Ripped Off - do you agree?

[jimmyted]

Hey guys, & girls. 1st poster - I don’t own a landrover, but my mother does, an 11 plate Discovery 3 V6 (I think it’s a 3), which recently went in for its service and MOT, and the bill they have produced is unbelievable, and, in my opinion, the work questionable. I won’t name names at this point I’d just like to hear some of your opinions. I myself am not a qualified mechanic, but I have a classic ford and a pickup, and am a keen DIYer - I just enjoy working on cars, as I’m sure people on here do.

Bit of history on the Disco – it’s been owned from new by my mother, it has never towed, and for the most part drives up and down the M1 to work. It’s done 43,100 miles, all of which have been put on by her.

So it went in for its service and MOT this week, and they called her to say (allegedly, I didn’t hear the conversation myself) that the pads were 90% worn and needed replacing, to which she agreed. They brought the vehicle back later in the afternoon and produced a bill of over £1600.

Fortunately I was in and questioned the bill - they wanted her to pay before the driver left with the courtesy car. She refused and eventually the driver left and we had a look through the bill. Turns out they’ve fitted brand new pads & DISCS all round. I can swallow the pads, but the discs to me Is ridiculous. It’s the first set of pads its needed, so what they’re effectively saying is it needs new discs every time they replace the pads. In my experience this is utter nonsense.

So looking through the vehicle health-check the reason for the work was the ALL the pads were ‘90% worn’, and ALL the discs were ‘below min. thickness.’

So I got her to question some of this work the day after, things like –

Why have all the discs worn out after 43,000 miles? Their response was ‘because it’s a heavy vehicle’.

Them all wearing out simultaneously is a bit strange isn’t it? Their response ‘they wear out evenly because it’s permanent 4wd’

Why didn’t the car warn me the pads were wearing out? – Their response was something along the lines of ‘they can be faulty and sometimes - the pad with the sensor wears less than the one without’ (completely contradicting their previous statement).

So I hope it’s not just me that finds this a complete load of nonsense. Thing is I’m not sure what leg she has to stand on being the work has already been carried out. Only thing I can think of is, as far as she’s aware she only authorised them to change the pads, the discs were done without her consent. Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated. Can you ask them to show you the old pads and discs?

Granted you’ve only heard my side of the story here, but I’ve been as honest as possible. I see this car most days, and nothing ever struck me as wrong with the discs, and according to my mother, ‘drove perfectly.’ I'll head over one day next week and challenge the work done, but I'd just like someone to confirm that their Disco 3 does not obliterate discs at 40,000 miles.

Thanks. James.

[BogMonster]

You certainly have every right to see displaced parts. They might eat discs - I don't know - not had enough to do with them. But not on mainly motorway use when the brakes aren't really working much.

They are expensive to run but £1600 for a service and some new brakes is just absolutely ridiculous even by the standards of a D3, which personally I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. What else was done on the service?

[missingsid]

Hi James,

I see you got answers on Disco3 forum so I won't post what I was going to as you have the answers now.

All I can suggest is that if the car is out of warranty then try looking for a good independent garage for cheaper labour costs?

Good luck,

Marc

[garrycol]

Based on my experience with my Range Rover Sport (same as a D3) you should get at least two sets of pads to a rotor. I got a similar story as you have listed so I measured the disks and they were only a third worn at the first pad change - not what the "experts" were saying.

My car has doen 112,000km (70,000miles) and is still on its original rotors - I changed pads at 70,000km, which while down, still had a few mm left and were no where near the sensors.

However without measuring the old disks there is not a lot you can do.

At 43,000miles I would say that pads would have been due bit unless they had deep groves or were warped the disks should still have been OK.

Garry

[jimmyted]

Hey everyone. As missingsid says, I posted this question on the Disco3 forum and got some pretty in depth answers. I now realise my 1st post on this forum had to be approved hence the reason it did not show up when i initially posted yesterday morning. I then posted on the Disco3 forum instead. So apologies of you are seeing this twice.

[jimmyted]

As is the case yesterday. My first 5 posts have to be approved guys, I'm sorry, this is the reason for the delay.

[jimmyted]

Thanks for the replies. Interesting point you raise about the rangerover sport Garry. I would have expected to get at least 2 pad cycles out of the discs. Which is really the reason I'm asking these questions. But according to other D3/4 owners on the Disco3 forum, this is quite normal for a vehicle with similar miles. The price is also not a million miles out either for a dealer. Thanks. I was quite suprised but have been told on several occasions - they are not cheap vehicles to run. I'm quite relieved i don't own one!

Again... waiting on post approval

[ejparrott]

43k on the motorway sounds highly unlike to have worn out pads and rotors. The fact that's it's permanent 4x4 has nothing to do with it. By sheer physics the fronts always brake more than the rear, 2WD or 4WD. Ask them for the old bits, I'll bet you'll find there's little wrong with them and they've took a chance on doing un-requested work

[zim]

Correct me if i'm wrong here, but she agreed to replacing pads ? Discs weren't mentioned ?

[simonr]

If replacing the pads was what you agreed to - I would offer to pay for the pads alone.

Si

[zim]

43k on the motorway sounds highly unlike to have worn out pads and rotors. The fact that's it's permanent 4x4 has nothing to do with it. By sheer physics the fronts always brake more than the rear, 2WD or 4WD. Ask them for the old bits, I'll bet you'll find there's little wrong with them and they've took a chance on doing un-requested work

or they'll find a set of buggered discs from another vehicle, in my opinion it's too late to ask to see the old discs now.

[Ally V8]

Its now common practice for many garages to take video footage of worn parts,which is emailed to owners before any work or parts replacement is carried out.

I would also add that some discs are literally falling apart with rust at very low mileages.This is often on cars that don't use their brakes much.Un;less I saw the actual parts come off that car I wouldn't put money on their condition - either way.

[discomikey]

tell them you didn't ask for disks,

if they dispute that, then ask them to remove the disks and put the old ones back on as you are refusing to pay for them. they will soon pipe down then!

I always keep old parts till after they are happy with it whether the owner requests or not, just incase they want to see