Re: Brake question

["Wm. Josiah Erikson" <werikson@hampshire.edu>]

That isn't a bad part price for the cable, but if it took the mechanic two hours
(assuming $40ish an hour that's pretty standard) to replace your ebrake cable,
he should be fired. And no, I wouldn't call $120 "not much at all".
    -Josiah

amz wrote:

> I recently had the rear pads & rotors done on my '88 5ksq at a local shop
> that I like quite a bit.  The cost seemed reasonable ($220, incl. tax, an
> oil/filter chg & some belt tightening).  I left the car there for 1/2 a day
> and was supposed to pick it up at 5.  When I got in the car to leave, I
> noticed that the E-brake was not engaged to park.  No big deal - every
> mechanic seems to do that.  However, when I tried to set it, I got no
> tension - no E-brake.  I went back in and was told that the mechanic had
> just left.  However, if I came back in an hour, they'd see what they could
> do.  Anyway, I came back and they told me that only 1 cable was good and
> that the other needed replacement (they didn't have any in).  They set it so
> that I at least had one cable working.  I was to return on another day
> (convenient to me) and they'd replace the bad cable.  The comment was,
> "Sorry about the mix-up...  He didn't attach the cable because it needed
> replacing...  Come back and we'll take care of it...  Shouldn't cost much at
> all..."
>
> Is $120 for parts & labor "not much at all...?"  The cable was $30 (they got
> it from a dealer) and the labor was $85.  Would it have been cheaper had
> they done it at the same time?  Should I just be thankful I didn't have a
> dealer do it for 3x the price?  Just what is involved in replacing the
> cable?
>
> As someone who can fix computers, but not cars, I thank you in advance for
> your comments.
>
> - Andrejs