With just over 19,000 miles on the odo, the T&C's right front brake began to squeal, so we took it in to La Brea Chrysler near our L.A. offices. They informed us a $614.68 front brake replacement was needed and that this is common among the new minivans, with many needing pad replacement after only 12,000 miles. Suspicious as to why we didn't hear about this during our previous service visit at 12,720 miles, we perused the records to find that a "Rotate, Balance, and Brake Inspection" was performed. If the tech did perform this inspection, he should have noticed the pads were, at least, getting close to wearing out and alerted us to that fact. But he didn't and, 7000 miles later, we were hit with a $600 bill.
| 2008 Chrysler Town & Country |
| Months/miles in service | 7/19,407 |
| Avg econ/CO2 | 18.9 mpg/1.03 lb/mi |
| Unresolved problems | None |
| Maintenance cost | $416.14 (3 oil change/inspection/rotate tires, replace A/C filter, transmission service, replace air filter) |
| Normal-wear cost | $614.68 (replace front brake rotors and pads, brake system fluid flush) |