Keeping garage costs down on a citroen.

Cris1970

Hi,
I have just had a full service and mot. My car has passed MOT but the garage has highlighted that the brake shoes are very worn and need to urgently be replaced. The Garage is part of the halford chain.

They have quoted £250 to replace front and back shoes, this includes brakes for life cover.
I have been on mycarneedsa and have been sent a quote for half price, with a garage i do not know.

On the print out of the service it has highlighted that my cars cambelt should be changed at 120000 and my car is about 6,000 miles away. I was thinking of trying to haggle a better price for the brakes and also maybe include the cambelt kit as well.

I was wondering whether any one has been successful in negotiating/haggling with garages. Any advice would be great. I have done it when it is tyres because that is easy since i can just compare prices on line.

If anyone could advice what is a fair price it would be very helpful I am looking for Brake shoes being replaced and Cambelt kit being fitted. The car is a Citroen Xsara Picasso 09 and we live in North west.:money:

motorguy

Dont use Halfrauds. They're ripping you off.

Get a recommendation for a local garage from a friend or colleague.

fred246

I do my own servicing and repairs. If I didn't I think I would try and find a reputable mobile mechanic. All the jobs you have quoted can be done on the drive with a few tools. That way you know that one person has done the work, you can watch him to see that something has actually been done. I always think the farther the customer is away from the mechanic the worse the service will be. You want to talk to the mechanic personally and not have middlemen in the way.

tberry6686

What kind of car is it. I can't think of one car under 15 years old that has brake shoes on the front. If they specifically said brake shoes then run a mile - you only have brake shoes on drum brakes and some handbrakes (handbrake operates on the rear only).

Norman_Castle

A friend recently had all four discs and pads replaced at a local garage for £170 on a Xsara estate.

SailorSam

If you need to save money on doing a service, buy a Haynes manual. Much of the work on a car is fairly simple if you follow the instructions. But i don't think i'd do a cambelt until you've had a bit of practise on the easier jobs.

fred246

A work colleague of mine asked what I thought of his quote of £200 from a main dealer to change a lightbulb. Had to take bumper off etc etc. "Dunno" I said "have you got a Haynes manual?" No "Well get one for £15. At some time you'll probably save the £15." He came back to me furious. Turned out to be a really simple 5 minute job. No disassembly needed. No bumper removal. He had a right go at the dealers.

Marktheshark

If they are that worn how did it pass the MOT ?
I smell brown Cow poo.

SailorSam

These days you don't even need to go out and buy a manual to learn how to do many of the jobs on your car. Just google YouTube and you can watch a video of it getting repaired.

Car_54

Marktheshark wrote: »

If they are that worn how did it pass the MOT ?
I smell brown Cow poo.

Simple. The MOT only measures the brakes' effectiveness at the time of the test, not how much wear is left. The pads could be worn very thin & still be 100% effective.

forgotmyname

Check the terms on the brakes for life, Last one i read only covered the pads, you think thats a great deal, but most people dont keep the car long enough for them to need doing again.

Then the smallprint. It covers the pads, but count on having to replace the discs every time also which will cost you.

They will make more than enough on selling you the discs than another garage charging for both.

Did they state how many mm left on the brakes? Find yourself a decent local garage and yes you can haggle on the price so know what the parts cost before you take it in.

eurocarparts or GSF are good for prices.