Well, as I've said, "it definitely pays to do a little research or homework when it comes to repairing your car or truck." My Volvo recently had a leak in the rack and pinion. This leak originally was just a drop or two per week which really wasn't much, then out of nowhere and started leaking an ounce or two every day - that is pretty bad. I called a few people in the phonebook and through craigslist to get some prices and figure out what all needed to be done. To get some reference points I even called the local dealers.
The range in prices I got was from the high-end of $2400 at the car dealers to a low-end $500 for come to your home repair service. The problem here was that the car dealers were going to fix the actual problem of the leaking rack and pinion, whereas the at home repair services only wanted to fix the power steering pump and high pressure hoses. So the real problem here would not have even been fixed by the at home repair services. When I told him that the rack needed replacement they stated that that was never the case and all that was needed was to replace the pump and hoses.
Now by looking around a little bit and doing a little research I found the actual price on these parts and all the markups involved depending on where you bought it. The power steering rack and pinion was $1034 at the car dealerships. The same part was $675 at AutoZone, $659 at PepBoys and so on. By doing a little research I found a reputable remanufacturer that sells these racks at OEM or better condition and grade for a fraction of the cost - around only $250! Literally one fourth of what the car dealer wanted and one third of the local auto parts store prices.
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So right off the bat, by buying through these guys, I was saving between $400 and $700. Now all I needed to do was find someone to remove the old rack and pinion and install the new one. Well it couldn't be the at home repair guys because they obviously missed the mark with their diagnosis and knowledge because in this case it really was the rack and pinion that needed to be replaced. There was nothing wrong with the power steering pump or hoses.
After asking around and looking a little bit farther out side of my city I found a very reputable car repair shop in the outskirts of Kannapolis, NC. He was skilled in all things automotive from car repair to body work and his prices for labor or about half of what everyone else wanted. For instance, the car repair Bible or book that auto mechanics and car repair shops used to diagnose and determine billing for labor hours stated that the repair for a rack and pinion on a Volvo was 4.7 hours. So, if a car dealership recharge $80 an hour for repair time, that would be $376 in labor costs, not including parts or other fees.
I'm still not sure exactly how the new car dealership came up with $2400 - must be they added some bogus fees which basically does translate into extra pay cash or to help pay the highly inflated bonus and salary of the general manager and other basic do-nothing, high pay positions (general managers make on average $250,000 a year and that money must come from somewhere - usually from bogus dealer processing fees and other ridiculous add-ons and other bogus fees which they charge to the customers).
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So, basically with a little the homework I got the part $250 and that includes shipping to me in the labor was done for around $160 which equals a total of around $410. That's a savings of 83% off the dealers prices and 70% or so off the prices of the local auto parts stores like AutoZone, PepBoys and others. The dealers price to install and include all parts and fees was $2400. The local auto parts stores were around $1800 all inclusive. I, with a little research got $410 for the same service plus they threw in the free oil change and checked my car over to see if there is anything else needed repair for free.
So the point of this article is there's no reason for anyone to pay the high exaggerated prices to repair their car or truck at the local car dealerships. They have gotten far too greedy, their markups are ridiculous and in some cases they will actually literally outright lie to you about what really needs to be done to your car (see car dealer scams for more info on this). You need to be wary and need to be willing to do just a little bit of due diligence or homework and you can save literally thousands of dollars in car repairs (see save on car repairs for more info on this). No where is this more important than now during the current recession (or some talking heads would refer to it as the next great depression). Good luck, do your due diligence and save big as I did.
