Are You Paying Too Much For Car Repairs?

KYW3 News, the Philadelphia CBS affiliate station ran a story last night on how not to get ripped off by your local auto repair shop. They featured three websites that estimate repair costs based on your car model, location, and if you went to the dealer or an independent shop.

RepairPal was fast and easy to use. I looked up my SUV and chose a fuel pump replacement as my issue. It quickly brought up an estimate range of $307-377 in the Manhattan area. It broke down the labor as $73-93 and parts as $234-284. A Google map of all repair shops in the area was also displayed showing names, addresses, and contact info. A synopsis of what to look out for and why the issue occurs is followed by recommendations on what other parts should be replaced at the same time. This info can be printed from a nicely formatted pdf file or emailed to you. If you have an iPhone, they have a free app to download. It was a NY Times App of the Week and an Apple Staff Favorite. The website also contains an auto repair encyclopedia, comparable to AutoZone. Speaking of AutoZone, they have a great troubleshooting site that I have used a lot.

DriverSide was also easy to use, but the performance was slower than RepairPal. To get to the final estimate of repairs, it took a lot more clicks and more pages to load. You also had the choice to see repair shops in your area with all the contact info and distance from you. It didn’t give a range for a fuel pump replacement, but an exact figure of $379.81. The estimated labor was 0.70 hours at $50.40 and the fuel pump at $329.41. There are other sections at DriverSide like a “What It’s Worth” section which shows you the current value of your vehicle, and a For Sale area that you can list or shop for vehicles.

Both of these sites are free, but the last one KYW featured was FairRepair. They charge up to $9.99 for each estimate report which will be rebated back to you when you go to the participating repair shop that will honor the estimate. They wanted my VIN number to proceed to Step #2 on top of the fee, so I didn’t even bother going forward.

In review, I would prefer using RepairPal as it was the fastest and easiest to navigate. The information was presented in a visually and printer-friendly format. I’m not that slick to have an iPhone, but that downloadable app feature is another plus. Don’t get ripped off by a greedy repair shop again. Do your homework, but it just got a little easier.