I took the 01 Lexus ES300 to Cox Auto Service yesterday to replace the rear brakes and to get a brake fluid flush. Tony, the owner, was very enthusiastic and seemed like a great guy.
In short, go there to get your brakes replaced if you have a non ""luxury"" vehicle, but don't go there for a brake fluid flush.
He estimated $150 for brakes ($75 pads, $75 labor) and $55 for the flush. Then things kinda got wonky. Their website has a coupon - $100 to install new pads, but he said the price was still $150, that he had already put the deduction in there and then haphazardly threw out $250 as the price without that coupon. I asked him why it wasn't $100, and he said it was because Lexus was a luxury vehicle. I accepted that answer.
But I went home and did some checking: I feel the $50 extra charge for a ""luxury vehicle"" was bull. The brake pads they used ""BrakeBest"" was available online for $28! And the exact same brake pads can also be used in a 01 Toyota Camry (to all those who didn't know, Lexus is a division of Toyota) which is definitely not a luxury vehicle.
Replacing the pads took 30 minutes, pop the wheel, take off a bolt from the caliper, reset the piston, swap the pads - standard in almost every car, nothing special, nothing meriting charging extra.
But you know what, that price isn't too horrible, I was getting quotes up to $240 for just the rear brakes from other places. For $150, the atmosphere was friendly and my mechanic, Al was awesome.
However, I called ""The Pit Stop"" and they quoted me $145, $55 for pads, $90 labor - might be a place to look into in the future.
As for the brake fluid flush, that was a total rip off. It wasn't a ""flush"" at all. I expected them to open the bleeder valves and ""flush"" the old fluid out...nope, all they did was use a rubber bulb, something like a turkey baster, and suck out as much of the old fluid as they could and then fill it with new brake fluid. I could have done the same thing for $15, the cost of brake fluid.
What I was after was a complete flush of the old fluid, and that's what I assumed I would get, but that's what you get for assuming. ""The Pit Stop"" quoted me $45 labor + $15 fluid for a real flush where they jack up the car, open the bleeder valves and really drain out all the old fluid. For $5 more, I would go there.
Oh, and another thing, I didn't get my 10% student discount, or if I did, I didn't know about it...
Would I recommend the place? Like I said, go there to get your brakes replaced if you have a non ""luxury"" vehicle, but don't go there for a brake fluid flush.
Win me over and I wouldn't mind whatever the price may be in exchange for a good relationship. However, next time, I think I will try out ""The Pit Stop"", but if I do return to Cox, it'll be for their friendly service and their awesome mechanic Al.
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