Auto Repair Estimates And Car Repair Prices – The Real Information To Avoid Car Repair Scams
Worrying whether or not you were overcharged for your car repair is an awful feeling. There’s tons of advice on how to avoid getting ripped-off, but few discuss the actual car repair prices. We really need to look at the charges on a car repair estimate or auto repair invoice to determine if we’re paying too much.
The focus needs to shift from giving outdated and ineffective advice to addressing the “actual” and “specific” charges. Are they legitimate charges? Can they be justified by industry guidelines?
Now car repair estimates can be confusing. So let’s break it down to get a better idea if your auto repair shop is billing you appropriately.
First, a glossary of terms is in order, as the auto industry has a language of its own…
Aftermarket Parts: parts not made by the manufacturer.
MSRP: Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price
OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer. Manufacturer approved parts designed specifically for your vehicle.
TSBs: Technical Service Bulletins. Notes and instructions provided by the manufacturer for known and specific concerns(they are not recalls).
Flat Fees: services such as alignments that don’t get broken down into parts, tax, labor
Miscellaneous Charges: these can include, but are not limited to shop supplies – rags, chemicals, hazardous waste disposal fees, waste oil …etc.
Labor Rate: a repair center’s hourly charge to service your vehicle
Labor Time: the amount of time or hours determined that it will take to fix your vehicle
Labor Description: the step-by-step written details of repairs and/or services
Ok, let’s look at the Anatomy of an Auto Repair Estimate:
There are six basic components to a car repair estimate
1) Customer/Vehicle Information
2) Parts
3) Labor
4) Miscellaneous Charges
5) Flat Fees
6) Summary of Charges
Customer and Vehicle Information
Using a generic “top down” style estimate, the top portion simply contains your personal information and your vehicle’s specifics: year, make, model, mileage…etc, as well as your request or concern.
We also want find the shop’s labor rate. The labor rate is critical in determining if you paid too much. Most repair centers don’t list the labor rate. We’ll discuss why shortly.
Auto Parts
Parts are listed usually with a brief description, as well as the quantity, and the price. There are three types of parts: OEM (parts made by or for a manufacturer). These are the parts installed by a dealer, although many local shops use OEM parts too.
Aftermarket parts are non OEM parts, and there are various degrees of quality, depending on the brand and where they’re made – China versus USA, for example.
Then there are Used parts purchased from a salvage yard.
To determine if you paid too much for parts, first find out what type of parts are being used. With OEM parts, you don’t want to pay more than MSRP, although most people do without realizing it. Premium aftermarket parts are similarly priced across brands, although beware not to pay more than MSRP, which again, many folks do. Used part prices are all over the place, so pick the price in the middle.
Auto Repair Labor
Labor is billed in tenths. So 1.0 equals 1 hour. 1.5 equals an hour and a half.
Labor rates range from $60 to $100 per hour at local repair shops and $80 to $140 per hour at the dealer level. Labor times are based off established industry guidelines, which are frequently abused.
If you don’t see the shop’s labor rate posted on the car repair invoice, ask your service center for the rate. Repair shops can manipulate the labor rate (among other things) with a labor matrix. Matrix pricing is a complicated and ethically questionable practice discussed at length in RepairTrust literature. What you need to know is that you can pay as high as $150 per hour rather than the posted labor rate of $105 per hour.
To ensure that you’re being charged properly, you’ll want to multiply the number of hours billed (which is also often not posted) by the shop’s labor rate.
Most labor descriptions are poorly written and difficult to understand. So ask questions.
Here’s a “clear” labor description for a 30,000 mile service on a Toyota Camry.
Performed 30,000 mile service per customer request, and in accordance with manufacturer guidelines. Changed oil and filter, installed new air filter, cabin filter and performed all necessary tests, checks, and procedures, including road test (miles 30,123 – 30,125). Performed lubrication services and confirmed proper vehicle operation. Set tire pressures, and checked fluids, belts and hoses. Note: vehicle is pulling slightly left. Needs alignment
Miscellaneous Charges
The bulk of your car repair invoice will be parts and labor, but we can’t forget about Miscellaneous Charges. These charges can include, but are not limited to, shop supplies – rags, chemicals, hazardous waste, disposal fees, waste oil …etc. The latter of these may be billed out separately in a summary at the bottom of your repair invoice.
Very few of these “extras” are actually used during regular repairs. Miscellaneous charges are calculated off the amount of labor hours billed, not the amount of miscellaneous items used.
Flat Fees
Flat fees can be another very tricky area. Flat fees are services, such as an alignment, which don’t get broken down into parts, tax and labor. This makes it difficult to determine the real and fair price. On the plus side, most flat fees are competitively priced.
Be warned however, another term for Flat Fee is called Menu Selling. In other words, you might see Tune Up: $99.99 or Transmission Flush: $89.99. Follow your manufacturer’s recommendations only, not a dealer’s or repair shop’s menu.
Summary of Charges
The last part of an auto repair estimate is the summary of charges. It’s usually found in the bottom right hand corner of the invoice. Check it against the charges above to ensure that it all adds up mathematically, as well as logically.
This basic estimate outline may differ from your particular invoice, which may have other categories such as “Sublet” or “HazMat.”
A sublet charge is added when your auto repair shop uses another vender to fix or repair your car, such as a glass company that replaces your windshield.
A HazMat charge may include waste oil or other disposal fees. Just make sure that the charges are warranted, as again, they too are often calculated off the labor time rather than actual need.
In sum, understanding the “actual” charges, asking the right questions, and breaking down your auto repair costs is the best way to avoid paying excessive car repair prices.
About Author
Ted Olson is the founder of RepairTrust – a website dedicated to help the auto consumer avoid the pitfalls of the automotive industry. Click Car Repair Prices to learn more…
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Auto Repair Estimates And Car Repair Prices – The Real Information To Avoid Car Repair Scams
Tags: auto, auto repair estimates, automotive, car, car repair prices, fix, freon, gas, howto, repair
By scottykilmer, November 14, 2009 @ 6:24 am
OK, then there is an internal restriction in the AC system or water vapor inside the AC system causing ice up, OR he didn’t install the temperature switch so that its business end was touching the evaporator. It must touch the evaporator to correctly measure when that temperature is nearing 32 degrees so it shuts off the compressor BEFORE ice can be made.
By JennLQ, November 14, 2009 @ 6:37 am
Jenn, didn't ya know smoking is bad for your health;) So, you didn't say what kind of interior. I assume it's not leather, so probably a cloth. Multicolored or solid? One way to do it depending on the amount of damage and how visible it is, is to actually go to say the back seat and find an area that's not visible, like behind the seat bottom if you pull it up. Carefully take a small swatch of fabric and so it doesn't run or tear, glue the edges where it came from with super glue. Now if you are painstaking in this process and sort of crafty with an eye for detail, you can have great success with a LITTLE super glue and a carefully placed swatch. If it is a solid color, you can often make a really careful pyle of the material scraped with a razor and again a LITTLE glue on the area followed by a snowing of the lint like stuff you collected. Hope that helps, this works even better on house carpet and furniture.
By LitterboxDiorama, November 14, 2009 @ 6:40 am
My A/C is the only thing that DOES work on my car!!!!
By Jake Dolce, November 14, 2009 @ 6:48 am
An upholstery shop can remove the cardboard/foam backing and recover it with new fabric for a hundred dollars or so. Don't damage the cardboard, because once it's gone they can't do anything for you and you can't get another one.
By rrrich7@sbcglobal.net, November 14, 2009 @ 10:30 am
By sjdhfpioeahfoihqoifr, November 14, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
By Nels W, November 15, 2009 @ 7:05 am
First thing, stop going to a dealer, their parts are INSANE on prices, and you can get parts that are just as good or better at most part stores. $150 an hour for labor is crazy, I mean just absolutly crazy. Forget that nonsense about how a dealership is familiar with ONLY GM vehicles and they are therefore better. A good mechanic is just as familiar with your vehicle as a dealership, in some cases, alot more expirenced. Bear in mind I said a GOOD mechanic, be careful where you take your vehicle, before handing your vehicle over to a shop, look for ASE certification, and ask around to see who has had any good/bad expirences with that shop. Also check http://www.bbb.org to look for a list of shops with complaints against them in your area.
I, as well, would suggest minimal time dely on having the repairs checked out, but do not hand the vehicle over to a shop and ask them to do the work, tell them what the dealership has told you, and ask them to check it for themselfs. Most shops will charge a diagnosis fee of about $50, and this fee is usually waved if you have the work done there.
Good Luck with that, and like i said, stop using the dealership, its alot of wasted money for exactly what you could get at a good mechaninc elesewhere.
By Randy L, November 15, 2009 @ 1:01 pm
yes slick 50 offers a additive,so does rysolone it is a polymer based additive to some degree seales small surfice scratches around the cylender walls,have you considered changeing motoroil to perhaps a highmilage oilsuch as castrol,or valvaline.do you have oil in your air breather,is your posative crankcase ventalation valve and related hoses,valve clean and operating properly,hoses not restricted or cracked?
By bruce_eel, November 15, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
Dude, I don't even need to look at the photo. If you wait 4 years to sell it then a $500.00 loss on an 8 year old vehicle will not affect the value by $50.00.
By arguillen, November 15, 2009 @ 1:43 pm
HE did but a temperature switch on, but I don’t know why it kept iceing up. Ok so a wire from the compressor to a switch, then another wire from the switch to the temperature switch. Third a wire From temp. switch to battery with a fuse. Right? I see two sprungs that come out from the compressor switch.
By Snowlion, November 15, 2009 @ 7:00 pm
Buy a repair manual for your vehicle and start doing maintainance and easy repairs on your own vehicle. Also there's a book out there called 'Car Repair for Dummies' or something like that which is supposed to be very helpful. =)
By Douglas C, November 16, 2009 @ 9:36 pm
I would be mostly concerned about the brakes and rotors first because they are major safery issues. The wiper motor can be as well. The AC is more of a convenience type of thing. Get a Haynes repair manual (see below) and do as much as you can on your own). Shops kill you in terms of labor costs. I get maintenance supplies from Walmart when I can and go to Autozone for everything else. Autozone even has a rewards program that works well for me since I go regularly. Anyway, do as much of the work as you can on your own. Also look for online dealers that sell Lincoln products cheaper than retail cost. Even after shipping, you'd probably save money rather than buying from your local dealer.
59010
Lincoln Rear-wheel drive Haynes Repair Manual covering Continental (1970 thru 1987) Mark Series (1970 thru 1992) Town Car (1981 thru 2005) (does not include Versailles models, V6 or diesel information)
Our Price: $24.95
Haynes Repair Manual for Lincoln Rear-wheel drive covering Continental (1970 thru 1987) Mark Series (1970 thru 1992) Town Car (1981 thru 2005) (does not include Versailles models, V6 or diesel information) has clear instructions and hundreds of photographs to help you perform anything from simple maintenance to basic repairs. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, you can save big with Haynes!
Complete coverage for your Lincoln Rear-wheel drive covering Continental (1970 thru 1987) Mark Series (1970 thru 1992) Town Car (1981 thru 2005) (does not include Versailles models, V6 or diesel information):
–Routine Maintenance
–Tune-up procedures
–Engine repair
–Cooling and heating
–Air Conditioning
–Fuel and exhaust
–Emissions control
–Ignition
–Brakes
–Suspension and steering
–Electrical systems
–Wiring diagrams