Quick question, how much should i expect to pay

Dublin

Well-known user
Mar 8, 2012
108
6
Dublin
Just looking for a rough idea of price to have rear brake lines and hoses replaced and parking brake cable adjusted. My car failed the NCT test(same as MOT) due to this. Advanced corrosion on the lines and the brake hose was damaged.
The parking brake failed due to an imbalance which i think happened when i got a calliper changed.

Thanks in advance
 
I think I paid 'not a lot' back in December - I seem to have every receipt except that one in my 'service & receipt' folder.

It was about an hour's work plus parts which were under £50 IIRC
 
Given that labour costs vary from £80ph to £100ph and the minimum time is billed at one hour regardless, it's hardly a surprise...
Pretty much any job that I can't do myself will come in at around £150 no matter what it is...

My main problem is lack of a suitable place to run routine maintenance. I have a lot of tools and quite a bit of know-how, but I won't touch brakes apart from changing the pads.
Any job that needs doing in the winter is completely out - we routinely get temperatures down to -10 and this winter there wasn't a single week without snow from the end of November right through to 2 weeks ago, so any emergency work went to a mechanic, as I'm not going to lie in a snowdrift trying to sort something under the car with no guarantee I can even identify the issue, let alone fix it.
 
£80-100 per hour? At independent garages? Thats mental

That does seem a little on the steep side. The garage where I had all my work done charge about £30 iirc.

I've just had both front brake hoses replaced, cost about £11 each (I've yet to get the invoice, so can't be exact).
 
Really? Ford in Scunny change £55 plus vat, BMW charge £90 plus vat, vw charge £60 incl vat. Independent BMW specialist in Grimsby charges £47.50 per hour...Pete charges £20 per hour :)
 
He is in Germany to be fair

That was south Devon - highest prices outside of London I've yet found - here in Tchermany it's about 80,-€ so around £60 depending on the exchange rate that week.

However they don't always get it right: when I took the car to the local Ford dealer, they misdiagnosed a faulty wheel-bearing as being a faulty intermediate drive-shaft. I even told them: "I think it's the front R/H wheel-bearing..." (vordere rechte radlager).
Next day I had to make a trip back to the UK, so took it to the bloke round the corner from my dad's and he got to the end of the road on the test-drive - about 50m, thought 'hmmm... wheel-bearing' - turned round, swapped it out, job done.

Took that invoice back to the German guys - told them they'd mis-diagnosed the fault and they just shrugged at me as if to say 'well, what you gonna do about it?'
Apparently they get you to sign off on repairs beforehand so they can't be held liable for making mistakes - look: you told us to do that work...
 
South Devon are the cheapest prices i know of, it's roughly £30-£50 an hour..? Main dealers being around £60 incl vat an hour... i have never seen anything above that in all the years i have lived here.. ?

I am from london and it's not much more expensive there too... but in 20 odd years of back and forth to Devon i have never paid more than £40 an hour..(y)
 
South Devon are the cheapest prices i know of, it's roughly £30-£50 an hour..? Main dealers being around £60 incl vat an hour... i have never seen anything above that in all the years i have lived here.. ?

I am from london and it's not much more expensive there too... but in 20 odd years of back and forth to Devon i have never paid more than £40 an hour..(y)

Where? Tell me please...? lol
 
Every single garage in the area around me in Torquay and the rest of Torbay, and i believe Tim pays around the same down in Plymouth and Ivybridge.. I now use a friend who has a garage in Torquay, if you need work done and your in the area then let me know i will put you on to him, they charge £40 and hour and i trust them to get the job done right too.. (y)
 
Every single garage in the area around me in Torquay and the rest of Torbay, and i believe Tim pays around the same down in Plymouth and Ivybridge.. I now use a friend who has a garage in Torquay, if you need work done and your in the area then let me know i will put you on to him, they charge £40 and hour and i trust them to get the job done right too.. (y)

Cool, my Parents live in Exmouth so about an hour away - I usually time my visits to coincide with servicing/repairs and MoT inspections as it works out cheaper - hopefully it will now work out cheaper still.
 
Got the brake line and hose fixed for €70 through a friend of mine, just need to pick up the cables from a motorfactors during the week
 
I've to get the brake cable fixed this weekend so been told i will need to replace it, if the imbalance is only on one wheel would it be that the cable has stretched over the years and both will need to be replaced or can it be adjusted ?
 
Assuming it's the handbrake cables, as they're pretty cheap why not replace both at the same time?
BTW I found this on Ebay as mine need to be replaced on the new Cat as well:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pagid-Rear-Left-Right-Handbrake-Cable-Ford-Cougar-Mondeo-Mk2-1994-2000-/350727707972?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3AFord%7CModel%3ACougar&hash=item51a9001d44

And looking at the 'how to' in the member's section, I will be doing that myself when they arrive.

Local Ford garage here in Germany was asking 50,- each for the cables and 60,- to install them... I don't think so...