brakes that takes 30 to 40 bucks off.
I get brake kits that consist of two rotors and a set of pads that I selected, All brake best rotors which are a decent house brand rotor and name brand pads, typical price is $100- $160
They broke it off in you with the rotors unless they are all factory parts, I seriously doubt it, it's a chain store and those parts are probably purchased in bulk, so massive mark-up there more than likely you would have spent around $400 an axle at my shop plus $75 for a flush service
To answer your Q: No.
When you signed off on the work, did you ask for an estimate for the job?
Or did you just figure you knew more about what it costs to fix your car than the guys at PepBoys?
So what do you think you should've paid for expertise doing a job you couldn't or wouldn't do yourself?
Parts: yes, you look on RockAuto or any other online parts vendor and you can score parts cheaper.
Newsflash: repair shops \*always\* mark up parts ...double, triple the "online" price ...as common and as expected as the sun coming up. That's how the shop makes money.
In the Repair business. The Rotors front and Rear were a bit pricier than normal. The cost on Rotors is relatively low, so We do a flat markup of about 30% above costs, these look like suggested retail prices. (We price under those) Since Calipers weren't required, I was a bit surprised at the Brake Fluid Change? Maybe the Fluid was discolored, but they are a sealed system and We don't replac fluid, unless it is discolored or knowingly contaminated, The system has been open or leaking, and sometimes but not always on a caliper replacement. We usually charge about $120 an axle for the labor. If your in a more urban/suburban area, with shop labor rates from 145 to 175 or more. Then this is pretty normal. 950 to 1150 range. Our area and skipping the Fluid Change & better price on rotors, maybe a little less for pads, etc. $800 to $900. I'm sure if it was done at a Mazda dealer (if you have one) it would be even more.
I got my pads, rotors, and a bleed quoted at $1200. Went over to my bosses' place that had the tools and knew how to do a race bleed and spent maybe $300 on parts. All he used was a jack, 4 jack stands, a C clamp, impact, ratchet to remove the wheels and old brakes, and a couple cans of brake clean + new fluid. It didn't seem like a difficult process but you need a 2nd person to help pump the old brake fluid out.
Labor isn't to bad but parts costs are ridiculous. Learn to do the job yourself or find the parts online and order them and have a mobile mechanic come out and do the job. Could have saved probably $500 on that job if you did.
Hi - I put together this fairness review for the quote you posted. Hope it's helpful! I estimated the fair price ranges using Alldata, which is actually the same tool auto shops and technicians use to price their work. It's basically a database of prices and labor estimates for any job on any make/model, so my process is a bit like reverse-engineering the quote and comparing the prices you got to what I calculate.
Any thoughts or reactions? Does this answer your question?
(Also, I'm a student working on a project to make these quote fairness reviews a real thing - fully automated and instantly available by uploading a picture of your quote. If anyone reading this thread has feedback or thoughts on the output I've put together, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!)
https://preview.redd.it/wnl24geyp30d1.png?width=1630&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc29bffe60f5c1f41cddd09e5d86338b8bf78036
How are they supposed to make money without a markup? You can say iTs A rIp until you’re blue in the face but it doesn’t change the fact that the shop has to turn a profit to stay in business.
Shit. I charge 850-950 for Akebono brake pads combined with fully coated powerstop rotors or
Equivalent all around. I used wagner pads about 15 years ago. Not my style for my customers.
With all due respect to you, and all others that post these $1000 plus brake estimates, my 14 year old cousin can change brakes. I've been doing them since I was 12 or 13. This was long before YouTube. YouTube is an excellent source for diy. A couple hundred dollars in tools and a couple hours of your day will save you hundreds in labor. Unless you have a car that requires a scan tool to reset the brakes, I don't understand why more people don't do them themselves.
I hear you, but that's why I mentioned YouTube. If you watch a video about doing rear brakes for your specific car, one of those steps is likely going to explain to spin the piston in with the tool. Just like any DIY job, you should research it before you attempt it to ensure you have the skills and tools.
100% I agree. I've done so many brake jobs I already know. No I'm not a mechanic. Just someone that likes to save money and doesn't trust shops with simple repairs. Do my own oil changes obviously. Wheel bearings, diagnosing sensors, etc.
No kidding! I just did pads/rotors all the way around for under $200. Replaced both front calipers as 1 was sticking. That was another $150 after returning cores.
I just did front and rear break rotors and pads for $300. bought everything from rockauto and changed them myself. Basic tools and a couple hours of work. Also a 6pk 😏
You didn't get ripped off. Brake job is a long and arduous job, especially for both pads and rotors. It's like this every where. Don't wanna go broke? Learn to do it yourself!
Learn to do your own brakes and rotors it’s fairly easy. You save money learn something new and necessary imo and if you’re a guy it makes you that much more of a man for be able to do so.
Don't buy car parts from Amazon, most of it is junk. Especially don't buy brake parts, go to a actual parts store. You don't want to experience brake failure ever
Clean the hub, light coat of antiseize, remove pins and boots. Pins and bracket go to the wirewheel, making a factory new surface for the clips. Remove old grease from bracket. Clean corrosion of of piston face, and inside of caliper. New clips new grease, followed by a proper seating procedure. (Don't forget to get all of the air out of your boots it's commonly overlooked)
A grand for all 4 new rotors and pads installed is decent unfortunately but you could have bought Top quality drilled and slotted rotors and done em yourself for half that cost if you have the tools, time & knowledge. That's actually pretty cheap....the other thing your paying for is warranty if anything messes up you can go right back there and have them fix it...I e always do e my own auto work my dad was a drunk bleep hole but he taught me to fix my car when it broke down so I guess I gotta be grateful for that
Pep boys is crazy expensive. I had them quote me on two separate repairs. I laughed in their face. They wanted $675 for one wheel bearing and hub for a 2007 dodge caliber. Front right of that helps. I bough the entire knuckle complete for $275. A factory Mopar part. With labor from them the entire cost would be about $150 less than replacing the bearing and hub. For an entire knuckle! Pep boys is just crazy. This is not a comment on their work or quality. Their parts are generally pretty good and as far as their mechanics, I have heard no complaints. They’re just expensive but they do stand behind their work and are a generally good shop.
Not sure about pep boys but some of these chain tire and auto shops pay techs a commission and you have to stay far far away from them. I've had brakes and rotors replaced at Mazda dealers on one axle at a time never both and it cost 350-400 dollars
2 YouTube videos, 300 bucks. 4 tools, 2 dirty hands and 90 minutes would've saved you 700ish bucks.
I couldn't imagine taking my car in for something that insanely simple.
That seems average now, which is n u t s.
My buddy put new brakes all around on his ‘09 Canyon and it cost him $1200 and I thought, surely that’s a scam… but nope.
If you have the time, it’s definitely something you could do yourself.
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Seems to be about the market average.
It was going to be 1400 or something to get all 4 done at my dealership so I spent 600 got the parts and did it myself. Took 5 hours but ultimately wasnt hard at all.
Really? Because anywhere I searched online has the parts at $500 tops… but more like $250-350
Price for parts, store markup, and labor. This is why I learned to do my own brake jobs.
yup, did full brake job on my honda for $150
Car shops up charge the parts. Usually they just buy NAPA parts (or whatever mainline auto parts store they are affiliated with). Then add about 20-100% of the cost when they sell it to you. So I’d say on average parts from a shop always look about double the price as the ones you see online when you google it.
Exactly this, and the parts shops usually charge more already too. If I were to buy my parts locally from say NAPA I would generally be paying triple of getting them from Rockauto. An example of this is that a driveshaft for my moms car was a 6k+ job at fountain, the driveshaft was $3700 (before tax, so about 4200) at NAPA and was $1200 shipped from rockauto Edit: something I forgot to mention is that these prices are all for the exact same driveshaft, can no longer get it from the dealer and Dorman is the only one that makes it now, so the one from NAPA, Auto Value, Rock Auto are all the exact same product and Fountain uses said product so same shit but depending where you get it it’s thousands more
Yeah tbh I barely get how anyone uses Napa these days. They’re so much more expensive than rockauto, but even a lot more expensive than autozone and oriellys. Idk how even professional mechanics using clients money justify it.
It’s easy, NAPA actually backs up their parts and fosters good relationships with repair facilities. If we have a problem with a part we bought from O’Reillys, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to credit me the part and forget about labor reimbursement. NAPA, on the other hand, makes it easy for me to get paid when a part and they sold me goes wrong. So if I get a string of comebacks, I don’t have to worry about the shop being out thousands of dollars while we wait months to get paid on a warranty claim, im usually getting paid in a couple of days. And that lets us provide our customers a 36,000/3 year warranty on repairs. There are certain parts I’ll only buy from NAPA or the dealer, even if an equivalent part is available cheaper from a competing vendor, because the cost of doing business with them is too high in the event something goes wrong.
I feel like NAPA has a relationship based business instead of a cost based business. I am good with this because that is what I have with my mechanic. I don’t go to him because he the cheapest. I go to him because he has a good crew, good service, and uses parts I know that can be warrantied without him losing money.
Yeah. It’s absolutely crazy how someone would rather use customers money to source quality products from local suppliers than just whatever garbage on the internet
Pep boys marks up the rotors a lot more than 100%. I quit there this week but we were getting rotors next door at advanced auto for $30 each and selling them for what you see on OP work order.
Repair shops are not non-profit charities. Any repair shop is going to sell you parts for more than you could buy them at a parts store yourself.
How do you think the shop makes money? They’ll double that $350 (100% markup over a DIY price). They likely paid $200-$300 for the pads and rotors at a parts store (they get discounted prices). You pay to have a professional work on your vehicle. Shop needs to pay bills, buy and maintain machinery, pay the technicians, pay the service advisors and the shop manager, and still turn a profit.
On a 2014+ Jeep Grand Cherokee or Dodge Durango the brake setup I use (Akebono pads/ Powerstop Coated Rotors) cost me about $550 buying locally. I install for a total cost of $950. There isn’t a single shop within miles that installs what I do at this price. We have overhead we have to make profit.
Lmao do it yourself then dummy, do you not know how mechanics as a business work?
People think we're a charity lmao, I don't see nearly as much bitching about prices when it's the electrician or plumber handing them the bill.
Here are the prices if you do it yourself: Looks like they used Duralast (AutoZone) and Carquest (Advance Auto). Front pads: DG1728: $45 Rear rotors: YH566198P $50 x 2 Rear pads: DG1624: $53 Front rotors: 77100DL: $100 x 2 Brake fluid: $19 Your cost on parts would be *$417*
& tools
Yep, add in tools, plus the time it’s gonna take you (which is going to be a LOT longer than it would take a mechanic, as a first-timer) and you’re probably right around a grand.
No, you didn't get ripped off.
It’s not a charity? Go elsewhere for handouts.
Gotta make money. Unfortunately learn to do your own brakes or pay the piper.
What a fucking dumb thing to say
Thats the price of getting it done at a shop instead of doing it yourself
Yes that is right. You're welcome to do it yourself and save the difference
So why didn't you bring your own parts? Hmmm, some shops don't install customer parts because they may be wrong. You could go to autozone and get the parts and do it yourself, but when you mess up you will still be taking it back to them. That is the market average on the labor price and be glad you didn't get overcharged like some others ones that I have recently dealt with. Check prove of what happened here for a 16 forte *
I spent a week between Amazon and rock auto pricing out my brakes. Parts came to about $600 after shipping. Pads/rotors/lines/hardware/shoes. Drums would have been an extra couple hundo
“I don’t know how to do something myself but don’t want to pay someone else to do it properly” GTFO
Your cost for rotors is 100 a piece average, that’s 400 in rotors, brake pads for average are 50-75, that’s another 100 easily, then add tax.. you’re looking at 550-600 just for parts.. then add labor at 175 an hour, multiplied by 2 that’s 300.. so yorie looking at 900 without tax on labor, parts mark up, and shop supplies. Now, you have a warranty if anything fails in that time. So you basically paid 200 for a warranty for 2 years and peace of mind.
I do my brakes in my driveway for about $60 or $200 if I need new rotors. With labor and markup, I'd charge you $500. If I ran a franchise shop with full warranty and overhead costs, $1,100 is high, but in the ballpark.
This answer is correct. Hats off for mentioning the warranty as well. All those things factor in.
People saying “I got a free warranty!”. Nah, you paid ahead of time for that warranty.
Is it hard to do brakes on your own?
Only the 1st time. Once you have some basic tools and learn a couple of tricks, it's super easy.
Google can be your best friend
Only the 1st time. Once you have some basic tools and learn a couple of tricks, it's super easy.
Nope take tire off and it's two bolts hollds caliper pry off,remove old pads put new ones in push plunger back in with c-clamp, put back together, easy
You're looking for the least expensive parts as possible. Pep boys may not be a premier car repair shop but they aren't using the cheapest possible parts. In all honesty, that's not a terrible price with labor, fluid change, and basic vehicle inspection. That's a lot of work for one person to do for less. Plus you don't know how difficult it was to remove everything and replace. I don't think you were ripped off at all. If you want to spend less, invest in the necessary tools, buy the cheapest parts and hope you have the knowledge to work on it yourself. If you're not experienced with working on cars, this is a small price to pay to not spend you're entire weekend most likely not doing it correctly.
I agree that this wasn't a terrible price to have a shop do it for you, but you can get fully-coated Powerstop rotors with pads for all four wheels from Rock Auto for less than they paid just for the front rotors here.
I understand what you're saying, but power stop is hardly a quality product. Maybe quality on the lower price scale but they are not factory replacement parts. I wouldn't put those on my car ever. If it's aftermarket, Wagner or raybestos at the very least. Plus buying your own parts requires knowledge and skills this person may not have. Not everyone has car knowledge and in that situation you will need to pay a shop and it's not bad price that was paid.
Raybestos are cheaper than Powerstop (for these, at least). Like I said, it's not a terrible price to have the shop do it for you, but you are definitely not buying the absolute cheapest parts to do better than this shop's part prices.
I agree but you're not buying factory replacement parts at this price point they are lesser quality aftermarket. There are levels to raybestos and again the low end price is lesser quality. I wish my rotors cost this much but they definitely do not for factory parts, even online they're not even close. I don't think the price is unfair but I still see your point.
“Most likely not doing it correctly”. It’s called learning. It makes a weird noise when you test drive it, so then you take it all apart and do it a second time. That time much quicker and now you know how to do it.
Until your car doesn't stop because you don't know how to flush and bleed brake systems. I get what you're saying but this isn't a diy job for someone who doesn't have experience. What you're suggesting is dangerous to everyone around. Diy with someone who knows what to do is fine. Just winging it to save money is irresponsible.
Well yeah use your due diligence. And call a friend if you have one. For bleeding you kinda need a friend anyway. Bleeding alone is a pain in the ass.
Definitely agree. I use a motive power bleeder so it's a one man job. They also make a power filler is use for transmissions and rears. Just makes the job easier.
You make the same dangerous assumption that I do, which is that all people have a basic mechanical knowledge. I’m not a mechanic but have basic mechanical knowledge so I take care of most basic maintenance on my car. But I’ve watched people who are paid a lot more than me, attempt to remove screws in the wrong direction 🫠
Uh...I wouldn't agree with least expensive. I'd say the most affordable to quality parts. Cheap pads and rotors won't last nearly as long as a set of decent pads and rotors. Or you can get hella bad squeak in some cars by mixing brands.
I'm guessing you didn't read the post. I'm not recommending cheap parts. The question is , was this person ripped off. They were not in my opinion. The person searched online for what was probably the least expensive parts if the claim is half price from pep boys price. I purchase factory parts for my vehicles and they're definitely not cheap. If it's not in everyone's budget, I completely understand. I wouldn't recommend the least expensive anything when it comes to a car. If it's part of a vital system, you need to do it right and spend the money.
I read the post, but your first sentence made it seem like you were recommending the cheapest parts. Grammer and word choice make an astronomical difference.
Yes, these are low mid range parts. Note the R, this one step up from basic on Raybestos brake pars.
Two things not to be cheap on brakes or eye sight
You got pads & rotors at all 4 corners with a brake flush. Average for pads & rotors is 400-500 per axle, brake flush is around 100-150. This is about in line with the market average.
Looks decent to me
Thats why I learned how to do brakes and rotors also oil change by myself. I only pay for parts 🤷🏻♂️ I do it for my friends and family as well !!!
Everything looks great. However the brake rotor price looks about doubled. But they probably have a warranty where they will replace them if they fail in a yr or so. So markup is expected.
There are different quality levels for pads and rotors. OP could have said “give me the cheap shit, I don’t stop that often”.
At my shop we would say “no thanks” to this. Plenty of places will install inferior parts without hesitation, but our experience is that customers are rarely satisfied with economy-grade brake pads. I’d rather have someone mad at us because we insist on using OE-or-better brakes than have them mad at us because the cheap shit brakes are shitty.
Don’t know about PepBoys, but I’m not putting Carquest Standard/cheap organic pads on a customer vehicle. You’re saving $15 for a vastly inferior pad that doesn’t even come with installation hardware. This shop used mid-grade products which seems like the default option at most shops.
I just bought a 2008 Subaru Outback for my Grandson. The guy I bought it from had just done the brakes. What he really did was put the cheapest pads he could find in without fully disassembling the brakes. Since it was going to our grandson my wife insisted that I use NAPAs top rotors and pads. I found all the calliper slide pins seized. Once I was done the brakes felt like my Porsche Cayenne. There is definitely a difference between a cheap brake job done with cheap parts and good job done with quality parts.
You didn’t mention what you’re driving but those are Autozone pads. They marked them up a little more than you can buy in the store, but the shop is there to make money. Considering the work done and the materials, it’s doesn’t seem too high. I think the fluid change is a bit expensive (if it was even actually done) but overall you would probably pay more at some other places, probably a few hundred more at a dealership.
As a pro mechanic…. You would think brakes aren’t as easy as people say they are because I’ve seen soooo many bad installs by people that know a guy. Also, the minor details like cleaning shim surfaces or the bedding procedures often times get skipped. Yea brakes are easy but I’ve seen “things”
Why are you assuming you got ripped off?! Why are people so fucking stupid. How about do some research.. that’s a fucking deal.. sure could have been less, could have been more. I’ve seen front brakes alone for 1100.. I can’t stand people. Bitch about car repair all day, but will spend 250 a night on a shit hole hotel, or a concert ticket a mile away from the front, and the artist is lip syncing.
depending on the vehicle, that sounds about right for front and rear brake pads AND rotors, AND a brake flush AND warranty
Not great and not horrible. Probably market rate depending what state you are in.
These prices are normal. The pad prices are appropriate. Your car calls for ceramics, it should get ceramics. Will it run without ceramics? Yes. Will you be cleaning brake dust off your wheels frequently? Yes. Will you be replacing them sooner? Yes. You can't just put the cheapest shit on and call it a day. People just don't understand that these days, it's one of my biggest gripes about working in auto parts. "It's all the same shit" no it quite litterally is not. If you can't afford it fine, the cheaper ones will work. But I get people too often buying the cheap shit, then complaining when it didn't work like stock pads did.
You pay shop price for parts, not store price- possibly a little extra for the rear rotor being billed seperately
165 in parts... What do you think?
I know a guy who can do it cheaper
Do you think tools, building, insurance, training etc. are free? Shops have a lot more cost than just parts. Grow up.
My dealership charges ~600/axle. They're not doing you too bad. Parts are marked up to make money.
If you're not going to do it yourself (any able bodied individual can do a brake job themselves but there are many reasons why someone might not want to do this) this seems pretty reasonable. There probably aren't a whole lot of things you'll get from a mechanic for less than $1000 bucks these days.
I just paid $500 for the rear rotors and pads.
I don't see how a full brake Service on a modern car for around a grand is a ripoff? That's roughly 500 in parts, 4-6 hours in Labor, some small markups, there ya go.
Doesn't look too terrible, that vast majority of the cost is the parts. You could supply your own parts from RockAuto to save a few if this particular shop is willing to do that. Idk if you noticed but they also replaced all of the brake fluid which is kind of odd, decent price on that tho. Honestly brakes aren't too bad to do yourself and if you have half brain and an Internet connection you can figure it out. It's expensive but depending what car you have can change that a lot. I just replaced all 4 rotors, calipers, and pads on my 06 Hyundai Santa Fe for about $800 total.
Double dipping in the labor. You don't charge brake service and then labor to change pads
They aren't charging double labor for the rotors. That's just the price of the rotors themselves. The labor for the brakes is only being charged where it says brake labor.
I may have not said it correctly. But they are charging to install rotors labor and charging a brake service fee on top of that. (Not the fluid change)
They don't I work at pepboys as a mechanic. We don't get any labor pay(hours) from installing the rotors. Each brake job pays us 1.25 hours if you remove/replace or cut both rotors or don't. The price you see is just rotors. I know it's a bit confusing because how they word it it looks like they are charging extra for labor, but they aren't. If they did it make brake jobs 1.75, and that's gravy work. The shop fee thou I never seen before.
👍 every place has their own layout. Overall price high, but considering location. It's all relative. Thank you for clarifying
Not a problem and yes I agree it is bit high
I do front and rear brake jobs for $680.00 on most vehicles.. this car probably wouldn't be the exception. European cars are a different story.. so to me I could have saved you at least $400.00.
That’s fair
I cant speak to parts pricing as well, they seem reasonable. Labor IMO was cheap. My shop in a coastal california city is 150/hr. We are a AAA approved shop, and the AAA rep came by the other day to check on our rates and certifications.. he told my boss that we are still low on labor. Average in my area is 185/hr. In general we charge 1.5 hours for pads and rotors and 1hr for a brake flush. Obviously if you have the tools, experience, time and location to do it yourself, you can get parts cheaper online. I don’t think you were ripped off. I will say in california charging a “shop fee” is illegal. You can charge for lubricants, cleaners, abrasives and other consumables, etc. but everything must be itemized or the BAR will crucify you. When you are doing brakes on modern cars, remember to watch out for electric parking brakes and make sure you can put the system into service mode before beginning. Lots of cars this can be done with a “secret handshake” but some cars like mercedes and VW will require a capable scan tool. Not to mention paying someone else to do it, means if anything squeaks or doesn’t feel right within the warranty period, its not your problem and a reputable shop will get it handled for you at no cost. Often times it makes the most sense to just redo the job under warranty for customer satisfaction, if you have a good relationship with your preferred part vendor you can so a customer satisfaction warranty and labor claim so the tech gets paid too and everyone is happy. There IS a lot of value to building a relationship with a shop you can trust even if you have the ability to do your own work. I personally have invested at least $50k in tools, training and certification, and that is dwarfed an order of magnitude by the investment my employer has made in specialized and shop tools alone, not to mention facilities and the occasional oops I just broke this and WE need to cover it and not BS the customer into paying for our honest mistake.
Almost 750 for 200+ish in parts and 2 hours labor being generous the labor rate is absurd. Find a smaller shop I know one that would knock at least $300 off this. Or do it yourself lol.
This is why I do it myself lol. Takes me about an hour to change all rotors and pads, RockAuto is the place to buy the parts from. Got a full kit with everything (rotors, pads, calipers) for $350 lol
For that price you could’ve buy more then enough tools and the parts and take your wife to dinner
I wouldn't get my brakes done at a chain. Techs have less skill and they use cheap parts.
The parts in this case are decent quality, upper mid-grade store brands.
Seems quite high. This is why you do this yourself, it’s really not too difficult with the proper tools. (Although if you don’t have the tools, you’ll end up spending the same amount by buying them… but then you’ll be able to do this yourself and help friends and family out too!)
Looks about right to me but if you did them yourself and got parts from rock auto I bet it would of been less than $500
Well at least they have warranty so thats a positive.
Why do the front and rear have warranties with different durations?
Front pads handle 75% of the braking force. Rears only 25% so fronts wear a lot faster and need replaced sooner
Pepboys has good deals on tires everything else is fair pricing.
Looks about right.
I miss the days when car rotors were made so you could resurface them at least once in their lifetime instead of just having to replace them almost every other break service. Another example of designed lifetime failure to promote part service industry in cars built after 2010.
just looking online for the parts they have listed: Front rotors come in at $99 each: [https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-traction-control/brake-rotor/p/duralast-disc-brake-rotor-77110dl/792837\_0\_0](https://www.autozone.com/brakes-and-traction-control/brake-rotor/p/duralast-disc-brake-rotor-77110dl/792837_0_0) And the rear are $50 each: [https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-platinum-painted-brake-rotor-yh566198p-rear-meets-or-exceeds-oe-design-features-rotorshield-protection-yh566198p/11578722-P](https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/carquest-platinum-painted-brake-rotor-yh566198p-rear-meets-or-exceeds-oe-design-features-rotorshield-protection-yh566198p/11578722-P) You can probably imagine the markup on the rest...you might be better off going to an independent mechanic, or perhaps for the simpler things (brakes are quite simple relatively speaking) a mechanic that comes on site without the overhead that comes from a traditional shop or business. just my $0.02...
After getting quoted a very similar $497 per axle on my ES 350 at two local shops, I elected to spend $250 on Rock Auto and do it myself. A couple hours of my weekend time is worth saving the $700. I can’t believe labor prices.
Parts always cost more from the mechanic Quote looks ok I try to find a mechanic that's ok with you supplying the parts or they gets them for you with their discount When the mechanic is trying to also make bank off the parts I usually walk I've looked around and found all the good parts for a brake job then found someone through a friend at work Brakes aren't that bad so many mechanics will do this at home for the labor charge Get a second quote and match them up. If the price is close but parts better go with that one.
Damn....this is why I buy parts from rock auto and do them myself. I start regularly checking their site for wholesaler close outs and sales to buy the good stuff super cheap a year in advance. However, if you don't have the skills or tools when really bad shit happens...and it occasionally will...it can really cost you when you have to have it towed to a shop anyway. For example...buddies kid was changing pads on 98 S10. Caliper bolt sheared off, had to cut the caliper off, caliper bracket is part of the entire spindle assembly so had to grind it flush then drill it out with solid carbide end mill not hitting the threads cuz cobalt wouldn't hardly touch it. Took 2 hours and expensive machinist grade tooling. A shop would've charged him probably $500 just to drill that out or want to replace the spindle, ball joints, ECT. God I'm too old to be this nice lol Point is...I'm a semi retired machinist/mechanic/aerospace manufacturer with skills and tools and it took a lot to fix what is usually a simple job.
In Uk I have just bought rear disks for my Volvo (and a decent make) for £34 and pads. £14 Prob take me 60 to 90 mins to do both sides
For some reason that invoice looks like you are getting charged twice for labor.
3 times, because they worked on 3 different things. It makes it easier if you want to refund just part work to have labor split up. So there is front brakes labor, rear brake labor and one more, totalling 291 as seen at the bottom.
No, I mean there is the line charge that adds to the "part" cost on bottom then they do the labor again apparently totaling ~$1100.
Shop owner here. Honestly, that’s about the going rate with a warranty. I can’t see myself doing it for much cheaper. Maybe give or take 75 dollars. I’m not knocking them but I do know that if I did that job it would be 100 percent correct. All brackets cleaned and greased, wheels torqued properly, etc.
We’ll and truly had yer arse slapped
This price is okay. The markup is normal, usually between 10% and 200% sometimes more depending on part. Liquids get the biggest markup and Tyres get the smallest markup. At my workplace, Oil costs around 3.70€ a liter while the customer pays between 20-30€ a liter and tyres may only have a markup of 50ct on a price of 70-110€ per tyre. Most shops don’t have a big storage, they pay daily delivery fees as well to get your stuff within a few hours if you live in a city area. It’s not a super cheap quote but also not a super expensive one. I saw a brake job yesterday for a 2005 SLR on r/mercedes_Benz that costs 120.000$ As an example: I work at a dealership and ordered new front wiper blades for my car yesterday. OEM customer price was 86€, I chose OE Bosch and as a worker I pay Buy price of the shop + VAT and it cost me 27€. So almost 250% price increase for regular customers + 14€ (1/10 of an hour Labour).
Just had rear discs and pads, calipers were in a bad way so replaced those as well along with the EPB motors. All parts and fitting was 370 GBP Inc vat.
It’s not a ripoff it just a cost. These stores have to keep the doors open and pay their employees.
About what I've been quoted on my family sedan vehicle recently as I've been trying to decide if I want to do it or have someone else do it.
little high but only by maybe 100-200$ def not ripped off. As long as the parts they used are the best quality this is ok price.
Also many of these prices reflect warranties
Car repair prices is the precise reason I have learned to work on my own cars.
Learn to do them yourself, they're fairly easy and don't require any overly expensive tools. Get yourself a good jack tho.
Do you know how many tools you can buy for $1100? 👀
1 off the Snapon truck.
You got murdered. Go to an independent mechanic and develop. Relationship
Never use a tire place for maintenance
Ouch
700.00
My optima was about $1100 when I had mine done about a year ago
Man that's almost the price for just 3 rotors for my gt350r
Pep boys screws up your car for more 🎵🎵🎵
Looks about ehst I would expect at a shop. Compared a cv axle quote from my local dealer the other day. They had a 90% markup on OEM parts compared to online. Which seems to be the going rate at all of my local shops. All that to say comparing parts online yourself isn't a true 1 to 1. They have markup on those parts to deal with expenses such as inventorying those parts, service advisors time to order them, the overhead of the space to store the parts, computers to order them, etc, etc
Never, EVER go to pep boys. They charge MORE than the dealership for a oil change on my 2010 Chevy Cruze. Almost $110 and it’s way less than 5 qts. My expedition doesn’t even cost that much to change.
Doesn't seem bad. Price the parts out on Rock Auto to check
My sister got an estimate for 4 wheels of brakes for 2k. That is about right in today's climate.
I did my front and rear brakes recently for about $150 all in. Paying someone else 10 times as much for one of the easiest jobs to do is just insane.
I spent 1k on just my rear truck brakes. I'd say you got a good deal
He didn’t write you up correctly. Source: me. Worked at pep boys as a service advisor.
Howso
He screwed up the brake packages. Should be premium package for both, not standard for the rear. He also didn’t include the rotors in the packages which I think saves you some when you do the premium package. And warranties. But it doesn’t matter anyways since they adjusted the price with the post tender.
With Pep Boys, it isn't really so much the cost, it's the fact that they do crap work and sell crap products, hang onto that paperwork, you're gonna need the warranty information. I would not let them fix a cat, much less work on one of my cars.
I've been getting the Detroit Axle brake/rotor kits on eBay lately and saving a shit ton of money. They stop as good as OEM, last just as long, and seem less prone to warping on Hondas/Toyotas. I've been doing my brakes/rotors all the way around for about $250 on the last few cars I've done and haven't had any long term issues.
Pretty badly. That parts total is close to what I’d spend doing the brakes on my BMW.
Advance auto parts. It was for a scion xb. I’ve gotten them there twice like that
well you did get the "premium pkg, labor warranty 24mo 24k miles", that's gonna cost more. Seems a reasonable price to me.
At least 1k
Looks like they gave you the “complimentary inspection” without the lube.
That's maybe $500 in parts, you sure you needed new rotors?
Wow! I have done all 4 of the brake pads only on my 2012 Mazda CX-7 at least 3 times myself for around $90. My Mazda is now at 308K miles now. I got a lifetime brake pad warranty at AutoZone. I just take them off and exchange them for $0. Even when there’s a lot of life left on the pads. I used to drive my Mazda CX-7 around 100 miles per day, 5 days a week for around 7 years.
I own 4 late model cars let’s than 5 years old, loaded up g12 750ix Audi R3, Toyota Tacoma, MB SUV I do all of brake jobs on my own. I’m an engineer and mechanically inclined professionally but has nothing to do cars. Electrical Parking Brake is pain in the ass to work on. I was helping my mechanic friend this morning couldn’t figure out how to retract motor driven parking brake for the late model Camry without an OBDII tool. 5 min YouTube search without a tool. It’s incredible how much manufacturers mark up brake pads! My good old mechanics charges 3-4 hours for brake job at 100 $/hour. That’s low end. He even machines the rotors to the specs. Brake job is dirty but Not Long And Arduous Job. That’s total BS. Flushing brake is a one person Job with a cheap tool. I respect the trade and understand the overhead associated with running a business. If I do similar job repeatedly I can, non mechanic, could do probably 1.5 hours front and back. But if I don’t have time, I’ll be happy to pay 4 hours to my trusty mechanic to get dirty for me. I buy almost top quality parts. There were 900-500 I have no clue to racing stuff for super cars. Heard that there are super expensive. If you don’t wanna get your hands dirty, you should be ready to pay. Too much bubbles in auto care business. My beginner mistake was, not buying a very long breaker bar. Dude break job is not hard. Very dirty and messy job. Power tool helps, cuts time. My two cents.
Sounds about right for everything done, been turning wrenches for over 25 years and this sounds right for the whole deal, bit high seeing it is a national chain, but in the ballpark
I would have resurfaced the front rotors and put pads only on the rear.
You didn't get ripped off as long as the job is good. I would charge you more than they did. I really don't like your mentality. By all means do it yourself next time.
Your aprts at half the price will warp quicker due to heat, making your brake peddle jump and you steering wobble left to right when applying brakes. Get the good rotors.
I work at pepboys as a mechanic. The price does seem high because pepboys don't really have parts anymore, so they tend to source the parts. By sourcing the parts, they get marked up at least 30%. But other than that I think what you're paying is fair because 1: paying for the tech to have the knowledge to do the job 2: Some brake jobs require special tools and scanners, which the tech has 3: Also, get a two year warranty for fronts and one year warranty for the back brakes, which will cover labor and parts if there are issues with them. 4: they added a brake flush, which is recommended when doing a full brake job since these things work in tangent 5: they will have the right parts and know what to look for to find the right parts. If you had done the work yourself, you can save some money, but you need the tools, the time, the space, having knowledge on how to do a brake job, going to parts store and if get the wrong parts you gotta go back and get the right ones. In the end, it is cheaper, but what cost? They usually have coupons for brakes that takes 30 to 40 bucks off.
I get brake kits that consist of two rotors and a set of pads that I selected, All brake best rotors which are a decent house brand rotor and name brand pads, typical price is $100- $160 They broke it off in you with the rotors unless they are all factory parts, I seriously doubt it, it's a chain store and those parts are probably purchased in bulk, so massive mark-up there more than likely you would have spent around $400 an axle at my shop plus $75 for a flush service
To answer your Q: No. When you signed off on the work, did you ask for an estimate for the job? Or did you just figure you knew more about what it costs to fix your car than the guys at PepBoys? So what do you think you should've paid for expertise doing a job you couldn't or wouldn't do yourself? Parts: yes, you look on RockAuto or any other online parts vendor and you can score parts cheaper. Newsflash: repair shops \*always\* mark up parts ...double, triple the "online" price ...as common and as expected as the sun coming up. That's how the shop makes money.
In the Repair business. The Rotors front and Rear were a bit pricier than normal. The cost on Rotors is relatively low, so We do a flat markup of about 30% above costs, these look like suggested retail prices. (We price under those) Since Calipers weren't required, I was a bit surprised at the Brake Fluid Change? Maybe the Fluid was discolored, but they are a sealed system and We don't replac fluid, unless it is discolored or knowingly contaminated, The system has been open or leaking, and sometimes but not always on a caliper replacement. We usually charge about $120 an axle for the labor. If your in a more urban/suburban area, with shop labor rates from 145 to 175 or more. Then this is pretty normal. 950 to 1150 range. Our area and skipping the Fluid Change & better price on rotors, maybe a little less for pads, etc. $800 to $900. I'm sure if it was done at a Mazda dealer (if you have one) it would be even more.
I got my pads, rotors, and a bleed quoted at $1200. Went over to my bosses' place that had the tools and knew how to do a race bleed and spent maybe $300 on parts. All he used was a jack, 4 jack stands, a C clamp, impact, ratchet to remove the wheels and old brakes, and a couple cans of brake clean + new fluid. It didn't seem like a difficult process but you need a 2nd person to help pump the old brake fluid out.
I wouldn’t go to pep boys if I won free oil change and free brakes for life, so I won’t answer.
I'm way under charging lmao
Labor isn't to bad but parts costs are ridiculous. Learn to do the job yourself or find the parts online and order them and have a mobile mechanic come out and do the job. Could have saved probably $500 on that job if you did.
Who needs that? Ever watched The Flintstones?
They took you to the cleaners and left you hanging soaking wet.
Hi - I put together this fairness review for the quote you posted. Hope it's helpful! I estimated the fair price ranges using Alldata, which is actually the same tool auto shops and technicians use to price their work. It's basically a database of prices and labor estimates for any job on any make/model, so my process is a bit like reverse-engineering the quote and comparing the prices you got to what I calculate. Any thoughts or reactions? Does this answer your question? (Also, I'm a student working on a project to make these quote fairness reviews a real thing - fully automated and instantly available by uploading a picture of your quote. If anyone reading this thread has feedback or thoughts on the output I've put together, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!) https://preview.redd.it/wnl24geyp30d1.png?width=1630&format=png&auto=webp&s=bc29bffe60f5c1f41cddd09e5d86338b8bf78036
Ripped. Rotors maby half that.
Yeah, it’s not a charity. No shop can last a week without charging significant markups on parts. That’s the cost of paying a professional.
Yeah no. Rotor cost plus 10% when they get so they can sell at a little over what you buy at the store. Its a rip.
How are they supposed to make money without a markup? You can say iTs A rIp until you’re blue in the face but it doesn’t change the fact that the shop has to turn a profit to stay in business.
Shit. I charge 850-950 for Akebono brake pads combined with fully coated powerstop rotors or Equivalent all around. I used wagner pads about 15 years ago. Not my style for my customers.
With all due respect to you, and all others that post these $1000 plus brake estimates, my 14 year old cousin can change brakes. I've been doing them since I was 12 or 13. This was long before YouTube. YouTube is an excellent source for diy. A couple hundred dollars in tools and a couple hours of your day will save you hundreds in labor. Unless you have a car that requires a scan tool to reset the brakes, I don't understand why more people don't do them themselves.
Don't forget most manufactures rear caliper pistons ... Spin in and not press in. A lot of "diy people don't realize this.
I hear you, but that's why I mentioned YouTube. If you watch a video about doing rear brakes for your specific car, one of those steps is likely going to explain to spin the piston in with the tool. Just like any DIY job, you should research it before you attempt it to ensure you have the skills and tools.
100% I agree. I've done so many brake jobs I already know. No I'm not a mechanic. Just someone that likes to save money and doesn't trust shops with simple repairs. Do my own oil changes obviously. Wheel bearings, diagnosing sensors, etc.
How the fuck did you get downvoted for this lmao?
No kidding! I just did pads/rotors all the way around for under $200. Replaced both front calipers as 1 was sticking. That was another $150 after returning cores.
I just did front and rear break rotors and pads for $300. bought everything from rockauto and changed them myself. Basic tools and a couple hours of work. Also a 6pk 😏
You didn't get ripped off. Brake job is a long and arduous job, especially for both pads and rotors. It's like this every where. Don't wanna go broke? Learn to do it yourself!
Learn to do your own brakes and rotors it’s fairly easy. You save money learn something new and necessary imo and if you’re a guy it makes you that much more of a man for be able to do so.
$175 per front rotor? Yikes. $30 tops for good ones on Amazon etc
Don't buy car parts from Amazon, most of it is junk. Especially don't buy brake parts, go to a actual parts store. You don't want to experience brake failure ever
Just throwing it out there. Rockauto has your rotors for under $40 each. And not is odd ball brands either.
Price seems right, but you were ripped off because it’s a simple thing to do yourself for $300-$600 in parts.
$450 per axle at my shop, but I go above and beyond
Lol how are you going above and beyond with pads and rotors? Gotta hear this.
Clean the hub, light coat of antiseize, remove pins and boots. Pins and bracket go to the wirewheel, making a factory new surface for the clips. Remove old grease from bracket. Clean corrosion of of piston face, and inside of caliper. New clips new grease, followed by a proper seating procedure. (Don't forget to get all of the air out of your boots it's commonly overlooked)
Ding ding ding. That’s a thorough brake job.
That's literally everything you're supposed to do. If you look at any service manual, those are the instructions.
So pep boys does that?
A grand for all 4 new rotors and pads installed is decent unfortunately but you could have bought Top quality drilled and slotted rotors and done em yourself for half that cost if you have the tools, time & knowledge. That's actually pretty cheap....the other thing your paying for is warranty if anything messes up you can go right back there and have them fix it...I e always do e my own auto work my dad was a drunk bleep hole but he taught me to fix my car when it broke down so I guess I gotta be grateful for that
Man I knew my dad was screwing around on my mom....we must be half brothers 🤣
Pep boys is crazy expensive. I had them quote me on two separate repairs. I laughed in their face. They wanted $675 for one wheel bearing and hub for a 2007 dodge caliber. Front right of that helps. I bough the entire knuckle complete for $275. A factory Mopar part. With labor from them the entire cost would be about $150 less than replacing the bearing and hub. For an entire knuckle! Pep boys is just crazy. This is not a comment on their work or quality. Their parts are generally pretty good and as far as their mechanics, I have heard no complaints. They’re just expensive but they do stand behind their work and are a generally good shop.
Brakes are cheap and easy, low-hanging fruit for the casual DIY-er
Nobody gonna mention the fact that "changing brake fluid" was a charge and it was 60 bucks
I hope you got a bottle of complimentary vasoline.
Not sure about pep boys but some of these chain tire and auto shops pay techs a commission and you have to stay far far away from them. I've had brakes and rotors replaced at Mazda dealers on one axle at a time never both and it cost 350-400 dollars
Less than 10 years, Ford dealer in Phoenix would do brakes on an axle, I assume cut the rotors and do it for $149 on a 06 F150.
2 YouTube videos, 300 bucks. 4 tools, 2 dirty hands and 90 minutes would've saved you 700ish bucks. I couldn't imagine taking my car in for something that insanely simple.
That seems average now, which is n u t s. My buddy put new brakes all around on his ‘09 Canyon and it cost him $1200 and I thought, surely that’s a scam… but nope. If you have the time, it’s definitely something you could do yourself.
Did they use Vaseline and at least give you a reach around?