Quoted €400 for discs and brakes on BWM 320D

DublinWriter

I got a quote of €400 to replace the discs and brake pads (x4) on my E46 320D by a local garage.

Rip, or not?

leeroybrown

That doesn't sound too bad. Assuming they're the correct BMW parts they're likely to cost a very large chunk of that price.

Bluefoam

you can get the parts for about €120 - then bring them to a local mechanic...

http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/

guil

Bluefoam wrote: »

you can get the parts for about €120 - then bring them to a local mechanic...

http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/

check again, the discs alone would be more than that, it says they are priced individually but sold in pairs

Seth Brundle

GSF will privode OEM quality brakes at a fraction of the BMW cost. However, I's say that the quote provided to the OP was for non BMW sourced parts and the balance is made up of labour.
Seems reasonable enough tbh!

LoveDucati2

That is a complete rip off.

You can buy the parts (Pads and discs) on Ebay for £100 (incl 20 p+p) quid stg from a genuine part company.

A mechanic would charge €50-80 to change them. it is not a big job.

Bandara

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

That is a complete rip off.

You can buy the parts (Pads and discs) on Ebay for £100 (incl 20 p+p) quid stg from a genuine part company.

A mechanic would charge €50-80 to change them. it is not a big job.

No company in this country could survive if they charged €50 to change the pads and discs on a car. And they will stand over the job afterwards.

Have you any idea how much wages, insurance, rent, equipment etc cost?

Sorry, but you need to get real here.

LoveDucati2

Hammertime wrote: »

No company in this country could survive if they charged €50 to change the pads and discs on a car. And they will stand over the job afterwards.

I said €50-80 which is 2 hours labour in 2 different garages, I just had mine done and paid 50, the job took 1hr 15 mins in total.

Hammertime wrote: »

Have you any idea how much wages, insurance, rent, equipment etc cost?

Yes to all. Thats why 40 per hour labour at max is a fair price, do not forget that the majority of garages would be getting a kickback of 25% on parts.

Hammertime wrote: »

Sorry, but you need to get real here.

€25 to €40 per hour labour is a fair price.

Escpecially when the job only took 1 and 1/4 hours to do.

Is this not real?

Bandara

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

I said €50-80 which is 2 hours labour in 2 different garages, I just had mine done and paid 50, the job took 1hr 15 mins in total.



Yes to all. Thats why 40 per hour labour at max is a fair price, do not forget that the majority of garages would be getting a kickback of 25% on parts.



€25 to €40 per hour labour is a fair price.

Escpecially when the job only took 1 and 1/4 hours to do.

Is this not real?

ducati do a excerise for me ...

1. Take 13.5% away from the €25 an hour figure you think is fair.

Write down the hourly wage rate for a mechanic, then add 18.5% to it, then write down a % figure that you think goes towards covering each of the following rent, electricity, insurance, rates, equipment, miscellanous etc etc.

Now take that total percentage figure away from the figure you got after point 1

What are you left with?

A minus figure?

Plug

Another rip off garage thread, can we just drop it lads?:rolleyes:

Anan1

Plug wrote: »

Another rip off garage thread, can we just drop it lads?:rolleyes:

This is the motors board, people have a right to discuss the cost of work.

Mr.Diagnostic

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

That is a complete rip off.

You can buy the parts (Pads and discs) on Ebay for £100 (incl 20 p+p) quid stg from a genuine part company.

A mechanic would charge €50-80 to change them. it is not a big job.

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

€25 to €40 per hour labour is a fair price.

Absolutely agree, parts are easily available for €120 so no need to buy for any higher price. Brakes are brakes, all the same quality and sure not that important at all.

As regards labour, any grease monkey will fit these in 20 minutes. There is no need to look at the rest of the braking system, sure wouldn’t you know if there was a problem with the rest of it anyway. Besides, if another part of the system fails soon after the garages insurance will cover it and there is very little chance that someone could get killed. Its not worth doing right at all.
€25 an hour! No way is that justified. Sure what overheads has a garage got that they need to charge such outrageous prices. Anyone would think they have to pay for tools, diagnostic equipment, insurance, rent, software updates, light, heat, Vat etc.

LoveDucati2

I do not see why we have to drop this.

The OP asked a question.

The answer to that question is €200 is a fair price for new pads and disks all round.

Thats €90 labour for 1 1/4 hrs work, and €110 for the OEM parts.

This is a very fair price to pay.

The garage is ripping him off by €200.

Guy:Incognito

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

I do not see why we have to drop this.

The OP asked a question.

The answer to that question is €200 is a fair price for new pads and disks all round.

Thats €90 labour for 1 1/4 hrs work, and €110 for the OEM parts.

This is a very fair price to pay.

The garage is ripping him off by €200.

Theres nothing stopping you posting links to the parts BTW.

The cheapest discs GSF have are stg£28.60 +vat. For comparison. Thats near €160 there anyway, more depending on exchange rate fluctuations.

B60124 BRAKE DISC-VENTED E46 (320D 1998>09/2001) 28.60


Pads are stg£37.30 plus vat. so thats another €90 anyway.

B64029 BRAKE PAD SET-TEXTAR E46 330d 37.30

Bandara

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

I do not see why we have to drop this.

The OP asked a question.

The answer to that question is €200 is a fair price for new pads and disks all round.

Thats €90 labour for 1 1/4 hrs work, and €110 for the OEM parts.

This is a very fair price to pay.

The garage is ripping him off by €200.

EITHER DO I, SO GO ON ANSWER MY QUESTION....


ducati do a excerise for me ...

1. Take 13.5% away from the €25 an hour figure you think is fair.

Write down the hourly wage rate for a mechanic, then add 18.5% to it, then write down a % figure that you think goes towards covering each of the following rent, electricity, insurance, rates, equipment, miscellanous etc etc.

Now take that total percentage figure away from the figure you got after point 1

What are you left with?

A minus figure?

Anan1

€400 for four discs & pads fitted doesn't sound particularly over-the-top to me, TBH.

guil

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

I do not see why we have to drop this.

The OP asked a question.

The answer to that question is €200 is a fair price for new pads and disks all round.

Thats €90 labour for 1 1/4 hrs work, and €110 for the OEM parts.

This is a very fair price to pay.

The garage is ripping him off by €200.

i'd love to know where ya get ur prices from

Guy:Incognito

Hammertime wrote: »

EITHER DO I, SO GO ON ANSWER MY QUESTION....


ducati do a excerise for me ...

1. Take 13.5% away from the €25 an hour figure you think is fair.

Write down the hourly wage rate for a mechanic, then add 18.5% to it, then write down a % figure that you think goes towards covering each of the following rent, electricity, insurance, rates, equipment, miscellanous etc etc.

Now take that total percentage figure away from the figure you got after point 1

What are you left with?

A minus figure?

I wouldnt take a lack of specific answers personnally. I seem to remember on the parts thread a couple of weeks back, inconcenient questions got "forgotten" in the confusion of the thread in favour of the ones that certain people felt like answering.

LoveDucati2

DublinWriter wrote: »

I got a quote of €400 to replace the discs and brake pads (x4) on my E46 320D by a local garage.

Rip, or not?

Can you get a quote from the garage and breakdown the charges for us.

I would love to know what they are charging for the parts.

How many hours labour are they asking for?

54kroc

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

I do not see why we have to drop this.

The OP asked a question.

The answer to that question is €200 is a fair price for new pads and disks all round.

Thats €90 labour for 1 1/4 hrs work, and €110 for the OEM parts.

This is a very fair price to pay.

The garage is ripping him off by €200.

That sounds about right to me although if your any way handy at all
you should give it a go yourself, it's fairly easy and a very satisfying job to do.

LoveDucati2

Hammertime wrote: »

ducati do a excerise for me ...

1. Take 13.5% away from the €25 an hour figure you think is fair.

Write down the hourly wage rate for a mechanic, then add 18.5% to it, then write down a % figure that you think goes towards covering each of the following rent, electricity, insurance, rates, equipment, miscellanous etc etc.

Now take that total percentage figure away from the figure you got after point 1

What are you left with?

A minus figure?

What should the labour charge be then?

PirateShampoo

cork45 wrote: »

That sounds about right to me although if your any way handy at all
you should give it a go yourself, it's fairly easy and a very satisfying job to do.

I would never touch my brakes myself. I always go to a garage and let some one whos 100% who knows what they are doing.

400 sounds about right.

I bought 4 serated disks and mintex pads all round for my car off ebay for same price.

DublinDilbert

DublinWriter wrote: »

I got a quote of €400 to replace the discs and brake pads (x4) on my E46 320D by a local garage.

Rip, or not?

Are you having all 4 discs replaced? or Just the front discs, but having all 4 brake pads replaced?? Its not clear form the post above....

Are they replacing the brake wear sensors? Probably best to replace them, they are about €5 from GSF. The cable goes on these, and you end up with a warning light on the dash, which is a pain.

The rear discs shouldn't need to be replaced, they only do 25% of the work! In saying that they might be in bad condition, who knows.....


Conservative prices including VAT would be:-
Front Pads €25
Rear Pads €20
Brake wear sensors €5 x 2
Front discs €85
Rear discs €70

Total: €210

Then labour wise, the others here would be better able to advise, but if your doing the rear shoes the hand brake will have to be adjusted + tested... .I'd say 1.5 hours....... Say @ €60/hour, would be €90 + VAT = €110

I presume a BMW dealer would charge something like €110/hour, which would be €220+VAT = €260 (aprox).

darealtulip

PirateShampoo wrote: »

I would never touch my brakes myself. I always go to a garage and let some one whos 100% who knows what they are doing.

400 sounds about right.

I bought 4 serated disks and mintex pads all round for my car off ebay for same price.

brakes are really easy to do yourself, it was one of the first things I did myself and it is not rocket sience. You can get really cheap stuff from GSF carparts

su_dios

I find it worrying to see that people are trying to spend the least amount possible on their brakes!

Sure you don't want to be ripped off but if you're paying 25eur an hour for labour at a 1hr 15min job you cannot be expecting much.

Bandara

LoveDucati2 wrote: »

What should the labour charge be then?

I have no experience of garages, I do however have a lot of experience in employing people, you seem to know exactly how much a garage should charge, yet you are unable to back it up with anything.

Just to enlighten you. I'll assume a mechanic earns 15 an hour (I doubt I'm too far off but I'm open to be corrected).

So that mechanic at €15 an hour costs an additional €1.57 an hour in Employer PRSI contributions, you must then factor an additional 8% cost an hour in holiday pay- which is another €1.20.

So your basic mechanic is costing €17.77 an hour to employ. So that leaves us with €7.23 an hour from which to pay for rent, electricity, insurance, equipment, training, rates etc etc etc etc.

And then in order to stay in buisness and pay their bills the company has to turn a profit.

Seeing as rent would normally run at about 6%, electricity about 1.5%, rates average about 1% etc etc etc I would roughly estimate that a garage charging €25 an hour would be making a rather large loss per hour working at what you suggest.

Unless of course you know a lot more than you seem too and care to enlighten us?

LoveDucati2

Hammertime wrote: »

I have no experience of garages, I do however have a lot of experience in employing people, you seem to know exactly how much a garage should charge, yet you are unable to back it up with anything.

Just to enlighten you. I'll assume a mechanic earns 15 an hour (I doubt I'm too far off but I'm open to be corrected).

So that mechanic at €15 an hour costs an additional €1.57 an hour in Employer PRSI contributions, you must then factor an additional 8% cost an hour in holiday pay- which is another €1.20.

So your basic mechanic is costing €17.77 an hour to employ. So that leaves us with €7.23 an hour from which to pay for rent, electricity, insurance, equipment, training, rates etc etc etc etc.

And then in order to stay in buisness and pay their bills the company has to turn a profit.

Seeing as rent would normally run at about 6%, electricity about 1.5%, rates average about 1% etc etc etc I would roughly estimate that a garage charging €25 an hour would be making a rather large loss per hour working at what you suggest.

Unless of course you know a lot more than you seem too and care to enlighten us?

You did not answer the question!

Anti

Mr.Diagnostic wrote: »

. Brakes are brakes, all the same quality and sure not that important at all.

Sorry, but the brakes are probably the most important part of the car in all fairness. I'd personally much rather pay 400€ to a BMW garage to fit the discs and pads, than buy them on ebay and have some backstreet mechanic who is probbly only there as he failed his JC and LC.

guil

Anti wrote: »

Sorry, but the brakes are probably the most important part of the car in all fairness. I'd personally much rather pay 400€ to a BMW garage to fit the discs and pads, than buy them on ebay and have some backstreet mechanic who is probbly only there as he failed his JC and LC.

i think ya missed the sarcasm anti

Bandara

Hammertime wrote: »

I have no experience of garages, I do however have a lot of experience in employing people, you seem to know exactly how much a garage should charge, yet you are unable to back it up with anything.

Just to enlighten you. I'll assume a mechanic earns 15 an hour (I doubt I'm too far off but I'm open to be corrected).

So that mechanic at €15 an hour costs an additional €1.57 an hour in Employer PRSI contributions, you must then factor an additional 8% cost an hour in holiday pay- which is another €1.20.

So your basic mechanic is costing €17.77 an hour to employ. So that leaves us with €7.23 an hour from which to pay for rent, electricity, insurance, equipment, training, rates etc etc etc etc.

And then in order to stay in buisness and pay their bills the company has to turn a profit.

Seeing as rent would normally run at about 6%, electricity about 1.5%, rates average about 1% etc etc etc I would roughly estimate that a garage charging €25 an hour would be making a rather large loss per hour working at what you suggest.

Unless of course you know a lot more than you seem too and care to enlighten us?

Oh the irony, not to quick on the answers yourself....

LoveDucati2

Anti wrote: »

Sorry, but the brakes are probably the most important part of the car in all fairness. I'd personally much rather pay 400€ to a BMW garage to fit the discs and pads, than buy them on ebay and have some backstreet mechanic who is probbly only there as he failed his JC and LC.

What is wrong with you all.

I can get full set of Mintex pads and discs for 100stg. These are excellent quality and come from the exact same source that the Irish garages will use.

Even if I go to dealership and pay 60 euro per hour it is still cheaper.

Many garages charge 25-40 per hour labour and they make extra 25% clear profit on souring parts.

Ten years ago €20 labour per hour would have been laughed at.

This is one of the reasons we have priced our country out of competitiveness.