We have a car that’s in for repairs. The whole transmission is being redone, and when they took the engine out they found out that the brake lines are in bad shape and need to be replaced entirely front to back.
For this they gave us a quote of around $3000.
We were speaking to a friend and she said she had hers replaced for around $300 a short while back.
Is the price we got realistic?
that seems super high to me, but it really depends if/what all is needed. usually its just the rubber brake hose that is replaced. little ones might be $20-$50. longer ones that go front to back i could see being more, so a $300 job with labor sounds about right.
cars also have the hard lines. these are the skinny (like straws thin) metal pipes. these are way more durable, so rarely need replaced, but would be a lot more expensive if they do. if they are rusted/corroded to where they are a safety issue, it would be critical to replace them asap.
the only way to know the state of it is get your own eyes on it and/or get a second opinion. typically, i always decline these kind of recommended services. im not going to be put on the spot or pressured. i tell em finish the work we agreed on, we’ll settle up, and ill get the vehicle back and look into it.
have another shop look at it. dont tell em shit. do not say, “this other shop said said i needed $3000 of brakes. do i need $3000 of brakes?” because a dishonest shop will see dollar signs and they’ll know in their head they’ll call you and ‘confirm’ you need it before they even look at it. just say, “im gonna lend the vehicle to my niece for a road trip, can you just do a oil change and check it over? i wanna make sure its safe”. if they independently discover the brakes need major work on their own without a tip-off, its probably legit.
Seems high, possibly a don’t want to do it quote. We used to figure about an hour per line when I lived in minnesota and dealt with it. Maybe a bit more depending on vehicle and routine, usually pickups were in the $700-$1000 range for all of them, but that’s been 6-8 years now. $300 for all the brake line replaced on your friends car seems super cheap, likely it was just a couple of them.
Seems a little on the high end.
Also the pictures kinda shit. I’ve seen worse.
Is there some opportunity savings involved? Like are they saying it’s easier to do with the transmission already out of something?
Yes, they’re saying that, because they have the engine out already. But then our local mechanic said they don’t take the engine out to do brake lines, so I don’t understand.
Our mechanic is also saying that don’t go in and do it all, they just replace what’s actually breaking, not just rusty.
But from what they were saying we’re now also scared that the car might not be safe to drive if we wait to do it at another place. I really don’t understand.
The car is a 2009 Kia Sedona with about 120k miles.
They’ve done the transmission (mostly covered by the warranty so we have to pay around 2k for it) and that felt worth it, but now this is not covered at all and spending this much on a car that old feels stupid.
Yeah that rust isn’t that bad. Usually people just replace the broken sections with new, not the whole thing. If they were to replace the whole thing it could take a while, but it’s not necessary.
Lines do fail eventually from rust but usually the pedal will get spongy first before one set of brakes fails. So you would have some kind of warning.
I would pass on the repairs for now.
