Car repairs are a part of life for many Canadians. And not only do we hate paying for them, many of us have come to distrust what our mechanics tell us, wondering whether they’re just trying to scam us out of even more money.
Unless you’re a mechanic yourself, you probably have no idea what kind of work goes into these repairs, how much the parts cost, or anything else. We just grit our teeth and hand over the cash to pay the bill.
But there are ways to educate yourself so you don’t have to wonder anymore about whether you’re paying too much for car repairs.
Keep reading for information and tips to help you deal with these frustrations.
Learn to estimate car repair costs
Any half-decent car repair shop should at least be willing to tell you what kind of repair they’re going to do on your vehicle before they do it. If they don’t, you should run out the door as fast as you can and never return.
Even though it sounds like the mechanics are speaking a foreign language, listen as closely as possible and write down what they say. Include every part, technical term, and detail they happen to mention. If the details seem lacking, feel free to ask for a more in-depth description or for them to explain it to you in layman’s terms.
Armed with this information, you now have options.
Hit up Google
This is most people’s go-to for researching anything, but it can often lead to a frustrating experience – hours of reading long forum threads with confusing and contradicting information.
Or worse, you could end up on one of the many sites that contain misleading or completely incorrect information, all for the express purpose of making money from its readers.
There’s a better way!
Use a trusted site that specializes in car repairs
You can find anything on the internet. In the past few years, there’ve been several sites crop up that do a decent job of estimating the actual fair cost of any of dozens of possible repairs your specific vehicle might need.
Unfortunately, most of these sites are American, but you can just add a healthy markup to it, say 20% because everything costs more in Canada. This should get a decent estimate.
Two of the best sites I’ve found for this in my travels so far are YourMechanic and RepairPal. I do a little comparison of the 2 of them further down.
Use your connections
This method has worked for…forever. The process can be slower and the results a little harder to interpret, but you can still end up with firsthand experience of how much similar repairs should cost.
Make sure to take full advantage of email and social media to get some quick responses from your friends. Ideally, you want more than 1 opinion without spending too much time on it – so posting a quick Facebook status asking your friends what they think could be a good method.
This works best when you know somebody who works in the business. So if you can “get in good” with a mechanic, then you’ll have the inside scoop on how everything works. so if you get that opportunity, go for it!
And another thing…
While it won’t help with estimating repair costs, paying for the repairs with the right credit card can be very helpful.
In fact, whether you’re getting the car repaired, filling up at the gas station, or paying for roadside assistance, using a credit card that provides rewards in that category is a must.
You can read more about the best credit cards in Canada right here.
An example scenario of getting car repairs
To make this all concrete, let’s go over a quick example: a complete brake job on a 2020 Hyundai Sante Fe.
This means replacing both the brake pads and the brake rotors, instead of just the pads. The pads are often the only thing that needs replacing anyway since quality rotors don’t wear out very quickly.
If we load up the YourMechanic and RepairPal estimators and compare the same exact repair side by side, you’ll be able to see how close their estimates are to each other.
YourMechanic repair estimate
On the YourMechanic site, try these easy steps to get your estimate:
- Enter a random zip code (Google one if necessary).
- Enter the make, model, year, and trim for your vehicle.
- Input the repair that needs to be done.
You may need to select a few more options after this. For our example, you’d have to select both “front” and “rear” for the brakes.
With all this information, the site generates an estimate for the repair. For our brake job, it came to $462.38.
It even lists the dealer’s price for the same repair, just so you can see the cost difference. Here, the difference was $90.62.
RepairPal repair estimate
Head over to the RepairPal site and you’ll find the steps are very similar to YourMechanic’s:
- Select “Get an Estimate” from the top-bar menu.
- Enter a zip code.
- Select the vehicle make, year, and model.
- Click “continue.”
- Either choose from the “most popular” list of repairs, or find what you need under “categories,” etc.
Again, you may have to fill in a few more details, such as “front” for which brakes need to be repaired. This site didn’t give the option for choosing both “front” and “back” for the brake repair, so I had to do each one separately.
For the front brakes, the estimated repair cost was between $274 and $287. For the rear brakes, the estimate was $237 to $266. Taking the average of these ranges would bring the total to $532.
The results are further broken down into labour vs. parts, so you can see exactly where your money is going.
You’ll also see a list of nearby shops that are certified by the site and will honour the estimate they just gave you. While this isn’t really helpful for us Canadians, it would certainly help any Americans checking things out.
Do the estimates match?
No, the prices don’t match, but they’re close enough together that it provides a very good baseline for an uneducated consumer to know if they’re being ripped off.
YourMechanic came up with a result of $462.38, whereas RepairPal’s estimate was roughly $532. These numbers are roughly $70 apart, which is a bit of a surprise.
You should note that these numbers are typically before taxes and disposal fees.
YourMechanic vs. RepairPal – Which is better?
As far as I can tell, neither one is necessarily better than the other; they both have pros and cons.
RepairPal gives a price range instead of a specific number, which can be good and bad. For our purposes – for us Canadians, that is – it’s not especially helpful since we’re looking for a solid number to convert into our currency and work with. But it would certainly be helpful for anyone actually living in the zip code you punched in.
This option also breaks down the cost into percentages for labour and parts, which can be very helpful if you feel you’re being overcharged for one or the other.
On the other hand, YourMechanic provides you with the shop price vs. the dealer price, allowing you to know if your dealer is ripping you off. Plus, you’re able to choose both the front and rear brake options, which results in a more definite price instead of a range.
That said, I would definitely use both whenever you have an expensive car repair on your hands as a sanity check to make sure you are filling in the information correctly and you’re getting relatively consistent results.
We’ve set the bar for car repairs, now let’s demolish it
Okay, so you’re now armed with information about fair prices for car repairs when you head to the mechanic’s shop. But you can still do much better and pay much less if you’re able to do even a small amount of the work yourself. Simply buying and bringing your own parts to the mechanic can save a bundle, if you’re able.
Do you get nervous and/or frustrated when taking your vehicle for repairs? Will the sites and information mentioned above be of any help?
Feel free to leave a message in the comments section below to share your thoughts.
FAQ
How can I choose the best car repair shops?
The best way to choose a car repair shop is to choose the one with the best price and that you trust to do the best work. If you don’t have much experience in this area, call up the shops in question and ask about the mechanic team’s certifications, whether they guarantee their services, and compare their prices with others in the area. You’ll also want to follow the tips mentioned above for estimating the costs of car repairs.
What’s the cost of a car window repair?
Car window repairs aren’t usually done by the average mechanic shop. Instead, you’ll need a shop that specializes in glass repair and replacement. A quick Google search will bring up businesses in your area that do this type of work, and you’ll be able to do a price comparison between the options. Windshield replacement can cost anywhere between $180 and $400, depending on many factors.
How much money should I spend on car repairs?
The total amount you spend on car repair over the life of your vehicle will vary depending on the car’s make, model, age, and a number of other factors. You can use the sites we mentioned above to get an idea of what certain repairs should cost, but experts say that to be prepared for the costs of car repair, you should set aside $1,200 – $2,000 each year.
Leave a comment
Comments