Comments on: How We Saved Over 50% On Auto Repairs

By: MoneyBlogga

MoneyBlogga — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:23:27 +0000

I had the same thing happen with a headlight unit. The entire thing was defective and the dealership wanted to charge me over $300 JUST for the part. No labor. Went online and found a headlight unit for $100. All we had to do was pull the defective headlight out, disconnect a couple of wires and put in the new one. Saved a bundle. MoneyBlogga's last blog post..Day 132: Looking forward to some Peace

By: Frugal Canadian Living

Frugal Canadian Living — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:47:23 +0000

I hate to say this but a lot of mechanics quote a higher price if the customer is a woman. They believe that women know less about cars than men.

You can protect yourself by doing some research before you take your car in for repairs. This way you know what’s wrong and how much it should cost.

By: MBL

MBL — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:30:18 +0000

That is exactly what people should be doing if they can spare the time to get the repairs done. Parts are always available for less than the mechanic’s price if you look around for it. The repair shops have to make money somehow and marking up the cost of the parts is one way they do this. You did what every consumer should be doing.

Great job.

By: Jeanne

Jeanne — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:39:30 +0000

Here is another idea that can save money on expensive body shop repairs. It’s called Paintless Dent Repair. If you have dings and dents without paint damage, you may be able to have them repaired by this method. Most areas of the country have services that can provide a mobile service to your location and the majority of qualifying repairs can be performed in a matter of hours at a savings of at least 50% to 70% of what a body shop would charge.
There are also some good mobile service companies for repairing and repainting scratched bumpers. Be sure to check for reviews and references for any company you choose for any auto repairs.

By: Ginger

Ginger — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:54:53 +0000

YEp this is the actual mirror for the car and the body shops were fine with us bringing it in. We checked with a few local shops and Carmax.

I don’t care if they are OK with it, I just need it fixed while not paying an arm and a leg just to give them a profit for a mirror.

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:47:49 +0000

I wasn’t aware that Auto Zone could order car parts from auto makers. Was this the actual mirror for your model of car, or is this some generic after market thing? I am just wondering.

Also, did the body shop give you crap about bringing in your own part? I know some shops will hunt down parts at the junk yard or pull-apart places, but didn’t know they were cool with losing the money they would make on the part sale.

Thanks for the info.