2015 toyota highlander brake and rotor installer

[ThePenIsMightier]

My experience is that you don't want to cheap out on rotors because there are so many options that are shit.
So spend the $ on quality rotors and pads, but that doesn't mean OEM is the only option. Fuck name brand, OEM.

[Team_Mclaren]

Bring your own parts it a shop only for install is such a pos move. I hope you dont go to balance auto and waste their time. Why cant shops make money on parts and labour?!

[brucebanner]

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Bring your own parts it a shop only for install is such a pos move. I hope you dont go to balance auto and waste their time. Why cant shops make money on parts and labour?!

I can't tell if serious or not about suppling parts.

I had an exhaust shop tell me he would ONLY install the mufflers he sells, explicitly no supplied parts. I think that is stupid, especially in this case as he only supplied X brand. Yes I understand it's part of how they make money but I don't agree with it at all. Especially over something as easy as mufflers. Also, I understand people supply wrong parts often but that's not what I'm talking about.

[bjstare]

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Bring your own parts it a shop only for install is such a pos move. I hope you dont go to balance auto and waste their time. Why cant shops make money on parts and labour?!

I’ll bite.

Do you also tip on take out orders? If a shop wants to bake in an extra 5-20% on parts cost, for the simple task of calling some guy at Napa and having the parts dropped off, I’d say that’s pretty bad value for money (if someone is being cost-conscious). If it was difficult to get the parts, absolutely it’s worth paying for.

Regardless, it should be up to the shop to decide if they want to install customer supplied parts or not, and how much they want to charge for it. It’s not as if they don’t profit from labour.

That being said, I can’t remember the last time I brought my own parts to a shop. I’m ok paying the markup for convenience factor though, not as a matter or principle that shops should be entitled to profiting on everything.

[ExtraSlow]

Corkage on byob wine is reasonable. An "own parts" fee would make sense to me.

[killramos]

To me the reason for a significant markup on parts is if the shop is keeping said parts on hand, that’s risk they are taking that the parts don’t get sold and also they need some slush to fund working capital.

That or if they need to send a runner out to get them from across town from Napa or the dealer etc. , that costs money too.

Both are valid reasons to collect a bit off the top. 5-20% doesn’t seem unreasonable to me for this.

There are more costs to running a business than tech labour.

Anything supplied from a customer should be as is final sale no warranty. Like fuck I would stand behind the brakes you saved $0.47 on by buying online.

[ExtraSlow]

Actually the more I think about this the less I like customer supplied parts. If customer supplies wrong parts, will they pay labor twice when you need to get new parts? Not likely.

[killramos]

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Actually the more I think about this the less I like customer supplied parts. If customer supplies wrong parts, will they pay labor twice when you need to get new parts? Not likely.

Please see the “my Land Rover is borked” thread for the answer

Tbh. For someone who doesn’t really know anything about this, and isn’t capable of doing it themselves.

$1,200 seems like money well spent to have new quality brakes from the dealer installed with a parts and labour warranty. You have already overthought this enough to eat into your margins in this job.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah I've seen higher quotes for shitter vehicles.

[brucebanner]

I'm also speaking for experience in the industry as I've spent years around an auto repair shop / salvage yard business in my early days. (20+/- years ago)

We'd install customer supplied parts, stand behind the labor but not warranty parts. Wrong parts and the right parts couldn't be had in a timely fashion, vehicle taken off the lift. I can't really recall a time when the vehicle couldn't be moved in/out easily enough.

Parts from napa etc, they had delivery drivers for parts runs and most of the time, were able to drop off fairly quickly. Shit, it might surprise you how often people would want to try and use salvaged parts for some repairs when new replacement parts were barely any more money, people are cheap.

Granted, this wasn't in a city and is a small town shop, so it's easier to operate that way but it worked and to my knowledge, still works that way today.

[Flexray]

The customers that supply their own parts usually want a specific non-shitty part, or they want the cheapest stuff they can find. It's usually the cheapest stuff.
Sometime finding and ordering parts is easy, sometimes its not. There is an entire red seal trade dedicated to automotive parts. Every bay in the shop has to be producing the shops labor rate every hour. If production stops because the customer supplied the 320mm rotors, instead of the 328mm rotors that his car has. The customer will pay for the lost production, because they are trying to save money this is usually a big deal and the shop is the bad guy now. The shop is also loosing out on parts margins, most shops just say no. Others will bump up the label rate to absorb all of the bs that comes with it.

[mr2mike]

Bringing your own parts to a shop?
I hope the shop is U-wrench.

[jabjab]

I once had a shop quote me 600 something for a fuel pump, I asked for the part number and was able to find the exact one on fcp euro for half that shipped. In that case I asked them why such a price difference and they said to just order it off of there and bring it in

[Team_Mclaren]

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I’ll bite.

Do you also tip on take out orders? If a shop wants to bake in an extra 5-20% on parts cost, for the simple task of calling some guy at Napa and having the parts dropped off, I’d say that’s pretty bad value for money (if someone is being cost-conscious). If it was difficult to get the parts, absolutely it’s worth paying for.

Regardless, it should be up to the shop to decide if they want to install customer supplied parts or not, and how much they want to charge for it. It’s not as if they don’t profit from labour.

That being said, I can’t remember the last time I brought my own parts to a shop. I’m ok paying the markup for convenience factor though, not as a matter or principle that shops should be entitled to profiting on everything.

If you cant trust the shop to order the parts and charge you normal retail for the part, You should take it elsewhere. See Range Rover thread.

[max_boost]

Is this like customer bringing their own stuff and asking restaurants to cook it? Lol

Kk well maybe depends on the parts, have ordered stuff online like wheels, tires, exhaust systems and shipped it directly to mechanic for install and they were cool with it. But always oem or premium stuff tho

[afrotl]

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Labor isn't bad at all. I paid 1.2 hrs for front brakes and rotors on my outlander. Total cost was 411.xx

I will check prices for oem parts online and give Balanced Auto a call for a quote

[90_Shelby]

I prefer OEM parts on my vehicle and I have always self sourced and done the work on my own. If rockauto doesn’t have the OEM part there is often alternate online sources for OEM parts at wholesale prices if you’re willing to look hard enough and confirm the part numbers you need.

For GM, Jack Carter sells parts at wholesale price if you order online and pick it up. Call the dealer or walk in and you’ll pay the higher regular price. I’ve also bought OEM parts from Amazon, rockauto and random dealerships across Canada that are setup similar to Jack Carter. I would think one of these options would be available for Toyota.

On that note, I don’t agree with self sourcing parts with hopes that a shop will only charge their standard shop rate to install said parts. If you want to save money, learn how to do a brake job yourself, it’s extremely easy and a good skill to have. At the same time you can learn how to determine if your pads and rotors need to be replaced. In a lot of cases, pads need to be replaced but rotors are still within spec even though the shop insists they need to be replaced.

[afrotl]

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I prefer OEM parts on my vehicle and I have always self sourced and done the work on my own. If rockauto doesn’t have the OEM part there is often alternate online sources for OEM parts at wholesale prices if you’re willing to look hard enough and confirm the part numbers you need.

For GM, Jack Carter sells parts at wholesale price if you order online and pick it up. Call the dealer or walk in and you’ll pay the higher regular price. I’ve also bought OEM parts from Amazon, rockauto and random dealerships across Canada that are setup similar to Jack Carter. I would think one of these options would be available for Toyota.

On that note, I don’t agree with self sourcing parts with hopes that a shop will only charge their standard shop rate to install said parts. If you want to save money, learn how to do a brake job yourself, it’s extremely easy and a good skill to have. At the same time you can learn how to determine if your pads and rotors need to be replaced. In a lot of cases, pads need to be replaced but rotors are still within spec even though the shop insists they need to be replaced.

Thanks for the info, I wish I could do it myself unfortunately I live in a condo and no space to to doing repairs.

[zechs]

I only put OEM parts on vehicles when there is a clear quality difference (electronics/sensors being the big one).

But for stuff like hunks of metal (rotors), suspension parts (lots of vehicles you actually get a better aftermarker part, MOOG has a product line that is upgraded components but still cheaper) and things like alternators, starters, spark plugs, plug wires, etc, cheap as it comes.

Nobody owns vehicles long enough for it to matter to 99% of people anyways. In owning and fixing over 100 vehicles, not one has ever had an issue with a non-oem part, let alone had a noticeable difference in operation.

[Flexray]

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I only put OEM parts on vehicles when there is a clear quality difference (electronics/sensors being the big one).

But for stuff like hunks of metal (rotors), suspension parts (lots of vehicles you actually get a better aftermarker part, MOOG has a product line that is upgraded components but still cheaper) and things like alternators, starters, spark plugs, plug wires, etc, cheap as it comes.

Nobody owns vehicles long enough for it to matter to 99% of people anyways. In owning and fixing over 100 vehicles, not one has ever had an issue with a non-oem part, let alone had a noticeable difference in operation.

I install aftermarket parts every day, and encounter problems somewhat regularly. Sometimes a pcm just doesn't like the voltage regulator in a aftermarket alternator. Or something is shaped incorrectly, a hole is drilled in the wrong spot or not tapped. Or the part wears out in like 8000km. Or a set of brakes just wont stop squealing.
Not all aftermarket parts are bad, good aftermarket parts cost the same or more than oe.
I regularly see aftermarket parts function differently than oe.