13 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Before I start ranting I would like to apologise to anybody on here that might work in Mr clutch. Its nothing personal.

 

My mum just phoned up and said her brakes felt a bit funny and that the brake fluid level warning light had been flashing up from time to time so she took it to Mr clutch for them to have a look.

They told her the rear shoes needed replacing and could do it at a cost of £195!!!!!

Stupidly enough she booked it in at that price. when I asked her why the hell she would do such a stupid thing, she told me that the man at the garage had made her believe that she would crash and die if it wasn't done immediately so what with her being a worrier, she instantly started to panic!

 

I can do the work for her but I don't live anywhere near her and am not going to see her for another 2 weeks. I told her to wait and I would do the job when I visit for just the cost of the parts (probably about £15!) but she is in such a state about it after what they told her that she just wants it done now.

 

I'd like to know where they get these ridiculous ideas for prices! also they told her that it was a 2 hour job ( funny how it took me about an hour to do shoes and cylinders on my 306) but even so that's a lot of money especially as the car is only a little Suzuki Alto!!

 

I know people that don't know anything about cars expect garages to be expensive but it makes me bloody angry when they make a bee line for women knowing that they will just pay what they are told.

 

Rant over!!

 

What do you all think of this? or is that just the going rate?

[Sam Walters]

Unfortunately they see a woman (No offense intended) and assume she knows owt about cars and then pile in with the scare mongering.

[Ben_O]

Unfortionatly you are right. still bad though.And no offence taken

[Shifty]

If they were also doing the rear wheel cylinders as well then its not that far out of the way.  If the fluid light was on then chances are the wheel cylinders are leaking and the guy is correct that its dangerous to drive.

 

£150 would be a fair price for the cylinders and shoes.

[AVV IT]

It' certainly not be the cheapest, but then it's probably not all that outrageous either. Commercial labour rates can vary from £35-£65 per hour plus VAT and I don't think one hour per side is really all that excessive for replacement brake shoes, not when you break down the entire time the job takes from start to finish. At the upper end that's £130 for labour, and if you add in £15 per side for reasonable quality brake shoes, with the VAT on top, then that brings you to around £190 already.

Yes we all know that some garages can pile on the pressure for work to be done, particularly to female customers, but then she did actually take a car in there with the brake warning light already showing. It's not like she went in there for new tyres and they tried to convince her the brakes needed doing unnecessarily whilst she was in there. To put it another way, if your mum had actually driven away from the place, and her brakes had failed on the way home, yet the guy had said "yeah your brake warning light is coming on and your brakes do need doing love, but don't worry they're only brakes, so no rush!", you'd probably be ranting on here about how irresponsible and incompetent he was!

[Guess-Works.com]

I'm not going to defend over priced charges, but it is the consumers responsibility to determine if they are getting value for money....

 

Maybe you could have rung up a local garage to you and got a price for the same job.. this would have given you a guide to judge if what Mr Clutch were proposing was good or bad...

 

I believe that most garages will use something like Autodata which I would not be surprised to find gives a manufacturers "time for job" as guidance...

 

Was there not a news story within the last day which told the tale that 98% of people driving cars did not know what the most basic warning lights were on their cars...

[jenbachertech]

Ok, why anyone would go to Mr Clutch for brake work is a possible interesting debate...

 

Cost of the works seem fairly inflated, but i've not been on the retail side for a while.

 

my bigger concern is that of what happens once the car is there

 

No mention of the front brakes - pad wear is often the cause of brake fluid warning light coming on - the OP just quoted rear shoes for £195, nowt about cylinders.....

 

Im not sure if it is still the same, but most Clutches fittred at this sort of place automatically need a "flywheel skim, or replacement flywheel" a great way of adding £££ to the job for little work.

 

Fast fit places like this serve a purpose - to extort cash from unsuspecting motorists, the emphasis is always on sell, sell, sell, not on do the best you can for the customer.

 

Best avoided in my opinion and experience.....

[Dan]

That's quite a reasonable price, especially if the cylinders are included. Main dealer prices will be around £220 just for pads. Businesses have costs to pay and profit to make, expecting them to do anything for anywhere near the price you perceive it would cost you (what do you value your time at?) is ludicrous. There is also something of an implied duty of care for a professional mechanic to consider here. If he sees they are dangerous he has to act really. It's nice of you to assume he doesn't know how to identify bad brakes though. Are you really happy for your mum to be driving around on bad brakes for another two weeks for the sake of saving a couple of hundred quid?

[Ben_O]

All reasonable points but at no point did I mention to you all that the cylinders needed doing. The fluid level was very slightly low and has now been topped up. The mechanic didn't quote for cylinders he just said he noticed that the shoes were worn when he was checking and need doing.

Mum says the brakes feel fine and I see no reason why they would need doing urgently and especially at £200!

She only does short journeys to and from work in it so I see no reason why it would be dangerous..

 

I can't help but think about my granddad who took his Mk1 fiesta to Kwik Fit years and years ago for 2 new tyres and when he returned to collect it they had fitted new shock absorbers too claiming they needed doing. they claimed they tried to contact him and failed then just assumed he would want it done and did it. He got angry and demanded to be shown the old ones. they claimed that the old ones were in the skip and couldn't be retrieved so he refused to pay and said that if they didn' refit the old ones then he would take the car with the new ones but not pay for them.

In the end they let him off and that was that.

 

At the end of the day, if Mum is happy to pay for Mr clutch to do the work then that is her business  but I just don't like the idea of her wasting money when im sure that she could get it done a lot cheaper elsewhere.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Badboytunes]

 

At the end of the day, if Mum is happy to pay for Mr clutch to do the work then that is her business  but I just don't like the idea of her wasting money when im sure that she could get it done a lot cheaper elsewhere.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

 Thats probably the fairest point. I would be the same re getting ripped off. I was quoted £194 by BMW  to have the front pads changed on my mini. I got the parts ( OEM ) for £50 and did it myself...........

 

If your mum is happy for them to do the job then so be it. At least she knows you have her best interests at heart.

 

As stated elswhere, she could als go to a local garge to get a comparable quote.....

[rikSTAR]

They quoted a friend of mine around £800 to replace the clutch on his mk4 golf 1.9tdi. I know they aren't the simplest of cars to work on but I had a look at the price of a complete clutch kit for the car (pressure plate, clutch plate, release bearing) was £85 and budget ones around £60 so that means the other £740 or £715 is just cost of labour?

[Dan]

  Just labour, yes just paying someone a living wage to do their job, how ridiculous.  Of course there is also VAT, rent, electricity, gas, water, phones, business rates, corporation tax, capital gains tax, equipment costs, training, H&S, PPE and all the other red tape requirements, and maybe a little profit might be nice for them too.  Manufacturers tell garages how long to bill for each procedure on a vehicle, largely to cover warranty claims.  Maybe it seems too long but the ones that go quickly subsidise the cost of the ones that go horribly wrong, where everything is dirty and seized or rusted and it takes hours longer than expected.  They go by the manufacturer times because they can and its easy to back-up if someone complains.  The manufacturer method for a replacement of anything usually includes several steps and checks that you wouldn't bother with at home, but in order to do the job properly these things should be done.  The same way that most people who do their own servicing don't bother with the full schedule and simply do an engine service every time.  That's how we end up with so many used Minis having brake, suspension and electrical problems.

[Ben_O]

I know all this, I worked as a panel beater for a Vauxhall main dealer for 10 years. The garage is not going to rely on just one job to cover all of their overheads. the reason I started this thread was because I thought that £200 was a lot of money to fit a set of brake shoes. forgetting everything else and just focusing on the task of fitting a set of brake shoes it just seems outrageous! especially on a 14 year old car.

 

The general consensus is that £200 is a fair price but even so, I will do as much of the future repairs as I can to save her having to spend heaps of money every time that she can't really afford. 

 

She is now having the work done elsewhere for a lower price by a garage recommended to her by friends. But before anybody says anything, remember cheaper does not necessarily  mean not as good.

 

Cheers for the comments

 

Ben

[rikSTAR]

I've worked in plenty of garages considering I'm a mechanic by trade and Yes of course like any business they have overheads etc to pay for, but you don't charge every single customer what its going to cost to run your garage for the day... Garage labour is expensive but charging near on £1000 to fit a clutch that costs £85 isn't really justifiable.