Avoid Losing Money On Your Brakes!
Being one of the most important services performed to your car, brake service can also be the most expensive. With service cost ranging from $500 to $2,500 (on a good day) there’s no telling how much your brakes will cost. This is what motivated us to write this article, to help you understand the cost of a brake service and learn how to avoid it. There is no point in losing money on your brakes.
Prevent Rotor Damage
One of the most expensive parts when doing a brake service is the rotors. Costing upwards of $150 each, they can really raise the cost of the service. However, if maintained properly, they won’t have to be changed on every service.
So, how do we maintain our rotors properly you ask? Simple. Replace the brake pads on time. One of the biggest problems, and costly one too, is running your brakes past their braking point. A lot of customers don’t know how to check wear and therefore chew through their pads without realizing. When a brake pad is completely gone, the metal starts making contact with the rotor, creating a significant sign of wear and damage. This eventually leads to having to replace both pads and rotors. The cost therefore becomes double.
In conclusion, avoid losing money on your brakes by replacing the pads on time and saving the rotors for the next service. This can save you up to half the cost of your service.
Prevent New Sensors
Accounting for a small, but noticeable, cost to your service, brake pad sensors are the easiest to preserve. Sensors are no longer usable when they trigger. What does this mean? The brake pad sensors on your vehicle is there to detect when the pads have reached a critical point. This then sends a message to the computer of your vehicle indicating a brake service is needed. When this message is sent, those sensors become unusable.
As a result, new brake pad sensors will be needed, adding to the cost of the service. Each sensor ranges from $50 to $150 depending on vehicle type. So how can we prevent sensor replacement? Avoid losing money by replacing your pads before the sensor light goes on. At the shop, we check every customers brakes on each visit, this allows us to detect the percentage of life left on them. When we see that percentage below 20% we advise the customer he will be needing new pads on his next visit. If the life left is below 10%, we recommend a pad replacement as soon as possible.
Aftermarket Options
The last way to save is aftermarket parts. These parts are usually made by the same factory who makes the originals, just released under a different name. For example, some Original Equipment Mercedes-Benz brake pads are made by Textar. This can be found written on the brake pad. Textar also makes an aftermarket option under their own brand. So what’s the difference? Price.
The Original Equipment part is being valued by the brand attached to it, which sometimes leads to a 20% to 35% mark-up. This is money we can save by getting the same product, but under a different name. When our customers are limited by budget, this is what we offer. It saves them money and still provides the quality part their vehicle needs.
The Right Product
Having mentioned aftermarket parts in the prior section, it is very important we touch up on the right product. A lot of our customers call us and advise they have brake pads and rotors for their vehicle for $200. This usually happens with the higher end vehicles. 99.9% of the time, the customer has bought the wrong part or an aftermarket option that is not the needed specs for their vehicle.
When buying pads and rotors, you want to make sure you are getting the right product. If the price seems unrealistic, then it might really be not realistic. Meaning, the part your are buying is at the bottom of the quality list and/or not the right one.
As a moral right, we inform these customers of the possible effects from the parts they have bought and turn them away. We believe in maintaining a level of quality and high standards for all the vehicles we service. As a result we always recommend the most affordable and appropriate part for your vehicle.
In Conclusion
We can avoid losing money in 3 simple steps: prevent rotor damage, prevent replacing brake pad sensors & looking at correct aftermarket options. Following these steps can save you up to 50% on your next brake service. This is something we provide all of our customers on their visits to the shop. Reliable and affordable parts for what they need.
If you enjoyed reading this blog entry and would like to learn more about saving on your next brake service, feel free to contact us below. You can call the office, email us or simply leave a comment at the bottom of the page. It would be our pleasure to assist in all your brake service needs.