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2005 Buick LeSabre, approx 100K miles. Car has been driven exclusively in Wisconsin (long winters, lots of salt on roads)
The brakes were not working well, brake light came on. I took it into the shop. I was told that the rear brake line had "popped" and was extremely rusted (I could see this) and it was likely that the front was in danger of doing so soon, as it was also extremely rusted. Estimate for repair as follows:
$250 for parts
$750 for labor to replace rear line
$1092 for labor to replace front line
$20 brake fluid
$60 brake fluid exchange labor
Plus tax. They said that it would likely take 2-3 days to do the repair as well.
Does this sound reasonable?
Thank you in advance for any knowledge/experience/opinions you can share.
It's a somewhat complicated situation - I live in NC. This is my parents' car. They drove down here from Wisconsin, picked up my kids, and took my minivan back to Wisconsin to give the kids (and me ) a 2-week vacation. They left their Buick down here for me to drive for that 2-week time period. They will be driving my van and the kids home to NC at the end of the month, and intended to drive their Buick back to Wisconsin. When the brake light came on, I figured I would get it fixed for them, expecting a few hundred bucks in repair bills. But $2200 is making me sick to my stomach.
That's a rip off. Take it to a different shop (non dealer) and tell them you only want the piece of line fixed with the leak in it. They should be able to replace a short section, or splice in a piece of line that will fix it. I have driven old vehicles for years and have had many sections of brake line spring a leak. I go to the auto parts store and buy a section of line, a coupler and the ends. I have a flare tool and splice in a repair for about $10 to $20 cost. The line has to be bled. Many shops will use scare tactics to stick it to you, but tell them it is your parents car and you need a quick fix and your folks will deal with any other replacements later. After you get it fixed, go very easy on the brakes.
The brake reservoir is split so you don't lose both your front brakes and rear brakes simultaneously in the event you have a leak. It really should not be driven, but can be with extreme caution. You will only have your front brakes, or your rear, depending on where it leaked out.
Where do you find a reliable, honest repair shop (non dealer)? Angie's List may be good for that if you know anyone who has it. They could look it up for you and give you the higher rated shops.
. They should be able to replace a short section, or splice in a piece of line that will fix it.s.
Oh my heavens no, this is suicide. When brake lines get to this state they are too corroded and vibration hardened to reflare effectively.
I've been through this twice in the last couple years. I ended up doing the entire system on our Suburban and most of the system on a friends car. There is no way in hell I would have spliced out bad sections, but the thought was tempting. If you are going to get it done, it needs to be done right.
I do think the quote is high. It's a ***** of a job but not $1000 worth of labor.
Are the victim of a scam artist. Unless there are some real complications under the car from very bad rust decay, which could add to costs, that is terribly outrageous.
No , it is not reasonable it is four times what it should cost. Take it to Midas or another place. Firestone etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sonderella
2005 Buick LeSabre, approx 100K miles. Car has been driven exclusively in Wisconsin (long winters, lots of salt on roads)
The brakes were not working well, brake light came on. I took it into the shop. I was told that the rear brake line had "popped" and was extremely rusted (I could see this) and it was likely that the front was in danger of doing so soon, as it was also extremely rusted. Estimate for repair as follows:
$250 for parts
$750 for labor to replace rear line
$1092 for labor to replace front line
$20 brake fluid
$60 brake fluid exchange labor
Plus tax. They said that it would likely take 2-3 days to do the repair as well.
Does this sound reasonable?
Thank you in advance for any knowledge/experience/opinions you can share.
Are the victim of a scam artist. Unless there are some real complications under the car from very bad rust decay, which could add to costs, that is terribly outrageous.
No , it is not reasonable it is four times what it should cost. Take it to Midas or another place. Firestone etc.
It is a Firestone shop. It's also not my regular place, but regular place was too busy to look at it yesterday (Friday) and they're closed on weekends, so I went to Firestone, which actually does have a good reputation in this community. By the time I got news of what needed to be done and estimate from Firestone, regular place was closed for the day, so I couldn't run the estimate by them.
Firestone told me (after I was there for a while) that they probably wouldn't start work on it until Monday. I am tempted to call regular place first thing on Monday morning and ask if they can give me a verbal on what they think it would cost.
That's a rip off. Take it to a different shop (non dealer) and tell them you only want the piece of line fixed with the leak in it. They should be able to replace a short section, or splice in a piece of line that will fix it. I have driven old vehicles for years and have had many sections of brake line spring a leak. I go to the auto parts store and buy a section of line, a coupler and the ends. I have a flare tool and splice in a repair for about $10 to $20 cost. The line has to be bled. Many shops will use scare tactics to stick it to you, but tell them it is your parents car and you need a quick fix and your folks will deal with any other replacements later. After you get it fixed, go very easy on the brakes.
The brake reservoir is split so you don't lose both your front brakes and rear brakes simultaneously in the event you have a leak. It really should not be driven, but can be with extreme caution. You will only have your front brakes, or your rear, depending on where it leaked out.
Where do you find a reliable, honest repair shop (non dealer)? Angie's List may be good for that if you know anyone who has it. They could look it up for you and give you the higher rated shops.
My parents are going to have to drive this car through the mountains, from central NC back to western Wisconsin, so it's not really possible to "go easy" on them until they get it back to their home turf, unfortunately.
That is good to know about the front/rear brakes being separate. That was the impression I got too but being very ignorant of cars I wasn't sure, didn't know if it was possible to drive at all. The mechanic had told me that they didn't recommend it (of course) but I would only drive it a few miles down the road to another shop, so I think I feel comfortable doing that.
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) a 2-week vacation. They left their Buick down here for me to drive for that 2-week time period. They will be driving my van and the kids home to NC at the end of the month, and intended to drive their Buick back to Wisconsin. When the brake light came on, I figured I would get it fixed for them, expecting a few hundred bucks in repair bills. But $2200 is making me sick to my stomach.
You!
