$1440 for new brakes, wheel bearing and seals?

Does the labor on this seem a bit high or right on the mark? (invoice attached)

The brake pads I bought didn't have the squeal feature, so I wore them all the way down and destroyed the rotors. I also had a rear axle leak that got into the rear brakes and messed those up as well.

I dropped the car off yesterday at 7am, but he didn't call me until 1pm to discuss what it would cost. He mentioned it would be $1661.02 out the door, but was unable to break that down for me on the phone. I went in this morning and he revised that down to $1443.13. The part prices look fair, but I feel like the labor costs are still pretty high.

It's too late to take it anywhere else, the work should be done this afternoon. Just trying to learn for next time and figuring out how much I should try to talk him down. What do you guys think?

 

$482 for brake labor sounds high to me. I guess they're doing a full service though...

 

What would a full service include? They did mention they're bleeding the system and refilling it.

 

Even at full service, labor shouldn't be that much. Sounds like a double charge for pads and rotors. Meaning that he is charging you labor time for pads, and recharging labor times again for rotors. It should be under just one. Next time you go to any shop, ask them what are their rates. It will make more sense when you look at the invoice.

Next time ask for an estimate that shows labor hours to labor charge. If a shop doesn't show it, I wouldn't trust it. No telling what they can/could charge you for.

 

Yeah it looks like the brake flush will be just under $100 which sounds about right. From the description it looks like they're going to clean and lube the whole system which will be nice. But if you have the time, doing the calipers and rotors yourself is a pretty straight forward job and could be a way to cut labor costs. I'm unfamiliar with drum brakes though

 

Is it reasonable to ask them how the labor charge is determined?

 

A lot of shops will have their labor rate/hour posted in plain view. Ours was 80/hr in Colorado. Prices look fair for all of them to me, it's all flat rate so whatever the book says is how it gets charged so they could show you every hour that goes into the job by the book. Whether the service writer gets a little butt hurt about having to look it up and show you is a different story.

 

As I am reading the invoice the $482 is listed as replacing the front brake pads, and rotors, then removing and machining the rear drums, as well as replacing the rear shoes. The breakdown in my catalog shows this:

Brake drum - remove - both sides - 1.6 hrs
Machine drum - each 0.6 hrs
replace front brake pads - both sides - 1.1 hrs
replace rotors while pads removed - both sides 0.8 hrs
Adjust rear brakes - 0.3 hrs

Total labor time - 5.0 hrs At a charge of $482 for labor that divides out to a labor rate of $96.40 per hour. About average for a dealership or shop.

However I would say that the diagnostic time of $36 should have been rolled into the repair. I did that at every shop I worked at for brake work.

 

Unfortunately it's pretty expensive to get your vehicle repaired at a shop/dealer. But pretty much every business has mark ups, over head, etc that needs to get covered in labor/material costs.. Probably would have paid close to 30-40% of that if you did it Yourself. Id say to learn for next time watch a few YouTube videos on what you are trying to do. Most of this stuff is super easy and takes basic hand tools. A lot of people on here are super friendly and helpful so next time just ask!

 

So it went really well and they really did a fantastic job on the car. Kurt is a really nice guy and broke down the pricing on the labor for me. I also called around and found that a lot of other places (Just Brakes, for example) had pretty similar pricing, but were lower by about $250. We talked with him for a bit and got him to knock $100 off of that, so it ended up being $1360 out the door. I trust them enough for them to be my new shop.

He also through in a 75-point inspection and didn't find anything else wrong. Not too shabby for having 200,000 miles!

Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it!

 

Sounds like they treated you right, glad it worked out!

 

no offense to any techs but this is why I'm glad I was taught to do my own service.

 

This breaks it down pretty accurately. When I worked for Toyota the labor rate was $90/hr. and as mentioned, the diag fee should be waived if the repairs are agreed upon. We'd only charge the fee if the repairs were declined or if it was a lengthy diagnosis (tracing a short, misc electric issue).

 

Really almost a full hour to replace the rotors on the front, once the calipers are off they just pull off in about 2 seconds, and over an hour and a half to remove the rear drums(do they get dressed up in hasmat suits as part of the cost. Then they are charging you twice for machining the drums, if they have to send them out they shouldn't be charging you labor and if they have their own machine there shouldn't be a machine shop cost. The only part of the bill that looks reasonable is the axle seal replacement(that can be a bitch).

 

I agree about the times but remember this is Toyota quoting times not the shop. The shop/dealer just goes off of what they say to make sure nothing is rushed, even if it is longer than you or I would take. They are under liability if something goes wrong, you are liable for your own mistakes only

 

I would have done both axles seals while everything was apart.