Brake Masters
Tried to rip off a 72 year old lady

My mother is 72 years old and lives in Tucson, AZ. Her vehicle developed a small leak and it didn't look dark like typical oil and it didn't look green or orange like typical coolant... Her vehicle used Dex Cool which is a Chevrolet product and happens to be orange.

Fearing that the leak might be something important and not ever wanting to be caught on the desert with a bad vehicle, she took her vehicle to Brake Masters on Ina Road in Tucson, AZ. Brake Masters told her that they would look at the leak and let her know what the problem was.

When she returned to get her vehicle, they had all four wheels removed and said that she needed a four wheel brake job and the leak was caused by a bad "Intake Valve Gasket". For the brake job and fictitious Intake Valve Gasket they were going to try to charge her almost $1,000.

I happen to be a Mechanical Engineer, an ex mechanic etc and luckily my Mom called me to see what I thought about it as she is on a fixed income. I explained to her that there is no such thing as an "intake valve gasket". I told her to have thes replace the wheels and to drive the car up to Phoenix to have me look at it. She was worried about driving through the desert and I assured her that it was cool weather and that I would come get her if something happened.

When she arrived at my house I took a look under the vehicle and it turns out that the leak was from a leaking power steering hose pump. The front brakes were worn a bit but probably had another 10k miles left on them. It took me an hour and half to change the brake pads and the hose in less than an hour and a half... in fact it took longer to call Napa and drive to get the parts, which cost me $74 retail, including a full gallon of power steering fluid. Auto businesses get jobbers rates/wholesale on parts so it would have been much less for them.

I realize that businesses have overhead, however even if they were to charge $100 per hour, the full tab should not have been more than $300.

Shame on Brake Masters for trying to rip off a 72 year old lady for an additional $700. Also, I haven't seen the estimate that they wrote up, but my Mom was and english teacher and I asked her several times if it said "Intake manifold gasket" and she said no. I also checked the intake manifold gasket and there were no leaks.

Company: Brake Masters
Country: USA
State: Arizona
City: Tucson
Address: Ina Road

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