Get the best price for car repairs

How to get the best price

Shops charge in different ways. Some charge by the hour, and however long it takes to fix your car, that's how long it takes. It's the labor costs that'll getcha in the end. Other shops might charge a flat rate per job regardless of how long it takes, which could work out in the customer's favor. Your garage might charge you a flat rate for a repair job based on an estimated hourly rate of how long it should normally take to do that job, plus parts and labor, of course. They might budget an hour to repair your cooling system, for example. Based on that, they might charge $75 to service the cooling system.

That's how much it should cost whether it takes them 50 minutes or an hour and a half. In these cases, your mechanic is probably following what's called a "labor guide," Some after market data suppliers, like Chilton, Mitchell or Alldata, publish such labor guides. Mechanics sometimes rely on them for technical information, in the same way that a surgeon might consult a guide on surgical procedures to see how long things normally take and, based on that, how much to charge the patient, er, customer.

Dealerships have their own guides. Because they have the specialized knowledge and the proper tools, they should be able to do a specific repair job in less time than it would take the mechanics at an independent garage. However, specialized knowledge and tools cost money too, so the price of a certain job will probably vary greatly depending on whether you get it done at the garage or the dealership. Furthermore, certain repairs might still be under warranty depending on the age of your car.

Just to give you an idea of what your average mechanic is up against, consider his overhead costs. Most mechanics are always updating and investing in their toolboxes to make sure they're equipped with all the latest tools necessary to fix your car and all the new models that come out every year. Indeed, when a manufacturer comes out with a new part, a mechanic often needs to buy a specific tool to repair that part. That's the kind of thing he'll take into account when deciding how much to charge.