samie

Hey

I took my escort (97 reg, 1.4i encore) to kwik-fit as they was doing free brake check and my rear drums had been making a dodgy grinding noise. After the check, i was told that the car needs new brake shoes, new rear drums, new cylinders and finally a fitting kit which contains spring clips etc and they quoted £314.25 for parts and labor. Is this a fair price?? if not how much should i be looking to pay for the work and can anyone recommend any decent mechanics in the Nottingham area.

Thanks
Samie

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Seems like a horrendous price!! You should get a brake drum at around £20 each, set of shoes about the same, and cylinders about a tenner each. Hours labour to fit at about £40 mechanics wage, so where has the other £200 gone?

samie

thanks for the reply!! the quote broken down was; shoes - 72.66, drums - 101.01, cylinders - 103.20 and fitting kit - 36.80!! i thought it was stupidly high as i had a quick look on ebay and found the parts for a lot less!!

will call up a few garages tomorrow to see what they quote for the work and will hopefully get a better price as i am completely broke

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

Yes definately go elsewhere, stay away from quick fit etc they are only there to rip you off.

wirralphil

Go to a small independent garage. Did they take the drum off before telling you that you needed new cylinders?

You might even get away with just new pads.

pullo

Spot on mate, motorist discount next to me cheap as chips.

samie

yea, they had all the wheels of and even opened the bonnet to check my brake fluid!!!

the only reason i went to them was to get my brakes checked to see if grinding noise was due to the rear drums. Just need to find someone who will do a decent job for a decent amount and not the monkeys who work at kwik fit!!

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

never go to kwik shit, they are shockingly bad

as said, find a decent local place - i'm sure someone will know someone in Nottingham to do it for you

studabear

people seem to forget its a business, they are there to make money, they have to or there is no point in opening the doors

So comparing the prices from a motorfactors for some of the parts is pointless, esp if you can't fit them yourself, as I doubt the op could.

And as for quoting ebay for prices, thats all well and good if your capable of doing the work yourself , and what do you do if the parts are incorrectly supplied

The garage also has to give a warantee, pay the fitter/mechanic etc etc, regardless of if its a national fast fit outfit or a 1 man band

Also was there no mention of replacing the wheel bearings or were they going to be knocked out of the old drums and refitted to save the cost of new bearings but still taking more time/labour

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

oh course it a business, that doesnt stop them from being robbing barstards tho!

i would be willing to place a bet that his car does not need half the stuff they have quoted for.

my advise to the OP is to wait for a recommendation from somone on here or shop around at independant places.

studabear

My point is merely that there is a bigger picture , than x amount for the brakes, even if the parts only cost x amount

Mk1-stu

you can get grooved drums for cheaper than that !!

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

would you take your car there if you didnt know much about cars?

sadly; each branch has sales targets they have to meet,x amount of exhausts, x amount of tyres, x amounts of brakes etc

joe public gets ripped off - just do a search on here, there's plenty of threads about kiwk shit

cheers

studabear

.............

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

poor you

studabear

I hear a lot of slating of them on a few forums I use,

Believe it or not though they have a massive amount of HAPPY & REPEAT customers

I enjoy working for them, its a safe secure job

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

Grooved drums?
I'm interested lol

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Then you'll know that employees are set targets to meet, and that the more unscrupulous ones will invent jobs to line their pockets. The Kwik Fit type of garage is reknowned for it. I would be very surprised if they actually took the drums off her car before making the quote.

I'm sure there are some legit ones, but I've had personal experience of their shitness, and I bet a lot of people on here have too.

studabear

grooved drums have been around for years, pointless imo

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

so can you tell me why your set targets?

if you have 10 customers and only 1 person need their tyres changing, but your target is 3, what happens?

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

learn something new everyday, I just thought drums were all shit, guess I was right to an extent lol

Robs Frst

I also have had bad experience of Kwikshit

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

It's called trying to make more profit...

botters

iTrader: (2)

i work in the trade myself and those prices are appaling that lot fitted at my work would be around £120max kwik fit strike again ive never heard anyone say a good word about them but have heard 1000's of horror stories

studabear

The centres have a budget, what business doesn't

A brake report should have been completed unless the fitter has x-ray vision

its a massive company so more people will have dealt with them, and people only speak the bad stuff

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

i know that you goon

i want to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak. Its ethically wrong and everyone knows it - the company is driven by profit, which essentially means joe public gets ripped off

they pray on the people who dont know they are being ripped off. I remember when me and my mate took his pug 205 into the local kiwk shit to have 1 tyre changed because of a slow puncture.

The bloke who served us said the front pads were low and needed chaning as they were dangerous. my mate had only had them changed a few weeks before. When i said "bollox, show me" he said some bullshit about customers not allowed in the workshop and then got in a huff

he knew he had been caught out and didnt speak to us after that and got some spotty 17 year old to finish the transaction

robbing barstards!!!!!!!

studabear

so for £120 your garage will fit and supply 2x brake drums, 1x set of shoes 2x cylinders and a fitting kit

labour, vat and materials


ok

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

Phone their flippin head office then! They're the ones that set targets, almost every big company set targets! Its a bloody business for fucks sake, whats the point in running one if you don't try to make money! Yes its wrong, but you can't do fuck all about it.

zetec-Sam

iTrader: (2)

lol, hes talking rubbish. being a sheep, so to speak.

studabear

hahaha,

samie

if i had the time i would do the work myself; on my R200 i upgraded my front brakes to a set from a 620ti, swapped all the suspension to a set from a mg zr, etc. Main reason why i haven't attempted to do the work myself is that i don't have the time to do the research into the work required and then purchase all the parts and then take out a day to fix it as i am a medical student and have loads of exams in Jan.

i can understand where studabear is coming from, end of the day its big business and money has to be made. I just cant afford £320 odd to fix it when i can go somewhere else which will do the same job for a lot less.

24vcossiemat

101 quid for 2 cylinders lol... they are fucking joking

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

you can do lots about it, by not taking your car to them for starters!

and i'm glad you agree that its wrong - another person who thinks they are con merchants. Thanks

LHD220Turbo

iTrader: (4)

i think you've answered your own question then mate, its def not a fair price - take it elsewhere

Grantcos

I would be surprised if it needed drums and really surprised if it needs the cylinders. Robbing bstrds praying on people with there free checks. If you went in there to one of thier free checks with a car thats straight from the factory they would find a nice big list needing done

DanW@FastFord

iTrader: (1)

Totally, and they obviously have to make a profit. But do you genuinely believe that over £100 is a fair price for a pair of cylinders??

There's making a profit, and there's taking the piss.

gingerxr2

ive just had the same problem with my dads mondeo td estate,grinding,it cost £20 to put right myself,not saying yours is the same problem but £320 is enough to buy another car imo,is the noise all the time or just when brakes are used?

dojj

iTrader: (3)

they offerd you a free brake check
there is nothing to say you have to get the work done by them
thank them for their time and take it elsewhere
£101 for a set of cylinders that will cost them about a tenner is a rip offm unless they already included the cost of labour for fucking up the bleeding and breaking of the bleed nipples into the price
did they remove the drums and then check to see if the seals were leaking on the cylinders?

Oranoco

I would rather stick my todger in a blender than let Kwik Fit near a car I owned. Bunch of rip off merchants. Mates now wife went in with her Nova as the brakes felt bad and she was tol dit needed new discs, pads, drums and shoes. I got the job of going down as she was upset and my mate was in London. I was far from happy with the flanel I was being told. So asked them to put the wheels back on so we could get a second opinion. The guy said they couldn't release the car as it was dangerous and he didn't seem keen to show me the brakes and when he did he whizzed over it all. the discs had a minor lip but the pads had plenty of meat left on them. I suggested he put the car back together and released it or I would call trading standards as I thought he was pulling a fast one. Got th ecar home and bled the brakes and what do you know the brakes were fine and sailed the next MOT.

I think they expected a dappy bird who would just pay without knowing the first thing about the car. To be fair had the quote to rectify the supposed faults not been so high she might well have paid out without questioning it.

samie

the grinding noise is constant, not sure if its still there when i apply the brakes or not as i always have the heaters on full blast as its freezing!! The thing which worries is me is the fact it may just be a simple fix like you experienced and they are trying to pull a fast one as my brakes work fine and i am not loosing brake fluid even though the cylinders are apparently damaged.

They did have all the wheels off and remove the drums to see the brake shoes. When the mechanic went to help some other guy out i quickly went into the workshop to have a quick look myself, checked out the front pads and disks and they had plenty of life on them, but with rear drums i had no idea what to look for as i have never changed them before. Managed to get one quote from my dads friend in Birmingham and he would charge £280 for the job, parts £200 and labor £80...