DH declined new brake pads on my car! .

[Whatjusthappenedthere]

My car is in for a service. Garage has my number as it’s my car but rings DH to ask if they can change the break pads as they are 70 per cent worn. I drive 500 miles a week. He says no, leave them for a couple of months. Service member mentions the car is booked back in for January when they ring me to say it’s ready to collect.
Any how, I have authorised the garage to replace my brake pads today. I will then pick up my car and pay for them from my own bank account. Clever me.
AIBU to feel very annoyed on a number of levels with DH and garage. Twats the pair of them.

Braking performance doesn't usually degrade over the life of the pads. In fact, a build up of residue can improve it.

I doubt that they called your husband because he was a man. They must have had both phone numbers.

Nothing about your thought process is logical. You just wasted money to prove a stupid point.

Are you worried that, as an adult, you'd be tight for money after Christmas but can waste it now? Budgeting?

YABU

and

YANBU

I'm not sure!

YANBU about being pissed off at the garage ringing your DH instead of you, but YABU to have gone and paid (I am guessing) the mid 3 figures, for your new brake pads. As a number of posters have said, you had LOADS more miles left. Our brake pads were 60% 'worn' at our MOT in October 2017, and when we had the MOT in October 2018, (a few weeks back,) they said they are 75% 'worn.' Our mechanic said to check back with them around April, and they will have a look to make sure they are still safe. But that 75% worn is OK, and perfectly safe.

You have basically cut off your nose to spite your face, but then again, they may have needed replacing in the springtime anyway.

People are correct when they say many garages do 'upsell' and try and add shit on to make 100's of extra £££ from you. Usually it's the big name dealers though. Ours is a small garage, run by 3 brothers and their dad, and they're brilliant. We found them 5 or 6 years ago when we moved area. Before that, we took it to the main dealer, and it was not unusual for us to pay £500 to £700 get our car through its MOT, even when it was only 4 or 5 years old!

Some garages are bastards and rip people of something chronic. I have come home in tears from work in the past, when the garage has rung me to say the work needed to pass the MOT will cost £750.

Since we have been in our new place, (5-6 years,) and we have been taking it to this small garage, we have spent less than £500 in five years And the bloomin' car is nearly 10-11 years old now! So we were definitely being ripped off all that time (by the main dealers!) Kwik Fit and Halfords are just as bad. £27 Halfords charged us to supply and fit a headlight bulb a few months ago. When the other one went a month later. our local garage charged us £9! FFS! Someone really needs to stop this happening, coz so many people are being conned.

As a few people have said, don't feel bad. You've done nothing wrong.

Garages do this to everyone don't feel bad. They tried to scam me out of almost £3000 worth of repairs it didn't need. They prey on people who don't know. That's why I don't take my car to a garage for a service. For starters they don't even do a good job. They dont use all of the parts necessary for a full service in my opinion and they charge you a ton. I buy the parts off ebay and get my dad or someone to do the replacements. I'm sure I could learn how to, but don't want to risk doing it wrong.

Op don't feel silly I have let the garage convince me brake pads last for 15,000 max which is less than a quarter of what they should last according to this thread.

That’s not unreasonable, the OP is doing very well to have got 58k out of a set of pads. For fast road use I get under 10k out of a set. I would say that 20-30k out of fronts and a bit more out of rears is pretty decent. It really does depend on your usage and driving style though. A heavy automatic being used mainly in stop-start traffic will be heavier on brakes than a light manual car doing mainly long distance motorway journeys.

I just googled my question about automatic cars and brake pads they should last a minimum of 30,000 where a manual lasts minimum of 55,000. So don't feel bad op last time I left it to 15,000 they talked me into new discs was well!

Your dh was right at that level of wear to postpone but they should have phoned you.

I’ve just had my front pads and discs changed, they are far from feeling more responsive and I’m having to decelerate earlier/allow more stopping distance as not supposed to brake hard until they “bed in” (except in case of emergency).

Oh ok thank you Max I don't feel as silly now.

Who booked the service in and dropped off the car though? I'm confused as to how if you did this they've got all DH's personal details? Surely they just call or emails whoever's details are given or who drops off the car? Do you share finances? Why would he be obligated to pay for your car rather than it be the norm you pay for your own car if it needs it- i think youre being a bit unfair on him tbh.

I agree with your DH about the break pads, but I don't think you should feel silly OP, if you don't know, you don't know.

Yep I have a heavy automatic and mainly drive in stop start traffic. In the winter if I venture out of town it will be twisty country lanes and black ice. Also live in Scotland with lots of impatient nut job chancers who assume they can just cut in everywhere while everyone else bangs on their brakes to avoid them.

Probably explains my overcautious attitude to brake pads in winter.

The thing about break pads is that they are like a pencil. If you have used 70% of a pencil, the tip of the pencil is still just as effective as the original tip of the pencil was when you bought it. It’s not that your break pads are only 30% as effective as they were when new; it just means you are 70% of the way through. Yes they should be replaced with a margin of error, but your DH was almost certainly right that you weren’t there yet.

But the garage should ring you if it is your car, not him. And your car, your decision.

If you feel this is your husband is being a cheapskate, next time, why don’t you ask him to replace the break pads for you? It’s apprently a pretty easy job - my husband does ours. Self taught from books and YouTube, but the breaks have t failed yet!

lol @this thread

I do not know anyone in real life who checks their brake pads themselves

This includes the men, before anyone jumps up and down

I mean fucking hell some of my friends don't even know how to check the oil.

I mean yes it would be marvellous if everyone knew this stuff but the way the vast majority of posters on the thread are all wow it's totally everyday to check your barke pads yourself, unimaginable that anyone wouldn't is, well, not in step with normal poeple round here

I would say that 20-30k out of fronts and a bit more out of rears is pretty decent.

Really? I did 60k in three years in my last car and don't recall having new brakes. I did get through two sets of tyres. I do mainly rural mileage and assumed I am lighter on brakes because I don't do much stop/start driving and drive on gears rather than brakes but had no idea what kind of mileage I should be getting out of brakes.

PPS at my car’s last service they advised I needed new brakes AND new tyres. I took car to a place that mainly does tyres (not Kwik Fit) but also brakes and they agreed with brakes but that I’ve actually got approx 5k wear left on the front tyres.

I've never checked my brake pads. How would you even do that? The garage does it though and tells me how much % is left. Mine is at 40, was at that when I bought the car and hasn't changed in 4 years.

I do not know anyone in real life who checks their brake pads themselves grin

I check mine, replaced them myself as well. If someone told me my pads were 70% worn, I'd say thanks, I'll change them when they are more worn, wasteful otherwise.

The garage should have called you, not your DH. Your DH should have told them to call you when they called him. You should tell the garage that in future they need to call you and then, if you have the option, don't use them again. Tell your DH he should have asked them to call you. Tell your DH that you make decisions about your stuff not him and will ask him for an opinion if you want one.

For those saying the OP's DH was right there is XYZ on the brakes, what a load of rubbish. It's not his car, he doesn't get to make the decision. Winter is coming, better to be safe than sorry.

Hey, I’m not a cut your nose off to spite my face type of person. After listening to the clearly well informed words of max and the likes I would have happily rung them back to ask them not to change the pads but it was to late as the car was up on the ramps still.
In my job I have to give clear information to my clients to gain what’s called informed consent. In this case I didn’t have all the information to make that decision and given I was also a bit miffed they called DH I reacted emotionally ( ie scared of breaks failing / treated like the little woman) . Lesson learned. Next time I’m bring my car to Max.

As Others have said OP you've fallen for the garages con.

Mine said they won't make the next service. My father told me to ask how many miles were left on them and they had 7000 miles cheeky fuckers.

@Whatjusthappenedthere

As I said OP (and a few others did,) don't worry too much. I think they would have needed replacing by the Springtime of next year anyway. But yep, some garages do rip people off and do stuff that isn't needed to make extra money.

I also agree with a pp, that many people would not know how to check their own brake pads, or other car bits! I would defo get a few more opinions and quotes though if a garage said I needed to spend £400-£500 plus.

Maybe do that next time eh?

Hmm, has he taken out or increased your life insurance policy lately?

Or are there trip hazards mysteriously appearing on the stairs, like tiny trucks and banana skins?

I’d be careful OP. Watch your step.

@Silly

Yep DH is defo tryna kill ya OP!

YANBU to be annoyed that the mechanic went over your head to your DH but YWBU with the kneejerk contrary reaction without informing yourself and unnecessarily spending money. My car went in for a routine dealership service 2 weeks ago, tyres rotated, oil change, couple of software updates. They called me to tell me it was ready but they had spotted a leak in the transmission and they wanted to make an appointment to have it brought in to be properly looked at and fixed. I didn't ask how much it would cost or anything just said I'd get back to them but in my head I'm thinking if they say it needs doing, it needs doing.

DH is the son of a car mechanic and up until the last two, both new and with internal computers he doesn't feel comfortable messing with, has always done most of the routine maintenance on his vehicles. The point being he knows more than me about cars. So I told him what the dealership had said and he's frankly incredulous. 3 year old car, no issues, drives like a dream, there should be no transmission problems and his first thought was they were trying to pull a fast one. So he called them.

Turns out he was right and wrong. This transmission does need replacing but it's just a one-off faulty one apparently, they've never seen this before on this particular model and, fortunately for our bank balance, it is a warranty issue so we won't have to pay for a replacement.

I do not know anyone in real life who checks their brake pads themselves

I do, as do all my petrolhead friends. The concept of paying someone to carry out such a simple replacement is foreign to me. Having seen what other people get charged by garages for getting new pads (especially by main dealers) I assume some people have more money than sense. It’s reasonable to pay about £60 labour (1hr) per axle plus the cost of the pads. Pads for most cars would come in under £50 per axle, I have seen some as low as £10/12. Basically if you’re paying more than £110 per axle for pad replacement there’s a good chance you’re over paying.

Really? I did 60k in three years in my last car and don't recall having new brakes

Of course it can and does vary wildly as I said previously, my point was that if you get 25k out of a set that’s not unreasonable and I’d imagine that the average car being driven normally will do that or more. Drive a big car quickly with lots of hard braking and that figure will reduce drastically. Think my record on a set of front pads is 3k-ish.

If your car is only 2 years old you will have wear indicators built into the pads which will trigger a warning light on the dash when you have 10% of pad thickness remaining. That's the time to get your pads changed.