sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I share Jerry's frustration with his plumbing woes and the fact that the plumber charges $100 just to show up.

My pet peeve this week is that my car needed the front brake calipers rebuilt, the rotors resurfaced, and the brake fluid changed. Rear brakes were also inspected. All that work was about $450.

"You haven't had your tires rotated in a while. We should do that. The charge is $12." WTF..... They were going to have all four wheels off the car and the car on the lift. To put the wheels back on DIFFERENTLY than they came off would cost $12? I suggested that they waive that charge since they were going to have all the wheels off anyway, and NO extra work would be involved, AND I was going to be spending a lot of money in their shop. He didn't quite see the logic in my argument.

I don't mind paying for services needed, but all the rackets I hate. I pay enough at the dentist, and then he wants $250 for a "custom mouth night guard" which can be easily duplicated with a $12 mouth guard from Amazon... "Your dog has arthritis" the vet says. You need to give her these $85 glucosamine tablets and our special dog food for older dogs." Sure. Maybe I should be eating that.

Tomcat5133 Loc: Gladwyne PA

You know we move to Florida 3 years ago. I have a Porsche SUV and Boxster older in mint condition.
I was surprised here recently I have found an amazing family that has a huge working shop in
Hallandale Beach. They fix luxury cars, trucks, US cars and they are good. Their charges are
amazingly fair. They have a collision shop too. Where I lived in PA which had inspections
yearly mandated by the state. It gives dealers and shops open seasons on maintenance
and repairs. And they are nice. The father gives me cuban coffee and the lady at the desk
inside said "if it aint broken dont fix it. Now i have always taken good care of my cars.
I needed tires for the sports card (boxster) the father who takes care of customers stands
and welcomes you. He shopped for a 1/2 hour and got me a great deal on Pirellis.
He fixed a bad alignment and the tires are great 70% the cost of the other brands.
It is not unusual of see a Maserati in their and a older Chevy. The mechanics are
amazing. They drive me home after drop off and are reasonable with everything
they do. Just a story that should be told.

HOHIMER

My oil change guy wanted $34.00 for a new air filter. I declined. Bought one on Amazon for $12.00. Opened two clips and installed it myself!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, it's unbelievable, isn't it? Take the wheel off. Put it back on. "Gimme $12, please."

Use Google to find the prices for your brake parts. They're not very expensive. It would probably be less expensive for you to replace the rotors yourself than to have the dealer resurface them. I'm glad I've always been able to do my own car repairs, ever since I was a kid. The problem is that with electronics, some repairs have gotten ridiculously expensive, and even dealers can't find and cure problems. That happened with my son's Honda Fit. It costs over $100 to connect the car to their diagnostic computer. That computer gives a dozen possible causes, so they start replacing parts and charging. Fortunately, my son's car was totaled before he got a $1,700 bill for new injectors.

See if you can find a good non-dealer to do repair work. A friend found a very good independent mechanic to work on her car. He started with a dealer but left because his conscience began to bother him. This is an area where we need government regulation. Honda charges $350 for a key/key fob.

A quick look shows rotors for my car for about $30 each and pads for $30 to $90. Brake fluid costs just a few dollars, and changing it at least every two years is a very good idea.

Vets haven't been able to do anything but give shots and present me with bills. If there is a medical problem, they never seem to have a solution, just pills and bills.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

NY changed its inspection system years ago. Now we go to a business that has signed on with the State. It could be an independent, a gas station - anyone. The car is connected to a State computer, and it checks emissions and whatever. They also check lights, etc. There is less chance for operators to cheat the state or the customer. Under the old system, inspection stations had to buy all their monthly stickers ahead of time. If they had any left over, they took a loss. Consequently, it was difficult to have an inspection done toward the end of the month because no one had stickers left. :)

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

These guys are in business. They need to cover their costs. They have to get your car on the rack and lift it. Take the wheels off. Move them to new locations. Put the wheels on. Lower it and take it off the rack. Those steps don't occur instantly, they take time. Probably 10 minutes total. $12 is then $72/hour. Out of that comes the use of the tools (depreciation) and rent on the facility, salary for the worker, benefits, business permits, and taxes.

If you do it yourself you need two jacks (you have to remove at least two wheels at a time to switch them) and the appropriate tools. I would venture that doing it yourself would take you 20-30 minutes because it's not something you do every day. And you probably have wrenches, but not air tools. And isn't your time worth something? Not to mention the bumps and scrapes you get while doing heavy work of a sort you aren't used to.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have lots of tools, and driving an hour round trip and then waiting in the shop for hours is a waste of my time. I actually enjoy it. When I work on my car, I don't damage anything, and I do a thorough, un-rushed job. If something is beyond my capabilities - like computer diagnosis - then I bring it to a pro and get gouged.

My son paid over $700 over a period of two months to get the Check Engine light turned off long enough for it to pass state inspection. Then the light came back on. The dealer said, "It could be this, and it could be that."

nicksr1125 Loc: Mesa, AZ

Sounds like a scam to me. Brake fluid doesn't need to be changed unless it's contaminated and calipers don't need to be rebuilt unless there are known problems like a seal leaking. I'm surprised they resurface rotors. Most of the current model rotors are too thin to turn. They're usually replaced. The local Goodyear Tire Co. store will balance & rotate tires free with a synthetic oil change which I do anyway. Will do the same if you buy tires from them for free every 5,000 miles.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Other than the first few years when the inspections are less frequent (because the car has been brand new) we have to get our cars checked every 6 months. They check brakes (incl remaining pad thickness), lights including beam height, for rust, tire wear including the spare, hinges, seat-belts, anything loose, stone chips in windscreen, the presence of anything not installed new by the manufacturer, suspension, on the road test, any fluid leaks - every 6 months and NO EMISSION tests (go figure - unless it is obviously blowing smoke).
You guys have it good.
Same applies to trailers every 6 months. We once had 4 vehicles plus a trailer. So that was 10 visits a year to the testing station (how do you put numbers in capitals ?).
We then get a little white sticker on the windscreen. Any police or traffic warden can check this in any public place (and they do) including carparks. If the sticker isn't current then the vehicle cannot be registered and has no insurance.

Ollieboy

[quote=sb]I share Jerry's frustration with his plumbing woes and the fact that the plumber charges $100 just to show up.

My pet peeve this week is that my car needed the front brake calipers rebuilt, the rotors resurfaced, and the brake fluid changed. Rear brakes were also inspected. All that work was about $450.

"You haven't had your tires rotated in a while. We should do that. The charge is $12." WTF..... They were going to have all four wheels off the car and the car on the lift. To put the wheels back on DIFFERENTLY than they came off would cost $12? I suggested that they waive that charge since they were going to have all the wheels off anyway, and NO extra work would be involved, AND I was going to be spending a lot of money in their shop. He didn't quite see the logic in my argument.

I don't mind paying for services needed, but all the rackets I hate. I pay enough at the dentist, and then he wants $250 for a "custom mouth night guard" which can be easily duplicated with a $12 mouth guard from Amazon... "Your dog has arthritis" the vet says. You need to give her these $85 glucosamine tablets and our special dog food for older dogs." Sure. Maybe I should be eating that.[/quotedeleted

machia Loc: NJ

I failed for an evap leak and emissions. There were a total of 5 possibilities. It would have cost me $75.00 per hour to get this all sorted out and fixed.
So over the course of 3 weekends, about 9 hours total I repaired the evap leak for $4.00 and the emmisions ran me about $120.00.
The labor at a gas station would have been over $500.00 plus parts with a mark-up. No thanks.

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

Well Jerry , there are a series of test to be run after retrieving the (Code) And from what I have seen a lot of shops and or mechanics either don't run the test "because they know " what usually causes the problem or they are just too lazy there is 50/50 chance they are right or they don't have the capabilities or special tools to run the test. Some mechanics get a % of parts sold (Dealer and Independent) .
It just goes on and on.
As to the brakes: I don't know of any shops in my area that rebuilds Calipers or turns rotors , Its cheaper to replace with factory rebuilt or new parts < The charge for turning a rotor here is $20, rotors for most small, mid sized and full sized cars, new rotors usually cost the shop under $40, then they charge the customer 25% more. and they don't have to have a 4K-6K brake lathe and someone that knows how to use it, It also eliminates liability if the rotor or caliper fails. In 50+ years of being a Mechanic I don't recall ever "changing" brake fluid unless it was contaminated or burned.

dpfoto Loc: Cape Coral, FL

Don't forget the additional $125 to change the headlight fluid.

Mister H Loc: Michigan

That’s another we’ll check it for free, but charge to replace it items. Really?

02Nomad Loc: Catonsville, MD

With motorcycles, it is recommended that brake fluid be changed every 2 years.