I just got a quote from the dealer (Mini of Annapolis) for $680.00 for front pads, rotors, and the sensor for my 2007 S.....This is just ridiculous. I realize they have overhead, etc., but I bet their parts cost no more than $100.00, and any good tech can do it in < 1 hour. At 35,000 miles, I probably don't need rotors, but I'm sure they'll give me some story re: safety, etc.....yea, safety for their bottom line. It's really ashame they aren't more realistic with their pricing for routine maintenance because it only drives me away from the dealer for future maintenance, or possible future purchases. I would think they would do all they can to get people into the showroom (which is where the SA's sit), even if it means cutting their profit margin on a basic brake job from $500.00 to maybe something like $250.00.....I bet they would have much more traffic and probably make more $ in the long run. They certainly have lost my "service dollar" for the rest of my Mini's life.

This is something I can tackle myself, so It's not a big deal. However, I'm just coming off warranty, so when there's "real" work to be done (which I'm sure is coming, given the track record of these cars) that I can't handle, there's no way I'm going to pay their crazy service prices. I guess I need to start looking for a shop that can work on Minis or find a Mini mechanic that likes side work....

Maybe I'm just not cut out for this BMW'ish world......

 

The parts are not that cheap....they're at least $100 a rotor, not including pads and sensors. Add about another ~100 a side for pads and sensors. These aren't Hondas...and the OEM parts pricing reflects that.

Then their customer pay labor rate is probably between 100-125/hr.

They aren't out to get you like your acting they are. Welcome to owning a German car out of warranty

 

Everyone trashes the dealer rates and at the same time demands they get their cars below MSRP.. they have to make money somewhere!

 

The parts are maybe $350 if I recall that is for OEM like for like off various sites. I'm not defending them by any means as they are a bit high. But they do the work correctly (at least my dealer) and in a timely manner.

And not all independant shops are your friends. Across two decades, four different cities, I paid for my Honda timing belt and water pump to be changed four times, at independant shops recommended by people I knew.
Not one time was it ever changed, they all, just wiped the engine off.
A testement to Honda though - an original timing belt supposed to be changed at 60 or 80k miles (I forget) lasted 218,000 miles.
I didn't get best friend price either it was the normal book rate. I doubt I
saved $100 over the dealer. Although in two of those cases I didn't live
very close to the dealer so that was an issue.

"You get what you pay for". No not exactly.
I prefer to think of it as, "At most you get what you pay for, often,
you get quite a bit less".

So it appears you do get what you pay for at the dealer.

When I had a 323is before it was totalled by a maniac I had the same
thing go on with that. It was 7 years old but you show up and of course
they smell money. I go for a front end alignment and the guy pretends
he can't get the little nut to back out for the adjustment. He even gets
a propane torch (cmon man I know that one) and pretends to heat it up
a bit. Tells me an alignment now I need a new part it's going to end up
being over $400. I had moved so I go a long way to where I used to go
and they did it no problems at all. Didn't even blink.

Also for certain if an independant shop breaks something not related to the
repair the chance that they try and hide it instead of fessing up is like
99.9999999 percent. I do not know what the percentage is at the dealer
but intuitively I think it should be less.

Although I am disappointed that they tried to sell me an $850 airbag
when only the wires needed to be wiggled and the light reset.
My guess that happens everywhere in this new revised economy.

Dudes need to publish the repair manual for this car.......

 

Ok, just a quick Google finds front brake rotors about $70 ea, sensor $19, pads $80, rear... rotors $45 ea, pads $56 and another sensor $19

So you've got $404 in parts, (no name parts at that...) What's your issue?

Are you a BMW CCA member? I get 10-15% off at the Mini dealer... (20% on BMW parts)

Anyway, taking an out of warranty car to a dealer is just asking to pay a lot of money. It's a last resort if nobody else can figure out what a problem may be.

 

Do you actually believe the dealer pays close to retail prices for parts? If we can get them for 350.00 as the previous poster mentioned, I'm sure the dealer gets them for less than 175.00.

As I mentioned above, I guess I just don't belong in the BMW crowd......but those dang mini's sure are fun!

 

Please note: Front breaks only. You are quoting front and rear. Does that change it for you?

 

Here's something I received in the mail from my former dealer.

 

Much more reasonable.....

 

I'm thinking I'll have to replace the front pads on my Cooper before I return it end-lease later this year. Hopefully I can just replace the pads... I think I need 50% wear left.

 

^^this guy gets it.

 

Ha ha ha SPOT ON!

 

You think that's nuts on pricing?

My last car was a 2003 Subaru Impreza RS (ie- the cheap model). When I went to replace the brakes (rotors and pads), they wanted $280 for the front rotors, $260 for the rear rotors, and I kinda stopped paying attention to the rest of the prices at that point because of sticker shock.

Now, I have a buddy that works for one of the distributors that stocks Autozone and the like, and he got me the rotors for ~$40 a pair. That's HIS price (ie- the distributor's cost, before the markup given to the dealer or autozone or whoever), on NO-BRAND (ie- non-oem, non-performance) rotors that have NO-WARRANTY and NO-QUALITY-CONTROL-GUARANTEE. The OEM ones from my buddy didn't really take enough off the price for me to really consider them. And, I got what I paid for. Those pads and rotors wore at a noticably quicker rate than the OEM ones had.

You're driving an import. Anybody with any brand of import that's ever compared the prices on parts to those on a domestic vehicle has a callus on the bottom of their chin from how many times it's hit the floor. You want cheaper parts from the dealer? Buy American. It's stupid, because the parts are made by the same companies, but it's a fact of life.

I agree the price you were quoted was pretty high, especially if I read you correctly and that was JUST for the front brakes (though I'd assume that includes labor)...I'd have gone elsewhere immediately to find a better price.

 

Just spent about $70.00 (including shipping) at Rock Auto for front pads and a sensor, and installed them in about 2 hours. I didn't need rotors. Brakes feel good. I'm sure I'm going to hear how the pads aren't as good as BMW pads....blah, blah, blah .

I'm still just having a hard time getting over the $680.00 estimate from the dealer (which did include unneeded rotors). I guess I'm just too cheap....My wife says I'm so cheap, my butt squeaks. Oh well.