What do I do???????

Question

I have a 1992 mercury sable, it has 50,000 miles on it. I've had it about 2 years. its a great a to b car. I got it from an older lady who only used it to go to the store. On monday I had brake problems. Grinding and the peddal didnt work to stop, i let up on it and pushed it again and it worked. I didnt want to take another chance of that happening so I had it towed to brakes plus. They called and said they would look at it and call me back with what was wrong and an est. They called back and said$788 for pads calipers ect and 2 new hoses on my radiator. I said ok.
The next day the called and said another $600 for a new master cylinder. I asked was this the real problem? I said I didnt want to fix it unless this was the for sure problem. He said it was.
Today they called and said$500 for something they have to special order.

$1950, they'll drop down to $1700

I know theyre screwing me, what are my choices?

Can I leave my car there and NOT pick it up?

Answer 1

this would be a good time to call better business bureau and file a complaint. they apparently do not know what they are doing. may also be a good time to contact district attorneys fraud office. this is really excessive price for the work they are performing.

Answer 2

call them and say nevermind, thats more than the car is worth. tell them you dont want any of the work done, put the old parts on and pick it up. they obviously are fixing it by the process of elimination. brake specialists are known for scewing everyone that comes through the door. have it towed to a small independent shop that always looks busy, or better yet, ask friends if they have a mechanic that they trust. $2000 is a big rip, no matter what it needs. if you have to, get the local t.v. or radio troubleshooter on the case. they get results faster than anything else. dont leave your car there...that is just a gift to a mechanic who will fix it for $100 and sell it for 1500. im sorry you got lured into the rip off joint. finally, get the word out to everyone you know to stay away! i am a tech, and i see this way too often and it really pisses me off.

what may have happend to your brakes is the pads wore out to the point that the remaining material on one of the pads disinigrated, causing the pedal to go to the floor, and when this happened it tripped the proportioning valve. this valve has a safty device that cuts off fluid flow when it thinks there is a leak (brake pad falling out would have this effect). so when the fluid supply was cut off to the front brakes, the rears alone would not stop the car. sometimes the valve has to be replaced to fix the prob. i think you just need pads/rotors, maybe calipers, and a proportioning valve. maybe $500, and that would be steep by my standards. good luck.

Answer 3

Ouch. I'd have to say $1950 for a brake job is REALLY steep.

And the radiator has nothing to do with the brakes. If they said that they needed to replace radiator hoses for the brakes to work, i don't know wth they are talking about. Maybe they just saw a leaking hose and decided to fix it, but that wasn't the complaint, so i don't know why they would have been looking anywhere near the radiator.

A brake caliper only costs around 20 bucks http://replacement.autopartswarehouse.com/parts/autopartswarehouse/wizard.jsp?year=1992&make=MR&model=SABL--006&part=Brake%20Caliper&dp=true

And a master cylinder only around 120
http://replacement.autopartswarehouse.com/parts/autopartswarehouse/quote.jsp?year=1992&product=N3000-153597&application=002458028&part=Brake%20Master%20Cylinder&dp=true

Plus the cost of labor, and it still doesn't add up. I'm sorry to say, that you can't do anything that i know of. That's why i always do my own work on my cars. I know for some that's not an option, but for me i can't trust anyone.

Good luck.

Answer 4

There outright robbing you, pick up your car and take it to a dealer, dealers may be overpriced in the first place but there usually honest. that being said it just sounds like you need new pads, or get the air out of the lines. At the very worst you need new calipers, the entire job shouldn't run more than 5-600

Answer 5

Wow, look out for these guys. They are taking you for a ride. Don't let them do any more work for you. Call some one else and pick up your car, and have if repaired at another place. If you have a friend, get him to help you with the brake problem.

If they did the work already and you authorized it, then you will have to pay the price, if not then they will put a lien on your car and they will sell it to pay off the debt for the repair.

Answer 6

i own a repair shop and id let them eat this one,it don't cost no where near that much to repair what that car needed,id tell them they could have it,by the time you get it paid for with them it will need another thousand dollars worth of work just to get it off the lot,your right they are really trying to screw with you on this one,i had heard some things about them,but i really didn't believe most of them but now i do,your probably going to loose a good car over this,id tell them to put all the old parts back on it,and go get it and take it to someone else,there's only around 800 dollars worth of work there or may be a little more,but not that much,tell them to put all the old parts back on it,i think they want the car,because that's ridiculous ,good luck with this,don't let them get away with this one,i hope this helps.

Answer 7

Sounds to me like you are being screwed, tell them to save all the old parts they took off because you are going to take them to another brake guy to have them checked. There's a chance they are charging you out the *** and not even replacing anything other than the pads.
If the mileage is really as low as you say it is, I have a hard time believing everything went out at once like that.

Answer 8

did they already do the work and if so youre kinda screwed. you must sign a paper before any work can be done to your car. so if you havent legally you fine even if they did fix it already you can, take legal action against them for false labor and parts. in any case ASK FOR THE OLD PARTS BACK this is a very important step to finding out if you got screwed. you own the old parts so they're yours to keep they cant refuse them to you!!! if you do feel like you got screwed take those parts to another mechanic and have them look it over, if they think you got screw there are many legal actions you can take...email me with future concerns...

Answer 9

Call the Bureau of automotive repairs and turn them in.They are attempting to rip you off.

Answer 10

holly smokes. for that price they should have told you they jacked up the radiator cap and changed the whole car. good luck sweet heart.