Cost of brake repair at the dealer?

[Nark]

Hi all,

I took my 1986 cressida wagon to have the dealer inspect and repair of possible bent rear axle. As it turn out, the axle is good but brake/wheel cylinder is stuck and that's why it pulsate the brake peddle.

Anyway, they charged me $540 for replacing 2 wheel cylinders and bleed the brake. That's seem awful expensive considered this is only 1.5 hr labor. They charged me $55 ea. for aftermarket wheel cylinder which I later found out I could buy at Autozone for $9.50 ea.

The worst part is they made me sit there for 6 hrs. and hopefully I can be fool by the price they charged me.

I cross posted here because there aren't too many users in cressida forum. If I've known cressida parts are much harder to find, I would've bought camry station wagon instead.

Thanks.

[Zembonez]

Seems rather typical for a dealer repair. They are about the most expensive place on earth to take an out of warranty car. I'm sure there was more than 2.5 hours labor total, plus brake fluid, shop charges, the wheel cylinders... it adds up quick there.

[Rowdyrod]

Oh, the lessons I learned by letting Toyota screw me too. Toyota mechanics get commission on all installed parts and the service writers get a cut of that. They WILL put parts on your car that you do NOT need. If the flat rate labor book said the job takes 6 hours and it took them half that, they will park your car outside and let you sit the rest of the time, as you found out, and charge you the full rate. I had a window regulator replaced and it took them less than 30 minutes. The labor charge was over 200.00. The part was 115.00. I had an ex dealer mechanic tell me what they do. I am sorry you got burned. STAY AWAY from dealers.

[Zembonez]

Flat rate repair charges are the standard way that all dealers and most shops charge for their work. It's NOT an automatic rip off. Book time is determined by an independent company who researches how long a job takes to do. Mechanics work on commission. They get paid a percentage of the flat rate hours a job calls for. A good mechanic can often beat the book flat rate time by quite a bit...

Most mechanics are honest, hard working people who WILL NOT install parts on your car that you do not need.

If a job pays 6 hours and it's done in 3, that's just the way it is. On the flip side, if that same job takes 9 hours, the shop and tech still only get paid for 6.

[Rowdyrod]

"Most mechanics are honest, hard working people who WILL NOT install parts on your car that you do not need. "

Really? If you want to KEEP your job at a dealership and many garages I know of, you HAVE to do what the owner tells you. I WAS a mechanic in my younger years and I QUIT more than one garage for that reason.

"If a job pays 6 hours and it's done in 3, that's just the way it is. On the flip side, if that same job takes 9 hours, the shop and tech still only get paid for 6."

Not true at all. "Thats the way it is?" And that is fair to the cars owner?"
I have two buddies here who used to work for dealerships and QUIT because they were forced to cheat people. Both of them were forced to park the cars out back and wait out the time if the job was done quicker than the Flate rate book said. HOW is that fair to the car owner?

You and I agree to disagree here. I lived it.

[Zembonez]

Your distorted view amuses me.

I have been in the business on many levels for 30 plus years. I worked at dealerships for many of those years. Today, I deal with many car dealerships daily and they are not the dishonest cesspools of thieves you seem to think they are. If you do not understand the flat rate system, then you either were not in it long or you worked for some fly by night operation that was fleecing customers.

[84Cressida]

Really has nothing to do with Cressida parts vs. Camry parts. The jobs for either, and likely a newer Toyota, would've been roughly the same price.