How much do the repairs cost?

What determines the cost to repair a car?

(1) What is wrong with the car

(2) The repair facility you take your vehicle to for repairs (the dealer is more expensive than the independent or whether you try to fix it yourself)

(3) Labor rates in the area

(4) Different cars have different labor times. The year, make and model of your vehicle (luxury imports are always more expensive to fix!)

(5) Where the parts come from. Are the parts only available from the manufacturer? or can they be bought from the local parts store?

(6) how much you are willing to pay for repairs (prices and repair options are often negotiable).

Auto Repairs are Unavoidable

Eventually, something will break, wear out or fail on every car. Parts that most often wear out include brakes, tires, mufflers, batteries, filters, alternators, starters, water pumps, belts and hoses. The higher the mileage, the more repairs your car tends to need.

Nothing lasts forever, so when your vehicle needs repairs you obviously want to know how much it is going to cost -- hopefully BEFORE the work begins.

Repair Labor Rates

Labor is pricey, and time is money.

Auto repair can be difficult, dirty, back-breaking work that requires a lot of training, skill and experience, and a lot of expensive tools and equipment. The average technician has over $10,000 invested in his tools, and the shop where he works may own thousands of dollars of service equipment. Much of the hourly labor rate you pay goes to shop overhead (things like rent, utilities, equipment purchases & maintenance, employee benefits, etc.) and profit (which every business needs to say in business otherwise they go out of business).

You should get an estimate that lists what parts need to be replaced, the labor charge to replace those parts, any charges for diagnostic time, and any additional charges for miscellaneous items such as shop supplies, hazardous waste disposal fees, etc

OnLine Info

There is a great site you can go to, for a ball park estimate on auto repair.

www.repairpal.com. I have found it to be not 100%, but fairly accurate. Remember to keep in mind, it is often difficult to say exactly how much a repair will actually end up costing you until the job is underway or finished. Problems can happen anytime (rusty or broken bolts), or additional parts that also need to be replaced, and the labor may end up being more than the original estimate. So keep these things in mind when using an online repair estimator.

Who to use for repairs
The Morgan Fersasun act of 1970 says
you can have you vehicle repairs at any auto repair shop.
Just in case you have a problem with a part covered under the manufacturer warrantee, they will want to know it is not because of poor maintenance.
You need to keep track of your repairs to validate that you are maintaining your car. If you do the repairs yourself, just hang on to the receipts to confirm you did replace parts (fluids etc...)

Independent auto repair shops are usually a personal mom and pop type shop. This is the type of shop where you can talk to the mechanic and see the mechanic working on your car. Independant repair shops are also much less expensive than new car dealers and franchised repair facilities and muffler shops. Car dealerships work on commission, and have a large overhead. This makes their pricing more expensive than the local shop.