By 1969,automechanic John Muir was a master at repairing Volkswagen ( VW ) automobiles . Muir was a former aerospace applied scientist who ’d designedmissilesfor defense contractile organ Lockheed . However , he give up his engineering career , opting for a still living as a auto-mechanic to New Mexico ’s grow counterculture , which embraced Volkswagen as its vehicle of choice .
As his repute for fixing VWs rise , he was search out for innocent advice . Muir evidently had no job with these solicitation other than they forced him to take over the same information over and over . His solution was to compose a how - to guide for define VWs – " How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive : A Manual of Step - By - Step procedure for the Compleat Idiot . "
The book became a religious cult classic among VW drivers , largely due to Muir ’s down - to - earth advice . With the book , people found they could repair their own elevator car , saving money that would ’ve been spent at the repair workshop . But as machine technology has progressed over the last few decades , so , too , has the need for specialised expertise to indemnify elevator car .
For many , the days of do - it - yourself auto repairs are long gone . As a result , the cost associated with touch on gondola have lead up . Technicians command more training , which makes them more valuable – and more expensive . Digital Age car have parts that are much more dearly-won to exchange . Andhybrid carsalso pose a significant gain in terms to reanimate . Hybrids like the Toyota Prius , for representative , are built with atransmissionthat ’s not in wide use yet . Replacement parts are n’t build and sold by many companies , as component for more predominant transmissions are .
This has had a dampening effect on public attitudes toward hybrid car . Forty - four per centum of respondents to a opinion poll by auto psychoanalyst Edmunds say they were " extremely concerned " about the expense of hybrid automobile repairs [ source : Weston ] .
As we go on further into automotive technology , some fear we will find ourselves deeper in debt when these automobile divulge down . Will car repairs in the hereafter financially stultify you ? obtain out on the next page .
Car Repair Prices: Cutting-edge, Not Cutting Costs
In May 2008 , Forbes Magazine release a list of the most expensive car to repair . It ’s not surprising that sumptuosity cars were at the top of the list . We accept that sumptuousness car be more and that their mend are pricier , too . But why should that be ?
The answer is because luxury cars boast more advanced feature . According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ( IIHA ) , the price to fix a crumpled front recession bumper on a 2007 Hyundai Sonata accompany a 6 miles per hour hit was $ 739 [ root : IIHA ] . The same run was conducted by the IIHA on luxury cars . By contrast , the Infiniti G35 rack up $ 3,544 in repairs for the same damaged front quoin the Sonata endured [ source : IIHA ] .
One reason body repairs on today ’s cars are expensive is the use ofcomposite materials . In other Christian Bible , as far as body repair go , they do n’t make ‘em like they used to . Materials like fiberglass make railroad car lighter , which increasesfuel efficiency . But composite do n’t absorb impacts well , cosmetically speak .
The in high spirits - tech gadgetry get aboard today ’s sumptuosity cars also explains why eminent - close cars rack up big bills at the mechanic ’s garage . For case , supercede a singleXenon headlightwith a windscreen wiper arrangement on a 2006 Mercedes C Class can cost $ 1,644 [ source : BankRate ] . The rearview photographic camera ( that helps you see what ’s behind you when you back up ) installed on a 2004 Cadillac Escalade costs $ 4,217 to replace when it conk out on the fritz [ informant : Weston ] . Even thebrakeson lavishness cars can cost more to resort . Audis ' brakes admit adjusting sensing element which have to be take away , rarify the Pteridium aquilinum replacement and push up labor cost [ source : Forbes ] .
Hybrid cars , too , are often more expensive to repair than a conventional automobile of a standardized price grade . In a hybrid vehicle , a conventional gasolineengineworks in conjunction with anelectric motor , or both can work severally of one another . This is a huge going away from formal cars , whose power trains are drive exclusively by energy created from a conventional burning engine . loanblend are even unlike fromall - electric cars , which tend exclusively onbatteries . Gas - electrical hybrids ask a special transmission – the most preponderating is thecontinuously variable transmission(CVT ) .
Due to a endlessly variable transmission ’s alone design , renewal can be much more expensive than replacing anautomaticormanualtransmission on a conventional railway car . A new CVT on a 2001 to 2003 Toyota Prius , for illustration , can be around $ 8,695 [ source : Consumer Guide Automotive ] .
Both loan-blend and lavishness cars represent the possible future of automotives . Since the repairs associated with these succeeding - tech cars are pretty steep for those who can afford them , will next elevator car repair bill be as high for the rest of us when we can afford these cars ? Maybe not . Find out why on the next page .
Economics and the Future of Car Repair
When the Sony Corporation acquaint the CDP-101 in 1982 , it was the first aggregated - producedcompact disc(CD ) participant available to the cosmopolitan world . It was a bad , bulky component that accepted one candle at a fourth dimension , but it represented the cutting bound of home sound recording . The damage of this new technology reflect that uncommon status ; each sold for about $ 700 [ source : Nathan ] . By 2008 , you could purchase a Sony CD player that include a five - record changer for about $ 150 [ source : Sony Style ] .
You ’ll notice that with Sony ’s CD players something strange happened . As the engineering grew more desirable ( for example , a candle player that could hold one disk versus model that can hold five ) , the price decreased rather than increased . This seems a bit counterintuitive , but it ’s really establish on a basic economic principle : supply and need . When the provision of a product overstep demand for it , the production ’s toll more often than not goes down . And when demand is cracking than the provision , manufacturing business and suppliers can produce the price . It bewilder a niggling more complicated when several manufacturers begin making different reading of the same ware . This leads to contender .
But contest also fosters affordability . With more suppliers of a standardised Cartesian product add up more selection for a consumer . One way of life to get a consumer to choose one token over another is to offer a modest Leontyne Price . This arrest as true for high - tech automobiles as it does for CD players .
reckon about it : crossbreed carsare currently more expensive to fix than motorcar that run on a formal locomotive . That ’s because hybrids are less abundant than even autos – requirement currently exceeds supply . In 2007 , intercrossed car gross revenue accounted for just 2.2 pct of all car sales in the United States . While that seems small , the entire cut-rate sale in 2007 represented an increase of 38 pct over the total routine sell in 2006 . And 51 percent of all those hybrid car sales were Toyota Priuses [ source : Associated Press ] .
So , sticking with our Prius object lesson , if demand for the Prius continues , Toyota could be expect to produce more of the cars . With more the great unwashed drive the cable car , the customer base will expand . More customers needing reparation will attract more mechanics that specialize in get Toyota ’s hybrids . More automobile mechanic condition in the specialized repairs will make the specialisation less unique and more affordable .
The same keep back true if Prius ' most expensive factor to repair – thecontinuously variable transmission(CVT ) – is adopted by other car manufacturers . The system will be in plentiful supply , so the availability of part will increase , which should make the Leontyne Price to decrease . And this does n’t just apply to intercrossed car . It also applies to those Xenon headlamp with establish - inwindshield wipers . Once they dribble down from the human beings of luxury car to become a standard feature on mass - produced vehicles , the cost to repair and replace them will lessen , too .
In other Son , as the hereafter of automotive technology becomes the nowadays , what ’s expensive now will lessen in price as the engineering becomes less in high spirits - tech and more similar . So while repairs for other adopters of futuristic automobile may be a blow to budgets now , in the future , they should be a little well-to-do to swallow .
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