

Pricing Car Repairs, Before the Repairs - tortilla
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/pricing-out-car-repairs-before-the-repairs/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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mrshoe
Anything that keeps mechanics honest is a great idea in my book. However, I
think this misses the crux of the problem: diagnosis.

It's easy enough for me to call a mechanic or two to find out how much they
would charge to replace my transmission, but how do I know that my car
_actually needs_ a new transmission? My primary fear when going to the
mechanic is that they'll claim that my car's problems are much more serious
than they actually are, so they can charge me for the more expensive repair.

They can easily get away with this, because I'm not knowledgeable enough on
the subject to second guess them. Oddly enough, the situation isn't much
different with doctors and dentists. Every time my dentist decides to drill
into my teeth, I can't help but wonder if they just see it as an opportunity
to make a large sum of money.

If anything, the situation is worse in the medical industry. They almost never
give price quotes up front. What's up with that? And there's basically no way
of knowing how much your insurance will cover. Generally I just do what the
doctor/dentist says and save my pennies while I wait for a huge, seemingly
arbitrary bill to arrive in the mail. This system is obviously broken.

Now, one of you HN readers looking to start a company: go fix it! :)

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oldgregg
I agree. What would prevent something like 20q.net? Compile a database of
make/model/year, symptoms, and eventual repairs... People enter their car type
then answer questions like "Did the car start? Yes/No/Sometimes?" "Does it
make a grinding noise when you turn the key? Yes/No"... then using past
results it tells you it's 85% likely to be the alternator, etc...

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Tangurena
I used to work for a car manufacturer where we made such a diagnostic database
for mechanics. At the end of all the decision trees was "hmm. call factory."
Instead of following the suggestions, the mechanics routinely skipped to the
bottom. Several dozen of my field trips to dealerships were resolved with a $2
part that they skipped over because reading was hard.

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cludwin
This site is actually really interesting. I haven't brought my car to a
mechanic since I was 18 and I'm 32 now. I've had to fix just about everything
and doing a quick spot check on some of the work I've personally done in the
past the site looks pretty accurate.

For example over the years I've replaced several water pumps on vehicles that
I have owned. Most of the time it's pretty straight forward but on my 88
Toyota pickup the water pump was burried and I had to remove the timing belt
to get at it. Long story short it took a lot longer then the other water pumps
I've replaced in the past.

When I plugged it into RepairPal, they accurately reflected the difference in
labor and as a result the price quoted to change the water pump on the yota
was about 2x as much as the one that I replaced on a chevy.

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rml
Dare we address the fact that anyone waving an iPhone in a mechanic's face has
by almost by definition signalled that he has no idea what he is talking about
when it comes to auto repair?

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BRadmin
Really interesting concept.

I'm curious how a mechanic would react when confronted with an iPhone that
showed their estimate to be much higher than the "average."

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tortilla
Yeah probably trouble for dishonest mechanics. But maybe an asset for legit
ones? I think some customers feel they are being ripped off, even when they
aren't. So this could be used positively by both sides.

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chrisa
I think it is an asset for legit ones. Just this morning my battery light came
on, and when I went to the repair shop I was told I needed a new alternator,
and it would cost $400. I thought that was high, but didn't have any data to
back it up (and was stuck at the shop without a working car), so I went ahead
with the repair. I initially felt like I was taken, but this site says a new
alternator for my car should cost $400 - $600, so now I actually feel good
about the purchase (and the garage).

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dmoho
Just a data point: I got an estimate for an alignment that I recently had done
at a chain for $85 and they gave an estimate of $120 to $153.

What keeps the repair shops that they surveyed from giving them a higher price
quote in an effort to skew their estimates?

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modoc
Many hackers would probably find car maintenance/repair a very satisfying
hobby. I find working on cars/motorcycles to be very similar to writing
applications, only with the added bonus of being tangible and real.

You don't necessarily have to do all of your own work (tools and time
dependent), but once you learn how to do a lot of it, and have gotten your
hands greasy enough, you can talk to mechanics intelligently and straight, and
can tell BS when you hear it.

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acgourley
So, when I bought my car I did research on the owners forums to find the
common problems, tips, etc. I was impressed that this website already had
those things nailed down in the "common problems" section.

I'm impressed, and made an account. The service cost estimation is slightly
useful to me, but it's the other information they have (and future feature
potential) that has me hooked.

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vaksel
This is pretty useless since the price point can vary widely based on where
you go to. You can go to a dealer, you can go to a national chain, you can go
to a hole in the wall garage.

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cuenta18
hola quiero hjaker

