Bad advice costing money
Motorists could be driving around with dodgy brakes because mechanics are giving them confusing advice on replacing worn pads. Equally frustratingly, many will potentially be wasting money on brake pad replacement too early.
This is according to MotorEasy, the car ownership and maintenance service. Just one in five garages provide customers with a useful guide to how many miles they have left on brake pads when their car is examined as part of a service or MOT procedure.
Instead, mechanics provide information on brake pad wear in millimetres remaining or a percentage worn to describe how worn brake pads are, but this leaves owners confused about when they need to book in for a replacement.
Franchised dealers are least likely to provide a mileage estimate (22%), with many manufacturer technicians favouring a traffic light system. Independent garages gave a mileage reading in 25% of cases according to the investigation of more than 100 workshops across the UK.
MotorEasy founder, Duncan McClure Fisher, said, ‘The majority of garages we analysed gave their customers a metric that means little or nothing when it comes to brake wear. Telling drivers that they have, say, 30% wear left on their brake pads doesn’t tell them whether or not they should be thinking about getting them changed now or whether they have another six months of safe driving left before needing to get them replaced.’
