Expensive bill for service and disc/pad change

[nsa]

This is for a 2001 Toyota Corolla worth about £500. Small London garage. A friend asked if she was being ripped off. Does anyone think this is reasonable?

£100 for (one) rear disc - £20 at ECP.
£36 for a pad
£10 for "fuel treatment"
Three? hours labour to change oil, air filter, and a rear disc/pad

[HTP99]

1 disc and 1 pad?

[aka_kerrly]

The invoice says a service then lists oil and air filters but there may have been other visual inspections which could account for some of the labour time. Another possibility is just one caliper bolt was seized and it took an hour of messing about to remove it. This could have doubled the amount of labour time required for the job and its not the fault of the garage is it..

The invoice also includes an MOT as well and we don't know if the garage used Toyota parts or as per your estimate the cheapest brand Euro Car Parts supply.

I don't think the bill was too horrific when it's likely the owner is the sort who won't spend another penny on maintenance until the next mot.

[Jazoli]

I don't think its bad at all to be honest, a disc 'may' be £20 but you aren't fitting it yourself, cars cost money to run, if it makes sure its roadworthy for the next 12 months its money well spent, it's less than a PCP/loan payment for a lot of cars.

[geeks]

£150 in labour for a service and rear brake change, seems pretty reasonable to me, depends on the hourly rate, my local charges £60ph hour, 2.5 hours seems about right for the jobs.

Are you certain they only changed one disc? Also given that pads come in sets, its almost certain pads on both sides were changed.


EDIT - Also worth noting that not every garage buys parts from Euros, also worth noting that when a trade guy buys parts, he doesn't get all the discounts and special coupons adding to his order, so in some cases they actually pay more for parts than the public do!

Edited by geeks on Wednesday 11th December 12:35

[nsa]

I think you're very generous to the garage.

Brembo £17.04 each. Why would anyone put OEM discs and pads on a 16 year old snotter?

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/brembo-brake-disc-1...

I just noticed there's a charge for an oil filter but not for oil. What about the fuel treatment at £10?

I appreciate workshops have to make money, but in this case I think the bill is double what would be a reasonable charge. If they can't make decent money without overcharging, the business model is wrong.

[227bhp]

It's a bit rich, but then again it's too late now so a pointless post.
Here's a thing, next time they have work done get a price first.

[Monkeylegend]

I think that bill looks very reasonable for a full service, an mot and rear brake discs and pads. They surely replaced both discs and sets of pads. Labour at £50 an hour is also very reasonable for a London garage.

They are running a business , not charging mates rates, and irrespective of the car value, these things still cost the same.

[Evanivitch]

nsa said:

I think you're very generous to the garage.

Brembo £17.04 each. Why would anyone put OEM discs and pads on a 16 year old snotter?

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/brembo-brake-disc-1...

I just noticed there's a charge for an oil filter but not for oil. What about the fuel treatment at £10?

I appreciate workshops have to make money, but in this case I think the bill is double what would be a reasonable charge. If they can't make decent money without overcharging, the business model is wrong.

Where the nearest ECP? Who's going to bring it to the garage?

Prices aren't cheap, but they're not unusual for a garage.

[Pothole]

Two questions: Why a £500 Corolla and why a small local garage? Budget motoring doesn't always end up as cheap as people think.

[Fonzey]

Some places won't even supply single discs anymore, and I don't think I've ever bought a single 'brake pad', they always come in sets per axle.

I'd be fairly sure that the discs and pads on the rear axle were all taken care of, the quote seems reasonable to me.

[Pothole]

Evanivitch said:

Where the nearest ECP? Who's going to bring it to the garage?

Prices aren't cheap, but they're not unusual for a garage.

One of their fleet of vans.

[Monkeylegend]

Do those prices include VAT?

Can't see any mention of it on the invoice.

[HTP99]

Pothole said:

Two questions: Why a £500 Corolla and why a small local garage? Budget motoring doesn't always end up as cheap as people think.

Oh I don't know, £375.00 for a service, MOT and new discs and pads; all of which will likely see it to it's next MOT and service, seems reasonably cheap motoring to me.

[aka_kerrly]

Pothole said:

Two questions: Why a £500 Corolla and why a small local garage? Budget motoring doesn't always end up as cheap as people think.

• a lot of guessing*

Perhaps someone who doesn't have a lot of money to buy a "nice" car nor the mechanical knowledge to maintain an old car. Hence the assumption that the owner was perhaps aware the car needed an MOT which it subsequently failed on 1 disc and pad, it was recommended that the car was serviced which would no doubt give the owner some reassurance that the car is not a complete dead loss. Maybe it all sounded like a good idea until the final bill arrived.

Now they have asked their " car friend" who has asked the internet to assure them they've not been ripped off.

[Pothole]

HTP99 said:

Pothole said:

Two questions: Why a £500 Corolla and why a small local garage? Budget motoring doesn't always end up as cheap as people think.

Oh I don't know, £375.00 for a service, MOT and new discs and pads; all of which will likely see it to it's next MOT and service, seems reasonably cheap motoring to me.

Hmmm. Seems like it's one disc and pads, though, and ripped off another tenner for something entirely unnecessary. I'm no mechanical wizard but I changed the front discs and pads on my £175 Civic recently for £60 including the purchase of an impact driver. I suppose if they have £375 to spend it's OK, but it sounds like they don't

[nsa]

Although the car is cheap it would be clear to anyone who meets the owner that this is not all she can afford, and the car is on a private plate, so the garage might think £375 is what she would expect to pay for a service.

[Jazoli]

Pothole said:

Hmmm. Seems like it's one disc and pads, though, and ripped off another tenner for something entirely unnecessary. I'm no mechanical wizard but I changed the front discs and pads on my £175 Civic recently for £60 including the purchase of an impact driver. I suppose if they have £375 to spend it's OK, but it sounds like they don't

they have not been ripped off, they have only charged £40 for the MOT when the price set by the government is £56 for a start so they have actually discounted some of the work, its all very well saying that you changed your own brakes, but its irrelevant, most people including probably this women couldn't, and don't own a trolley jack or any other tools (why would she/they??), most people I know use garages and know fk all about cars.

[stevemcs]

I don't think its too bad, realistically time and parts make no difference to the value of the car. If it had been a 2017 Auris no one would complain about the costs but because its only a £500 car it seems expensive.

For a service i would allow 1 hour, air filter 15 minutes and rear discs and pads including stripping and cleaning and setting up the handbrake anywhere between 1 hour and 1.5 hours (I don't think the Toyota has inbound handbrake shoes... ) so labour although a little high would be 2.25 to 2.5 hours in total.

Given its London i'd say its about right.

[Pothole]

Jazoli said:

Pothole said:

Hmmm. Seems like it's one disc and pads, though, and ripped off another tenner for something entirely unnecessary. I'm no mechanical wizard but I changed the front discs and pads on my £175 Civic recently for £60 including the purchase of an impact driver. I suppose if they have £375 to spend it's OK, but it sounds like they don't

they have not been ripped off, they have only charged £40 for the MOT when the price set by the government is £56 for a start so they have actually discounted some of the work, its all very well saying that you changed your own brakes, but its irrelevant, most people including probably this women couldn't, and don't own a trolley jack or any other tools (why would she/they??), most people I know use garages and know fk all about cars.

What is the mystery fuel thingy, then? Was it requested? Was it necessary? There's no end of places offering MOTs in my area for £30.