When
we think of excessive car repair prices, our anger is often first
directed at the mechanic or repair shop. Most often this is rightfully so...
However, the manufacturers have been costing us a fortune
with "technological breakthroughs" that save them millions and cost us
$1000's in repairs.
Here's the article....
Car
Repair Prices: Are Manufacturers to Blame for Excessive Auto Repair
Costs?
In the
ongoing effort to shed light on excessive car repair prices, we
can’t discount the manufacturer’s role. During a
spirited discussion in an automotive forum, the comments below from Ray
Fast highlight the role the manufacturer plays in taking money from the
repair customer’s wallet.
The
discussion revolved around the difficulty of replacing an alternator in
an Acura. The Acura, like all front wheel drive vehicles, has a
transverse mounted engine. Transverse engines are the ones
mounted sideways.
Because of this “sideways” design, the alternator
is mounted low and behind the engine, making it difficult to remove and
replace on the year and model we discussed.
Front wheel
drive has some good features, but is it better than its rear-wheel
drive predecessor? Front wheel drive has created a host of additional
repairs, none of which were necessary in years past. These repairs have
been costing you, the service customer, a fortune. Learn More
Ray writes:
The
shift to transverse engines and front wheel drive was a major marketing
coup for the automobile industry. Vehicle manufacturers managed to dupe
the market at large into believing that the new standard was somehow
better than the previous convention of rear wheel drive.
[In
reality] vehicles with transverse mounted engines and front wheel
traction systems are less reliable mechanically, less stable, and less
efficient than their traditional counterparts.
Advanced technology has compensated for these downfalls considerably;
however, vehicles with traditional power and traction systems using
similar technology are more reliable, safer, and more efficient. This
is why high performance vehicles that are designed for applications
requiring maximum stability “still” utilize inline
engines and rear traction systems.
The
answer to the question [Why is the alternator in such hard to reach
place] lies in this fact: cars with transverse engines and front wheel
drive are much less expensive to build.
By assembling the power plant and traction system as a complete module,
then dropping the whole thing as one unit into the car, automobile
manufacturers save gobs of money. The fact that the vehicles are
considerably less serviceable (for instance, certain components are
virtually impossible to access without removing the engine and
transmission) is obviously of little, if any, concern to the
manufacturer.
For
that reason, anyone shopping for a new or used automobile should
carefully evaluate the design, arrangement, and complexity of a
potential purchase with regard to serviceability. The
expense of owning a car is not confined to the sticker price.
If you drive it, you're eventually going to need to fix it.
Ray’s
comments speak to the rising costs of car repair. Gone are the days of
actually "fixing" cars. Now we frequently spend extra time throwing
hard-to-reach, expensive parts in them.
Importantly,
we need to remember that manufacturers have two primary objectives: selling cars and selling parts. How long it takes, how much it
costs you, or how frustrated one gets removing and replacing
components, means very little to the manufacturer. It doesn’t
affect their bottom line.
Fortunately,
most manufacturers have moved away from "low-mounted" alternators (such
as the Acura in our discussion) as the elements: rain, snow, dirt cause
them to fail prematurely. However, the remaining cons of front wheel
drive and a whole plethora of new manufacturer technological
breakthroughs will continue to cost the service customer significantly
in repairs.
Learn
from the experts how to save $1000’s in car repair
prices!
(Ray
Fast: comments were reprinted with permission from the author, Ray
Fast. http://blog.myspace.com/rayfast)
To learn more about eliminating repair scams Click Here
-Theodore P.
Olson ©
http://www.repairtrust.com/
MLA Style Citation:
Olson, Theodore. "Car Repair Prices: Are Manufacturers to Blame for Excessive Auto Repair Costs?" RepairTrust. 23 January 2007. http://www.repairtrust.com/articles_higher_prices.html
APA Style Citation:
Olson, Theodore. (2007, January 23). Car Repair Prices: Are Manufacturers to Blame for Excessive Auto Repair Costs?. RepairTrust. http://www.repairtrust.com/articles_higher_prices.html
Chicago Style Citation:
Olson, Theodore. 2007 Car Repair Prices: Are Manufacturers to Blame for Excessive Auto Repair Costs?. RepairTrust (January, 23), http://www.repairtrust.com/articles_higher_prices.html |
