If you are a driver, it is impossible to not know the brake controller. In fact, it is so crucial that this tool can literally change and save your life, especially with truck drivers. They are great when it comes to controlling the brakes of your trailer, which is very helpful when you need to go on the road. Not to mention, in case of an emergency, having this device ready is the best. So what is the average cost to install a trailer brake controller? Let’s find out.
Average Cost to Install a Trailer Brake Controller
In many African countries like Kenya, we need to carry a lot of things with our vehicles. So having a trailer brake controller is essential. Normally, car owners can expect the price range from $60 to $350 for the controller itself.
In case when you want to purchase for the whole installation, the price will add up a little bit. In fact, depending on which type of controller you want, along with the wiring inside your car, the cost of installing the brake controller can be changed.
For that reason, we will list out the cost for various trailer brake controllers so car owners can expect the amount of money they need to pay. Our car experts will list them out based on the available styles and types.
Brake Controller Cost Examples (Parts Only)
In this list, we will focus on four most common types of controllers.
Traditional Brake Controllers
The most common type of trailer brake controller is the traditional one. In order to have the traditional brake controllers in your vehicle, you need to have additional wiring. If your vehicles do not have these wiring available, you must rewire the whole car. In cases when you just have a used car in Kenya, you can check to see if it has controllers or not by checking under the dash.
In order to install these car features, you might need help from professionals since it depends on each type of wiring your car already has. Not to mention, car owners need a lot of extra parts.
The traditional brake controllers can be either time-delayed or proportional, and each of these selections have different prices. To be more specific, the proportional of $85.00, which is the cheapest among these. On the other hand, it’s time delayed cost is around $60.00
Wireless Brake Controllers
The next controller in our list is the wireless brake controllers. Unlike the traditional, you do not need help from professionals when installing. Instead, car owners can easily plug them in yourself as long as they have the required plug. Another reason why this wireless technology is famous is the installation. It is the easiest and cheapest way to install brake controllers.
Even though these brake controllers are much easier to install, they are less reliable than the first one. To be more precise, car owners only have to plug in the receiver, which is somehow unstable compared to the traditional ones. Not to mention, even though they are convenient and simple, the wireless brake controllers can only be proportional with the price of $240.00.
Trailer-Mounted Brake Controllers
In the list of controllers, we cannot forget the trailer-Mounted brake controllers. With some installation steps, this car feature is considered as easy to install. A significant difference of this controller is that it is attached to the trailer, not inside the vehicle like the first two brake controllers.
With the price of $340.00 for proportional, car owners can have the trailer-mounted brake controllers. They can be both wireless and hardwired into the wiring system of the trailers.
Dashboard Mounted Brake Controllers
Last but not least, we have the dashboard-Mounted brake controllers in the list. With the price of $200 for proportional and $180 for time-delayed, this is the most expensive option overall for controllers. This does not include the labor cost, which is from $100 to $300 depending on the type of each controller. The dashboard-mounted controller has the same way of installing as traditional brake controllers, which means it also takes additional wiring.
The main difference here is the knob. In order to control the brakes, you need a dash-mounted knob. Along with the knob, car owners must also have harnesses, wiring as well as adaptors.
