I went to Monro located in Bryan, Ohio, knowing that I needed to have my brakes worked on. I have had work done there in the past and have found their service/prices to be fair. I was not expecting to be ripped off.
I took my 1997 Ford Aerostar in for a brake inspection, knowing that it needed brake work done. I expected to pay at least $350-400 for the repair work, knowing the time it takes and a vague idea of the price of parts. I know that I will pay a little more for parts at these type places, and I had taken that into consideration.
His inital verbal estimate to me was about $850. This included replacing the front rotors, front pads, rear cylinders, rear pads, and turning the rear drums. I expressed to him that was way more than I wanted to spend. He suggested to me that we do the front, and just turn the rear drums, replace the rear cylinders, and reinstall the rear shoes as there was still about 1/4 of the shoe left, and with a discount, he could do that for $650. I could then do the rear shoes at a later time.
I had him do the work, and I have no issue with the work that was done. The work was completed acceptably, and all was replaced/reworked as agreed, and I have brakes that work well again.
The rip-off is in the prices charged for parts.
First is the front rotor, part # 52-60663 Monro price $148.99, available at rockauto.com (Guardian part # 5260663) for $26.89. That amounts to a 550% mark up. Even if Monro purchased this part for the $26.89 price, I would expect to pay $75.00 for it making it a 270% mark-up, in comparison, a similar part is available at most retail parts stores for about $60.00, even more reasonable and fair.
Second the Heavy Duty Brake Pad, part # ZX249 Monro list $78.16, net $39.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # ZX249) for $21.79. Reasonable and fair I would say, but why over inflate the list so you give the illusion you are providing a better value than you are.
Third the Rear wheel cylinders, part # WC131372 Monro price $49.99, available at rockauto.com (Wagner part # WC131372) $8.73. Again a 570% mark up. Similar part available at retail parts store sells for about $9.00. Reasonably I would expect to pay $15-20 for it at a service shop.
Here is a breakdown of the bill:
Brakes:
Misc. Brakes: Parts $ 29.99 Labor 0.00 Total $ 29.99
Front Brakes: 344.92 117.40 462.32
Rear Brakes: 99.98 105.00 227.98
Sub Total 474.89 222.40 720.29
-Discount -94.98 49.08 -144.06
Total Brakes: 379.91 173.32 576.23
Miscellaneous:
Shop Supply fee 34.99 0.00 34.99
Total Bill $611.22
The discount totaling $144.06 that was shown as given for the brake sections reflects about 20% of the Brake portion of the bill. Very generous considering there are Miscellaneous items totaling $64.98, and that is equal to about 10% of the total bill.
In all fairness, the job only took 2 1/2 hours, and when you breakdown the labor charged, it comes out to about $70.00 and hour (after the discount) again reasonable, knowing that the Owner/Manager/Technician has overhead and expenses to cover.
Examining the bill, it is my opinion that the parts that were used were overpriced by at least $240. That being the case, that would put the work done at about $370, which is a lot more reasonable for the work that was performed.
I work in retail and understand the concept of mark-up and pricing things so you can make a living, further more I understand that Monro is a service station, not a parts store, and being such, they are not in the business of storing parts and that means they charge a little more to have parts when/where they are needed.
In conclusion my advise before anyone were to consider having work done at this business, get a written estimate done first, then take the estimate and vehicle to a couple of other places for estimates and see where you will get the better value.
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