Dealerships go by the "book". If the book says 2 hours for front brakes and 2 hours for rear brakes at $200/hour then that's $800 for just the labor and $300 for parts, yield your quoted $1100. They do not charge you 2 hours just because they've finished both front and rear in 2 hours. They still charge you 4 hours.

 

1) You D.I.Y.guys;

Fix and maintain yourself I got no problem with that.

2) Indie Mechanics;

Great way to save money if the mechanic knows what he's doing.

3) Honda Dealers.

Most expensive option.

But;

They guarantee their work. And will fix your car right the first time.

Well that's been my experience.

 

It is the specific mechanic, not the shop.

I had Honda of Lisle leave a belt tensioner bolt off on my Accord years ago, which I discovered and fixed myself. My sister's Toyota 4Runner went to Schaumburg Toyota for an oil change and came back with a puddle of oil under the car on the garage floor, I discovered a completely loose drain plug and fixed it for her, would have blown the engine if she drove for even longer. There are complete loose cannons in some dealerships, you just pray that you don't stumble upon those mechanics work on your car. The above are the reasons why I started wrenching myself, I do not trust anyone. If I do take my car to a shop, any shop, I stand there and watch them work.

 

Why would you assume a dealership service tech knows more than an independent mechanic or is more likely to fix your car right the first time? If an independent mechanic has a history of poor service or making mistakes or overcharging, that information gets around and they don't stay in business for long. When you see an old, run-down shop with three gray-hairs working on cars, you're seeing a business that has survived, almost certainly because they do good/reliable work, and they can probably charge a fair(er) rate because they're not paying off a massive loan for a giant showroom and acres of parking lots and inventory.

How many customers per month do you think move through a large dealership service department? How many for an independent mechanic with a handful of employees?

Let's say you decide not to return to your dealership for service in the future. Think they would care or miss you (or your money)? Probably not because there are a million other folks lined up around the block believing that the only place a Honda can be worked on is the Honda dealership or a Ford at the Ford dealership, etc.

Here's my test - if they have enough money to have those creepy inflatable balloon men out by the highway they have too much free money.

 

Why would you assume an indie mechanic knows what he's doing as opposed to a factory trained dealer mechanic?

An indie mechanic works on different cars.

A Dealer mechanic works on specific brand name cars.

I'd rather go to a factory dealer trained mechanic for maintenance and repair than an all makes and model indie mechanic to save a few dollars.

You guys go to whatever mechanic you want or do the work yourself.

I'll go to my local Honda Dealer for all my car maintenance and repair.

Since I bought my Fit brand new back in February 2015 at my local Honda Dealer I'll continue going to my local Honda Dealer for maintenance and repair.

You Dealer Haters can stop trying to convince me to go to an indie mechanic.

 

I might lend this some credence if we were talking about a Bugatti or Koenigsegg or some other hypercar where you have to drop the engine from the carbon-fiber monocoque for a basic service (and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege).

We're instead talking about a Honda Fit, which even in third-gen, DI-motor form is one of the most basic cars you can drive. You started off this post talking about a brake service. We've had disc brakes on cars since the 1950s and drum brakes for over 120 years.

There are zero things your dealership's service techs know about the brakes on your Honda Fit that every other mechanic doesn't know because the Fit has the most basic brake setup found on a modern automobile.

I don't care what you do, so if you're happy paying $10 for the same raisin bran you can buy down the street for $4 knock yourself out.

 

If you don't care then why would you chime in with your opinion?

Because you apparently do care if someone mentions going to a Honda Dealer than an indie mechanic or doing the work yourself.

 

I said I don't care what you do.

I do like to help other people and therefore notice that every time someone asks even the most basic maintenance or service question you jump in (with your opinion) to say that they should run to the dealership as it's the only place a Fit can be safely serviced, which is simply not true.

So, let's say I'm providing a counterpoint that could save folks a good bit of money or encourage them to learn about working on their own car.

 

The local Honda dealer here (Martin Honda, Newark DE) has fleeced my (not-car-knowledgeable) retired parents for unnecessary work.
The most glaring of which was the very first service after our Fit went out of warranty. In our discussion with the manager afterwards, they admitted that their induction cleaning service was not walnut blasting, but some chemical product they sprayed in through an intake manifold port. Having manually de-carboned a few heads, I was highly suspicious. If that were a real solution, nobody would bother with pulling the intake manifold for walnut blasting. However, the Fit manifold is labyrinthine enough that feeding a borescope in to check if the valves were clean isn't practical, so I dropped it.
They also did an alignment - the car hadn't had any suspension parts replaced, nor had it been in an accident or curb-strike (to my knowledge), no abnormal tire wear, or handling artifacts that would make me think it was out of alignment. I asked for an alignment machine printout. One wheel had its toe-in value highlighted, but the value was at the edge of the listed spec. The front toe-in was showing positive-of-ideal on one side, negative-of-ideal on the other. Meaning both wheels were turned slightly in one direction, as happens when one turns the steering wheel. They put the car on the machine, saw it was fine, so they turned the steering wheel slightly to get paid for the time they spent checking the alignment.
My step father, not convinced, took his Insight in for an oil change. They wanted to replace the rear shock absorbers because "they were leaking". Thankfully he asked me to look at it first. They were not leaking. A bounce-test on each corner showed both shocks were working fine.

Dealer service can stay afloat on warranty work and in-warranty maintenance work. They make their big profits on out-of-warranty work, because they can charge the customer effectively whatever they want. With warranty work, they're charging Honda Motor Co., which won't put up with shenanigans.

 

There are bad Honda Dealers out there.

I'm well aware of that.

One or a few bad Honda Dealers don't make every Honda Dealer the bad guys.

Maybe it's just like winning the Powerball Lottery. I found a great (to me) Honda Dealer. This Honda Dealer Napleton Honda in Morton Grove, ILL never upsells me on unnecessary service and work not needed at the times I'm there.

If you go to a Honda Dealer for an Oil change and they say you need new struts and a transmission I would never go back there.

I'm never taking my Fit to a local neighborhood auto mechanic.

Napleton Honda in Morton Grove, ILL. is where I'll go for my Fit's maintenance and service work.

There are great Honda Dealers out there. You just have to go find one for yourself.

 

What did they charge you for a new clutch, assuming it was done there at some point? At only 80,000 miles that is a bit concerning; mine is at 68,000 and I expect it to last well beyond 80K.

 

What if you need new struts and a transmission? I would rather have that found at an oil change than after an accident or getting stranded on the side of the road. And a good mechanic, regardless of where they work, should be looking your car over when you're getting an oil change.

If there are good Honda dealerships, doesn't basic logic suggest that there are equally good independent mechanics? And if you "just have to go find one (good dealership) for yourself," is it not also possible to find a good independent mechanic?

Nah, that's crazy. Well, I have to go pick up the U-haul so that I can move to Morton Grove, IL. My Fit deserves the best and I have clearly been deceiving myself to think that I, a mere DIY redneck from the Ozarks, can handle that responsibility.

 

You should probably give them a good review on Yelp. It'll help bump their current 2-star rating.

 

Akready done on Google.

Also check the Honda Dealer reviews thread.

 

Oh, the irony! Manufacturers supposedly use drum brakes occasionally because they are cheaper to install. When it comes time to replace them, they are more expensive - more labor. Basically, they're a nuisance to install. Both of our cars will be due soon.

 

My '91 CRX (base model, often called DX) came with drum brakes which look almost identical to the Fit's. Having read of rear disks' supposed superiority, I swapped on the trailing arm + disk brake setup from a '90 CRX Si, along with the proper parking brake cables, proportioning valve and master cylinder. I drove that setup for over 100k miles. The only difference I noticed was weaker parking brake operation - it took more handle pull to get the same braking force. The parking brake mechanism is frustrating when doing pad replacement. The parking brake cable gets in the way enough to justify (not sure if it's strictly required) disconnecting it from the caliper during service. Unlike front calipers, a special (though not hard to find) tool is needed to twist the caliper piston back into the caliper to reset the adjuster. The original drum brakes are several pounds lighter (unsprung weight no less) than the disk setup, and can accept aluminum drums from the 1st generation CRX HF and 1st generation Insight to make them even lighter. First-hand experience has convinced me that the rear drum setup is superior for small passenger cars, except track racing or car show purposes.
Those are all inadequacies of the specific application ('88-00 Civic/CRX/Integra rear disk). Some rear disk systems actually have a small drum parking brake inside the raised center of the rotor, though that's not going to fix the weight concern.

 

I've seen a number of articles, videos, and kits about converting drums to disks, but I was never that interested. You're right about the parking brake on rear disks being a nuisance.

 

Sometimes the KISS principal has a point. For a small car that already has a significant forward weight bias, disc brakes have no advantage over drum brakes on the rear axle. As outlined in the previous couple posts, there are a few disadvantages for rear discs vs drums in an application like the Fit.

If you drive mostly highway miles and don't do (too many) parking brake slides, the rear drum shoes can easily last 200K miles. I'm easing up to 130K miles on my 2010 and still have over 3 mm (4.5 new, 1.0 service limit). I check the front and rear brakes as part of my tire rotation (because convenience) and outside of a bit of surface rust starting on the outside face of the drums the rear brakes seem good as new.

 

More difficult to replace????? Been wrenching for over 30 years.....no. I autocross my fit with rear drums and stock material brake shoes, discs are not necessary. You'll also need an adjustable proportioning valve to get the bias correct since the drum and discs don't need the same amount of force from the master. All in all it's an absolute waste of money especially when shoes can last well over 100k miles.