A friend of my wife's recently took her 2000 Jag in to have the tires rotated. The tire guy told here it needed a brake job soon. So she asked what it would cost and was told $700. She then asked another shop who quoted her $900, telling her the labor alone was $350. My wife asked if I could do it, and I said I'd take a look at it. After removing the wheels, I found absolutely no fluid leaks, which would indicate the need for new calipers, the rotors were in like new condition with no grooving or warpage of any kind. I made a trip to the local auto parts and bought a full set of life-time warranty pads an a can of brake cleaner for $58 (all four wheels) and replaced the pads in under 2 hours, it only took that long because in my garage it takes some time to get the tools out and I had to go poop in the middle of the job. My personal thoughts are they looked at the fact she was a woman, and that she drove a super-clean Jag. The truth is the car was purchased used for $12000 a couple years ago and was actually cheaper than the Honda Accord parked next to it on the car lot. WTF is wrong with today's "technicians"? Whatever happened to being honest and giving the customer a choice? I mean I know there are times when rotors need replacing, or at the very least resurfacing, and I would never trade safety for a few bucks but that was the easiest car I have ever replaced pads on bar none! I actually did the second front wheel in 6 minutes without hurrying and that included r&r'ing the wheel! If you're an honest mechanic, good for you. But if you're the type that takes advantage of people that don't know any better and sells over-priced parts that are not needed, you need to rethink your methods and just do the right thing.

 

Technically, to do the job right, the rotors need to be resurfaced every time, so the pads wear in properly. You can get comebacks for squeaking and such when you don't do that. I agree on the calipers, no need to replace unless there is a problem. I actually got in trouble at one job because I wasn't selling enough extras, but it was all new high end stuff, that didn't need anything, and I refused to sell unneeded parts.

 

Cool car! What model is it? The legacy of poor dependability might keep the prices of these English cars dropping the way they do. I hope things got better after Ford bought them in the late 1980's. I'm sure that Honda was originally priced less than the Jag and will still hold a better resale value than almost any car out there.

Anyway- Yeah, they are crooks and pray upon those who are ignorant of car repairs. They are a business and have to cover all of the hidden costs of running a business, but we all agree that sometimes prices get out of hand. Some people sell their cars when they hear the same kind of news about brake jobs!

I'm sure we've all seen this before. The crazy pricing was not just that she was a woman. Did they give you guys an itemized list for the parts, labor and disposal costs? I'd love to see this.

Parts like rotors that you may get for $30-50 at a parts store are bought by garages for less and marked up 2-3X at least. A lot of these places are now charging like $80/hr for labor too.

It pays to have some basic tools and mechanical ability.

Good show!

 

How does 146.95/hr grab you? I just followed a buddy to a stealership a few weeks ago for warranty service on his 08 F350. Couldn't believe that was the shop rate posted in clear sight at the service counter. This was a suburban chicago "super dealership"...huge. And now I know who pays the overhead.

I know attorneys and doctors who don't see numbers like that.

 

They don't make their money on sales, they make it on repairs. It is ironic that the shop labor rate just keeps climbing while the tech's pay remains the same though. I just finally jacked my outside labor rate up to $40/hr, when I actually open my shop I may have to go to the astronomical amount of $60/hr.

 

I do know that our commercial customers charge the list price on the parts we sell through them, which is common practice. Many times the customers come in and price the parts through us with the shop quote in hand... makes for unhappy customers. They of course do not know that sometimes the exact same part comes from us, and I don't open the fire by disclosing that. I try to explain the way that works to them, but of course don't want to hear that. Some shops don't allow you to bring your own parts, or won't back any work done with parts they did not supply.

On the labor, I agree. I used to get $7 an hour, while the shop got $60. I understand the overhead costs and all, but the wages don't change much, while the shop rates do.

 

It's a 2000 S-Type Jag with a 3.0 and is actually a neat car. It drives very nicely and as far as I can tell, is very well engineered. I mean, I was leery about the possibility of needing special tools, but needed none. In fact as I said, it was shockingly easy to work on. As for an itemized list, I've never seen one but as far as I know she got one, I'll ask the next time I see her.
Hey, we all know that mechanics need to eat, too and lots of times cars require special tools and training. Your doctor doesn't work for free does he? Training costs money and it's often what you pay for whether it's your mechanic, a lawyer or the guy fixes your plumbing. Knowledge is expensive, period. But to even consider charging more than 10% of a car's current value for such a simple job is inexcusable.
But then again, that's just my opinion, I never could understand why people pay for lots of things. I learned to paint just to avoid forking over $10,000+ to a bodyshop to slather bondo all over my pride and joy and getting sub-standard paint shot over it. My boss claims he got a quote for $8,000 to re-gear his '06 Chevy. When the time comes for me to do gears on my F250, I think a manual and a few tools would be a wiser choice. I've seen it done and like lots of stuff, it ain't brain surgery!

 

Another big reason mechanics are perceived as crooks, is because almost always they will fail to "pro-rate" the labor time on jobs when something extra is being done. I don't know if its greed, orders from supervisors or just plain laziness.

An example: Ball joints on say any random 4x4 Superduty.

1. They will quote you the labor to remove all needed assemblies: brakes, hubs, etc... and the old ball joints, then to replace them. A term called "R&R" (remove and replace)

2. They will inspect other things like axle seals and axle shaft U-joints.

3. If you are in need of a new axle shaft U-joint, they will quote you the price starting over again from scratch as if your truck was completely reassembled, instead of pro-rating the labor charge to reflect the fact that they are already into the project most the way and that they don't need to charge the full amount again.

This can add up fast. Next time your at a dealership service center or mechanic, call them on it. They will get mad or give you some BS answer.

 

Hadn't heard that one, usually I have known it to be simply added in as the difference between the jobs, at least at the shops I worked for. Haven't hired anything done in years generally...

 

This is the difference between a mechanic and a technicians. These days there are a huge difference. Mechanics are the backyard non proffesional throw parts it kinda fixers. Not all non proffesionals are like this but some are. Technicians Fix It Right The First Time or at least do there best to. Every shop should have access to what we call the "book". The "book" gives Standard Time to repair vehicles. They show everything, and show how much time is needed for the job. But maintenance work such as brakes can be different. The shop will charge pretty much the same for all vehicle unless something isnt right. yea 900 bux for a brake job sounds pretty steep. Maybe your rotors are close to the minimal machining surface. By law a technician must replace the rotors if they are at that stage. Maybe they priced rotors from a dealer and all that. IDK, but yea it still sounds too high. If anyone thinks they may be getting screwed send me a pm with all the info needed and i can look it up in the "book" to show what should be charged for the job....

 

I've had this expierence at several Ford dealerships, not just back-yard hacks.

 

I respect your experience, but have to take exception to this statement. Several years ago, I took my nearly-new GMC pickup to the local dealership. It developed a severe miss and to me (a non-professional hack), it sounded an ignition problem of some sort. It didn't set off a CEL and acted fine at idle, but refused to accelerate. I'll be the first to admit I know nearly nothing about computer-controlled stuff, so I took it to the people who I thought did. After a week of letting it idle while hooked to a diagnostic machine ( even though I SPECIFICALLY told them it idled perfectly), they told me they couldn't find anything. I told them it had a full tank of gas, drive it and see what happens. They drove it around the block (roughly 1/3 mile) and said it seemed fine to them and billed me over $100 for "diagnostics" I took the truck home, where it did the same thing. In desperation, I bought all new plugs, wires, rotor and cap, since it seemed like an ignition problem and headed out to the shop (no it's not a shadetree and a 12-pack of Bud). About 9 seconds after I opened the hood, I, a non-professional hack, found the problem that stumped Mr Goodwrench. After removing the air filter (one wingnut, lefty-loosy, righty-tighty) I found the accelerator bracket had rubbed a hole in a couple plug wires and when the engine moved at all, they made contact and grounded out the ignition. Bottom line: the "factory-trained techs" never even removed the filter to have a look-see. This is just one of many stories I can tell of my and friends experiences with "real" technicians. Evidently the ones around my neck of the woods are short on common sense and long on over-billing. Does that mean I don't trust any of them? Not at all. Real techs are worth their weight in gold and beer, but are getting very rare.

 

Had a customer that ordered a MAF for his Ranger per his mechanic come in the store. He described his problem, which didn't sound like a MAF issue at all. I went out, fiddled with it a little, noticed a hole in the air hose downstream of the MAF, come to find that the intake hose had started to disintegrate, changing the airflow the MAF could read. A bit of duct tape later, it ran fine. I advised him to go to a salvage yard and get the hose replaced, and sent the MAF back. So it definitely happens, and it isn't just dealers or private shops or anything,that is the individual hired wrench that has to be sharp enough to catch things like that.

 

Yup only time My vehicles are at repair shops these days are because im on the road. Or its something big I cannot do by myself.

Going by the "Book" and seeing the rates from a buddies shop I know he charges fair rates. and if it takes him 2 hours to do something by the "Book" says 1 hour he only charges 1 hour. you have look around and know and get a warm fuzzy about any shop whether its a dealership or an independent shop.

 

The shop that I use when I get stumped will allow you bring in your own parts but will not warranty anything. The parts or his labor.

The thing that gets me is the different prices for labor and parts depending on the vehicle you drive. For instance, parts and labor for a Lincoln will be higher than for a Ford. It's a Ford for heavens sakes.

Newer model Jags had a ton of Ford influence in them. Ford brakes are easy as hell to replace and there is no reason why a brake job should cost anywhere the amount quoted.