get this: i went to the firestone tire shop in watertown ma yesterday for an alignment (they did a good job), and as I am paying, the "service assistant" informs me that my rear rotors and pads are worn (knew this--they have abt another year in them). So he starts listing prices for parts and labor: 120 for pads! 270 for 2 rotors! and another 110 for labor. the labor was the only reasonable thing in the package. I can get rear pads and rotors for 90-150 from Groton.

Why don't they just say, "We'd be pleased to ROB YOU BLIND, sir."

Are there any decent mechanics left? Or are they all just gangsters without guns?

Why don't you do it yourself?
All you need are a set of socket wrenches, a metric allen key set, and 1.5 hrs to do all four brakes. Removing and remounting the tires takes most of the time.

The brake job may seem intimidating, but it is really a matter of following instructions and pictures posted on Bay13 at www.volvospeed.com

You can use the emergency jack to raise the car and do one side at a time. Even though a hydraulic jack and jack stands from Sears would probably be safer.

I always say that the only other professions more crooked than auto mechanics are lawyers and used car salesmen. I don't mean this is as a blanket statement though, I'm sure there are plenty of honest guys getting greasy under hoods (I've found a few myself), but the vast majority are bullshit artists and theives. My wife's best friend had her Escort wagon in to one of these 10 minute oil change places and they told her that her oil pan gasket was leaking, and she should have it replaced. They quoted her the "reasonable price of $275", and the service manager assured her that the job was neccessary and that she wouldn't find a better price anywhere or more competent service. She then called me to ask if this sounded right and should she take the car back and have them do it. I said I'd trust monkeys with wiffle bats working on my car faster than the kids that work at these Jiffy Lube type places. I get nervous just thinking about them changing oil, no less more complex stuff. Another friend of a friend had her car to one of those places and they didn't tighten the drain plug down. She ran out of oil not an hour later, the motor seized and was ruined. She then had to fight with them for weeks to get them to pay for a new motor. Anyway, I then made a few calls for her. Turns out the gasket was $12, and my indie mechanic buddy said the pan is easy to drop on that car, an hour's labor, so he'd charge between $80-$100 to change it, out the door. Then later that day she stopped over with the car and the damn pan was dry as a bone, no evidence of leakage either on the motor's bottom end or the frame and floors.

My experience has shown that they will try to screw anyone, but they especially prey on women, as they know the odds of a woman having any idea of what they are talking about is much lower. They see a lady with two screaming kids and a blank check and they get dollar signs in their eyes. "Lady, I'm afraid you need an new muffler bearing. It's a vital part to your car and will only cost $875 to replace." The best defense is to learn to do as much as possible yourself, and get educated about the things you can't.

There are two constants in the world, greed and gravity. Auto repair is probably one of the biggest scams going. Chain garage managers (ie Firestone) are often given a bonus for "finding" additional work and women are usually easy prey plus anyone they think doesn't know anything about cars. On the oil pan that wasn't leaking, they would have done nothing except take her $275. and there's a special place in hell reserved for these people. As mentioned, learn as much as you can about your car and take a basic adult ed automotive course at a community college and learn to do basic repairs yourself. Also, learn to read "check engine" light codes. Volvos up to 95 have a self diagnostic module under the hood that is easy to read. 96 on requires a special code reader but this is a very worth while investment. Knowing what's wrong (even if you can't fix it) before you take the car in gives you a huge advantage and is a red flag to a dishonest mechanic as it implies you DO know something about your car and he may get caught feeding you a line of BS. When you say "I'm getting a DTC of PO256 and I've check the following... he's probably gona look for someone else.

I once paid nealy $420 for just front pads, new fluid, and rotors on a 1991 Chevrolet Corsica I used to have. This was also at a Firestone. I needed the car the next day, pads were completely worn and grinding the rotors (I could hear it, that's why I brought it in), and I didn't know how to do brakes myself just yet. I KICKED MYSELF plenty of times after a friend showed me how to change brakes. I could've saved $300 if I only knew how to service brakes. Sorry to hear your experience. Just goes to show how important it is to be informed about your own car and its repairs before you take it in.
--
'94 854 N/A.

There are plenty of honest guys left but the ripoff artists are everywhere, especially chain outfits like Firestone. "Brake jobs" are a huge ripoff as they can (1) use the fear factor "Your BRAKES are bad"!!! to suck you in and (2) because they have so little invested in components and labor. The markup is probably 500% on parts and their time outlay is very minimal.

pj

I would hesitate to use Firestone for anything. I once received a car back with 55 lbs in one front tire to "cure" a pull that was supposed to get an alingment.

Likely as bad as Sears, who has a big time track record for crookedness.

I find even dealerships try to get in on the act from time to time. Although, I think the odds are lower of getting taken at a dealership as opposed to a chain place like Midas, Firestone, or Sears. My wife was driving a Pontiac Grand Am a few years back that we had bought off my parents when the lease expired. The car had a mystery oil consumption issue. It wasn't burning anything, at least not that I could see, and I could find no puddles or pools anywhere, yet I was having to top off about a quart every 1500-2000 miles. I looked the car over for weeks to no end, and finally figured maybe the local Pontiac dealership could do the fluorescent die thing and find it. My wife took the car in, got a call later that day, the car was done and fixed. When I went to pick it up, I asked the guy what the problem had been, where was the leak. He told me they found a leaking distributor shaft gasket and they replaced it, to the tune of $185. I calmly looked at him and asked how that was possible when the motor in that car has distributorless ignition. To say he was shocked was an understatement, he actually sputtered before being able to say anything, I almost fell over laughing. Anyway, I wanted the bill torn up, they refused, I threatened to scream bloody murder and scare away all the other customers, they threatened to keep my car, we finally settled at splitting the bill. I wasn't happy but at least I had the satisfaction of him knowing that he hadn't put one over on me and he had lost a customer for life, and everyone else I know would find out what they had done. Maybe that would save the next guy from getting screwed. Turns out, I found out from talking to lots of people with the 3100 series GM V6, that the level of oil consumption I had was perfectly normal for that engine. Oh well, lesson learned.

Volvo dealer in Pasadena, CA wanted $450 to flush and fill trans. I took it to a trans shop who charged me about 1/4 the price for synthetic.

Yes, most repair shops are in on the action.