Used Car Brakes 7 March at 4:56PM in Motoring 18 replies 531 views

Apprentice2019

Hi all,

just after some advice on if I have a valid complaint or not.

Bought a used Nissan Qashqai, 13 Plate, 50k miles from a used car dealership. On its previous MOT it advised rear brake pads needed replacing. I was told when the car was bought, it would get a new MOT and anything that caused it to fail would be replaced. They would not confirm that the brakes would be done so I argued that I wanted the brakes doing as it was an advisory on the previous MOT so surely should need doing on this one. They agreed.
The car is put through its mot and it fails on both front and rear brake pads. The garage replace the brake pads only to get it through the MOT. 2 months on and approx 1k miles, brakes start to squeak. I take it to a garage who informs me the brake discs are badly corroded / worn and need replacing. The brake pads also need replacing as they have taken the shape of the old discs.

Here is my complaint. Surely the garage would have known that putting brake pads on badly worn brake discs would have been pointless as they would need to be replaced alongside the discs and that the discs should have been replaced at the same time as the brake pads?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

AdrianC

Sure - but, from what you say, you should have been asked to pay for the discs, since they weren't an MOT fail at the time...

Apprentice2019

Do you think it would be reasonable for me to ask that the dealership reimburse me for the new pads as this formed part of the sales contract?

EssexExile

The car passed an MOT with an advisory about the pads, it then failed an MOT because of the pads, they were replaced & it passed. No one so far has mentioned the discs.
Another garage then tells you the discs are badly corroded/worn & need replacing. I wonder which version is true.

Whatever, you only seem to be worried about the cost of the pads. Is worth fighting over, pads don't cost much?

AdrianC

Apprentice2019 said:

Do you think it would be reasonable for me to ask that the dealership reimburse me for the new pads as this formed part of the sales contract?

How much time, effort and blood pressure are you going to put into arguing about a set of brake pads...?
A quick look finds cheap brand ones <£15. Even OEM-quality ones are <£30.

Apprentice2019

£120 for 4 of them plus labour. Yes willing to put in some effort.
whats the use in money saving if £120 is not worth at least trying over??

as far as which is true I feel as though I have not been told the whole truth about the condition of the vehicle when it would have become obvious to the garage fitting the pads especially as most of us rely on garages to be honest about the condition of our vehicles when we take them to them.

John_

Apprentice2019 said:

£120 for 4 of them plus labour. Yes willing to put in some effort.
whats the use in money saving if £120 is not worth at least trying over??

as far as which is true I feel as though I have not been told the whole truth about the condition of the vehicle when it would have become obvious to the garage fitting the pads especially as most of us rely on garages to be honest about the condition of our vehicles when we take them to them.

Eurocarparts quotes them at £88 for the set, and you seem to suggest that you didn’t pay for the installation.

Catplan

Way I see it is you’ve now got your new car with new brakes, just enjoy your new car. Brakes need replacing during ownership of a car ok so maybe you’ve needed to replace sooner than you’d like on a newly purchased motor but now you know they’ve been done and won’t need doing for a few years now.

AdrianC

Apprentice2019 said:

£120 for 4 of them plus labour. Yes willing to put in some effort.
whats the use in money saving if £120 is not worth at least trying over??

How did you get from <£15 for a set of front pads to £120?
A cheap set of rear pads from the same (reputable) supplier is <£10. An OEM quality set is <£20.

So that's £25 for a full car set of pads, £50 if you want OEM-quality (but expecting that from a back-street car sales place on a "warranty" promise simply isn't realistic.)

There is no labour element, because you're paying to replace the discs anyway.

Apprentice2019

AdrianC said:

Apprentice2019 said:

£120 for 4 of them plus labour. Yes willing to put in some effort.
whats the use in money saving if £120 is not worth at least trying over??

How did you get from <£15 for a set of front pads to £120?
A cheap set of rear pads from the same (reputable) supplier is <£10. An OEM quality set is <£20.

So that's £25 for a full car set of pads, £50 if you want OEM-quality (but expecting that from a back-street car sales place on a "warranty" promise simply isn't realistic.)

There is no labour element, because you're paying to replace the discs anyway.

It’s what I’ve been charged. 4 sets of disc brakes and pads. Total £419. Brake pads came to £71 (Front) + £59 (Rear). I assume they would charge approx half an hours labour which I guessed would be about £20. Oh and brakes are really not something that should be done on the cheap!

AdrianC

Apprentice2019 said:

AdrianC said:

Apprentice2019 said:

£120 for 4 of them plus labour. Yes willing to put in some effort.
whats the use in money saving if £120 is not worth at least trying over??

How did you get from <£15 for a set of front pads to £120?
A cheap set of rear pads from the same (reputable) supplier is <£10. An OEM quality set is <£20.

So that's £25 for a full car set of pads, £50 if you want OEM-quality (but expecting that from a back-street car sales place on a "warranty" promise simply isn't realistic.)

There is no labour element, because you're paying to replace the discs anyway.

It’s what I’ve been charged. 4 sets of disc brakes and pads. Total £419. Brake pads came to £71 (Front) + £59 (Rear). I assume they would charge approx half an hours labour which I guessed would be about £20. Oh and brakes are really not something that should be done on the cheap!

Lovely, an' all, but that's way overpriced.
https://www.mister-auto.co.uk/brake-pads/nissan/qashqai/qashqai-qashqai-plus2-i-j10-jj10-1-6-dci-130hp-2011-2013/
Cheap - £14.30, OEM quality - £28.30 TRW, £29.10 Valeo
https://www.mister-auto.co.uk/rear-brake-pads/nissan/qashqai/qashqai-qashqai-plus2-i-j10-jj10-1-6-dci-130hp-2011-2013/
Cheap - £9.70, OEM quality - £19.30 Brembo, £19.50 Bosch

If the discs (which would not have been covered by the warranty) are being replaced anyway, there is literally zero extra labour to put new pads in instead of the old ones back in.