A “brake” from my normal tech posts to tell you about my new favorite brake place: Les Schwab. This isn’t a sponsored post, I just like how they function as a company and I hope I can save you some time and stress when you have brake issues.
Most brake repair places say they offer “FREE” brake inspections, but what they don’t tell you upfront is that they aren’t truly free…it’s more like a credit towards future work. They just take the cost of the inspection off the brake repair if you get work done with them. If you don’t, then you owe them for the inspection, which could be around $30.
I got sucked into a “FREE” brake inspection promise recently. I assumed that FREE meant FREE, so I just pulled my car in and asked for an inspection without thinking I’d be charged. While I was waiting for the inspection to be completed I called around to see if I could get a better repair price. I did find a better price…about $200 better.
I thought I was going to be able to grab my car and go to the other place to get the work done. Nope. The place charged me $30 for the inspection because I didn’t get the work done on the spot.
I use Facebook all the time to get recommendations and asked about brakes. My friend recommended Les Schwab. It was a great recommendation. I got my brakes inspected and repaired there and I will always go back for two reasons:
- Their brake inspections are truly free. They don’t require you to do service after. You just walk in, get your brakes inspected and walk out with no money exchange and no pressure to get the work done then. Meineke offers a FREE visual check, but they will charge you if “diagnostic” services are required. Not so with Les Schwab.
- I trust them. After I got my brakes fixed, I noticed a ticking sound coming from my tires so I brought it back in to Les Schwab. The tech could have told me anything…different part was bad or whatever, but he didn’t. He told me he did something wrong the first time and was going to fix everything and not charge me. That is obviously the right thing to do, but most places wouldn’t be that honest about screwing up.
So give them a shot. At least get an inspection so you can see what I’m talking about. I get an inspection and rotate my tires there about every 10k miles.
Jon