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New Brakes on my car, what a ripoff!


Ice bowl 67

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Your set costs about 450-500 for Caliper, Rotors, and Brakes. So say $1000 before tax for both front and backs. That is just for the parts alone.

 

With just Brakes and rotors that would have been $250 per set so it would have only been $500. Next time try to see the mechanic earlier when your brakes start to wear down.

Edited by Beef Jerky
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The car was at that point where repairs were exceeding future payments. It was getting to be every few months. My wife is the master negotiator. My 27 year old son was texting me saying he felt bad for the poor young guy she was up against. (She's a champ!) At some point you trade payments for repairs. In this case we will be on the hook for our first car loan in decades. Hope with bonuses he can get it off the books in 12-18 months. This came shortly after we bought a condo in Nashville for him and his son with a shiny new mortgage we have not even made a payment on yet. And we couldn't be happier with the outcome or the ability to be of help. :)

was more the 17% interest with clean credit...i mean 4 years out of college i had a car repo'd , several judgments, was behind on my student loans, interest rates were around 8% as opposed to 3 on a mortgage...and i still got a 17% loan on a car. Only thing i can think of is carmax got a ding on their earnings last quarter based on their sub-prime lending...but i can't believe a college educated kid with a job and no debt would be put into the sub-prime pool.

 

In my dad's best voice"What the hell they teach in college these days, how to be a dumb ass???" :lol:

 

And i got two going soon!!! :thumbdown::doh:

Edited by plenzmd1
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Speaking of rip offs, my son has been driving my old Camry for years but just came up against repairs approaching $1,000 for a car with 160,000 miles. Time for a new car. He has a great job and good but limited credit with a score over 700. Since he's never had a car payment before (due to sucker parents) his loan rate was anywhere from 17.5%-20%. My wife happened into Nashville an hour later and confirmed this, but when she co-signed the rate dropped to 3.5%. He was putting 30% down, and the best rate they had at CarMax for a 700+ credit score with zero other debt was 17.5%? Reallly???

CARMAX isn't a bank. No one should ever go into a dealer without their own financing set up. Always negotiate from a position of power so you make the best deal possible.

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id imagine at a dealer or a large well known shop... It's probably about where I would expect. I remember when I had my Mercedes, the dealer wanted to charge me more than that for the same thing. Had a buddy do the work for about $200 for parts and a case of beer for labor.

 

A lot of times tho, you don't actually need calipers. But they charge you for them anyway. It's often just Pads and Rotors that need to be done.

A case of beer seems to be the going rate for backyard mechanics. Going way back, about 20 years ago, I had an 1986 Toyota MR2 that had a rear caliper locking up. Went to the dealer, they quoted me $1200 using all Toyota parts, $900 using aftermarket. (Two calipers, rotors and pads) Buddy of mine told me to order the parts myself and he'd show me how to do the swap. In the end, with the beer added in, it cost me around $350.

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

 

Dude you got boned hardcore. I had an 08 Chevy. Combined cost of caliper, rotor and pads is less than $100 per wheel at pretty much any local autoparts store - like Autozone, Advanced Auto, Napa, Carquest, etc. You could get them even cheaper if you ordered online.

 

So your DIY cost would be less than $400 even with calipers. Dude whacked you $1000 in labor for a 2 hour job. And that is 2 hours if you do it in your own gravel driveway with hand tools. If you have a garage with a good floor jack and air tools it would take you even less time.

 

If you are handy at all, you can definitely handle a brake job on that car. Not hard at all. Next time call a buddy and ask him to help. Then take your buddy to a strip club and buy him a couple lapdances for helping you out. It would still be cheaper and a hell of a lot more fun.

Speaking of rip offs, my son has been driving my old Camry for years but just came up against repairs approaching $1,000 for a car with 160,000 miles. Time for a new car. He has a great job and good but limited credit with a score over 700. Since he's never had a car payment before (due to sucker parents) his loan rate was anywhere from 17.5%-20%. My wife happened into Nashville an hour later and confirmed this, but when she co-signed the rate dropped to 3.5%. He was putting 30% down, and the best rate they had at CarMax for a 700+ credit score with zero other debt was 17.5%? Reallly???

 

Dude.. that Camry could easily last another 100,000 miles and then some. As long as you are changing the oil when you are supposed to, you can't kill those motors. Toyota Camry's and Carollas can take 250,000 + miles without a hiccup. Heck you can even get that out of Chevy's now. The only problem is the body will rot off the car before you get there.

Edited by PolishDave
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A case of beer seems to be the going rate for backyard mechanics. Going way back, about 20 years ago, I had an 1986 Toyota MR2 that had a rear caliper locking up. Went to the dealer, they quoted me $1200 using all Toyota parts, $900 using aftermarket. (Two calipers, rotors and pads) Buddy of mine told me to order the parts myself and he'd show me how to do the swap. In the end, with the beer added in, it cost me around $350.

my buddy is a certified master mechanic. He hated working on my Benz because the Germans pack so much into the tightest of places but simple stuff like Brakes, pads, rotors, whee assembly work was easy work for him. I would always pay him more than the case of beer but that's all he would ever ask for
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Dude.. that Camry could easily last another 100,000 miles and then some. As long as you are changing the oil when you are supposed to, you can't kill those motors. Toyota Camry's and Carollas can take 250,000 + miles without a hiccup. Heck you can even get that out of Chevy's now. The only problem is the body will rot off the car before you get there.

He's not handy (nor am I) and the Camry was getting expensive. I fully understand with some work it could go much longer (hence the $3,000 trade-in despite needed repairs). There were some extenuating circumstances, namely that he had been shot in that car and nearly died. A very long (and horrible) story, but it was nice for him to be able to move on. He wasn't prepared with financing because it all happened so fast. The easiest path was to have my wife sign, take the 3.5% and move on. One buddy said the got 1.7% from his credit union, but we hope this is paid off so fast that wasn't worth the time and trouble. Historically, 3.5% is dirt cheap. Edited by Augie
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CARMAX isn't a bank. No one should ever go into a dealer without their own financing set up. Always negotiate from a position of power so you make the best deal possible.

 

I always do that.

 

Last time, though, wife and I went in with 5.25% lined up. When the dealer goes back to put their package together, she blurts out "We already have 5.25% lined up!" Needless to say, they came back with 5.15%, take it or leave it.

 

She...doesn't come car shopping with me any more.

Speaking of rip offs, my son has been driving my old Camry for years but just came up against repairs approaching $1,000 for a car with 160,000 miles. Time for a new car. He has a great job and good but limited credit with a score over 700. Since he's never had a car payment before (due to sucker parents) his loan rate was anywhere from 17.5%-20%. My wife happened into Nashville an hour later and confirmed this, but when she co-signed the rate dropped to 3.5%. He was putting 30% down, and the best rate they had at CarMax for a 700+ credit score with zero other debt was 17.5%? Reallly???

 

"Limited credit." It's not just the credit rating, but the credit history they consider. Doesn't matter how good your rating is, if you have no history of borrowing money and paying it back, they will charge you a high rate.

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I always do that.

 

Last time, though, wife and I went in with 5.25% lined up. When the dealer goes back to put their package together, she blurts out "We already have 5.25% lined up!" Needless to say, they came back with 5.15%, take it or leave it.

 

She...doesn't come car shopping with me any more.

Our first house was purchased after my wife walked through saying "OMG, I love this so much! What do we have to do to own this?" I promise, she's much better now. In fact, she's the designated car purchaser with a heavy focus on advance reasearch and a convincing "walk away".

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Our first house was purchased after my wife walked through saying "OMG, I love this so much! What do we have to do to own this?" I promise, she's much better now. In fact, she's the designated car purchaser with a heavy focus on advance reasearch and a convincing "walk away".

 

Are we in-laws? Your wife and mine are only two people in the world who treat a house like an impulse buy. :wallbash:

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Are we in-laws? Your wife and mine are only two people in the world who treat a house like an impulse buy. :wallbash:

Funny stuff, my wife is on the phone now with her sister who married a doctor, top of his class at Vanderbilt and UVA. They went shopping for their first house.....and put contracts in on 3 houses the first day. They called that night, and we had a long talk. Smart and "smart" can be different things.

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Funny stuff, my wife is on the phone now with her sister who married a doctor, top of his class at Vanderbilt and UVA. They went shopping for their first house.....and put contracts in on 3 houses the first day. They called that night, and we had a long talk. Smart and "smart" can be different things.

 

:doh:

 

My wife does real estate closings, and sees this and dippier every day. And then she'd still turn around and do this herself ("We don't need an inspection, this house is perfect!")

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:doh:

 

My wife does real estate closings, and sees this and dippier every day. And then she'd still turn around and do this herself ("We don't need an inspection, this house is perfect!")

As a banker for a couple decades, I've seen plenty of funny stuff like the guy who was approved for a house purchase, got cold feet and went out and picked a lovely new Mercedes with a $900 payment to tiip his debt/income over the edge. Clever, if you think about it. The past due boat loans paid off by insurance companies after the hurricane missed us completely were always a relief. I didn't file the claim, I just paid of the p[ast due loaned.

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

Ice bowl all I can say is he saw you coming. It's obvious he's a friend of your fathers and NOT a friend of yours. He took you for a ride.

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

Should have shopped before the job. That said I'm not sure that price is that bad, Figure maybe $350 to $400 per axle brake/rotors only, calipers, and the other work you mentioned and tax and you are at $1500

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Speaking of rip offs, my son has been driving my old Camry for years but just came up against repairs approaching $1,000 for a car with 160,000 miles. Time for a new car. He has a great job and good but limited credit with a score over 700. Since he's never had a car payment before (due to sucker parents) his loan rate was anywhere from 17.5%-20%. My wife happened into Nashville an hour later and confirmed this, but when she co-signed the rate dropped to 3.5%. He was putting 30% down, and the best rate they had at CarMax for a 700+ credit score with zero other debt was 17.5%? Reallly???

That's crazy! I'm a Business Manager now at a dealership and do financing. His rate on his own should've been around 6% with no prior auto history. The max markup is 2% so 17.5 - 20 doesn't sound right to me at all. I'm not sure how CarMax works, but traditional indirect lending through a dealership would've yielded better results. And for the record, your wife co-signing would significantly lower the rate just as it did. It's the lack of auto history and a light credit file that hurt your son.

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That's crazy! I'm a Business Manager now at a dealership and do financing. His rate on his own should've been around 6% with no prior auto history. The max markup is 2% so 17.5 - 20 doesn't sound right to me at all. I'm not sure how CarMax works, but traditional indirect lending through a dealership would've yielded better results. And for the record, your wife co-signing would significantly lower the rate just as it did. It's the lack of auto history and a light credit file that hurt your son.

A quick call to SunTrust this morning got about 2%. Would have been higher on his own, but still a world of difference.

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