Tech To Blame For Ever-Growing Car Repair Costs, AAA Says (cnet.com)

A new study from AAA highlights the high repair costs associated with cars that have advanced safety technology. "[S]eemingly small damages to a vehicle's front end can incur costs nearing $3,000," CNET reports. From the report: The study looked at three solid sellers in multiple vehicle segments, including a small SUV, a midsize sedan and a pickup truck. It looked at repair costs using original equipment list prices and an established average for technician labor rates.

Let's use AAA's examples for some relatable horror stories. Mess up your rear bumper? Well, if you have ultrasonic parking sensors or radar back there, it could cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 to fix. Knock off a side mirror equipped with a camera as part of a surround-view system? $500 to $1,100. Windshields are especially tricky. People who own cars with windshields that have embedded heating elements already have to pony up hundreds of dollars to replace what you might think is just a piece of glass. Factor complex camera systems (like autobrake) into the mix, and not only do folks get hit with the windshield replacement, they possibly have to find a trained professional to recalibrate all that tech behind it.

Comments

Of Printers and Cars

[ebonum]

I would be interested in knowing the breakdown of an automaker's sources of profit.
Are we now to a point where they sell a $25k car at a loss. However, they know the odds of a fender-bender are high, and it will cost the automaker $800 for the $8,000 repair.

Is the model moving to something closer to inkjet printers, banks and airlines? Get you in the door cheap, then nail you on the parts or fees.

The interactions I've had with people from parts suppliers indicate the mark-ups the automakers put on parts are insane.

The king of expensive repairs

[whoever57]

$7000 for a small dent on the fender.

Bullshit

[rsilvergun]

My brother's 2 year old Nissan Sentra with 15k miles on it cost him $11500. It's a strippy. CD Player and a jack 3.5" for your phone, AC and an Automatic. About as basic as it gets (it's 2018, a CD player costs $5 bucks to make, no, it's not a "luxury" when they're that cheap).

Cars are more expensive because fewer and fewer people can afford them. That means fewer used cars. That means higher used car prices, which the car manufacturers see as cue to raise prices. Cars are also a necessity in most places. Even most major cities lack viable public transportation. When the commutes 90 minutes by car it's 3 hours by bus. That's not an inconvenience, that's a life altering event. The car companies decided how our cities were built before any of us were born (assuming there's nobody under 70 reading this). We're living with the consequences.

Re:Luddites!!

[LostMyBeaver]

Actually, my daughter plans on studying in China and then hoping to get a job with a western company and a western salary... then she can live in China, work at the world's top tech companies and live in a place where prices are cheap... at least until the Chinese decide to simply crash the world economy to further communism.

My son is 16 and already looking into micro-houses for when he gets older. We're considering buying a plot of land and populating it with 4-10 micro houses with parking for a single shared self driving car. We're hoping to be able to sell them for $25,000 a piece. We'll use a single centralized heater, have a single parking spot for cars, room for one electric moped per house, etc...

The idea is that at least until they have children (a LONG WAY OFF I hope) this would allow them to live with very little debt and spend the vast majority of their income on socializing and enjoying live while saving money for their eventual houses to raise children in... which may also be somewhat minimalist.

If food is readily accessible via delivery services and restaurants, and clothing can be washed by service (which will become increasingly more popular as the job market shrinks) and most forms of entertainment at home is computer rather than large sitting room oriented, what's the point of a big house or apartment?

I would move into one as well if I were single. I have an office where I spend most of my time (even recreational) and have little need for much space at home. I think 30m^2 would be far more than enough for me. I'm in a room about that big right now and can easily mentally design the room to meet all my needs.

So, yeh... cheaper housing would make perfect sense.

Re:For these reasons and more

[MachineShedFred]

There are people that buy Ford F-series trucks for work purposes - a whole lot of them. However, there are plenty of people that buy them for image, and rarely actually use the vehicle for it's intended purpose of hauling things around. Some will use them on the weekend for towing other recreational equipment - camping stuff, boats, etc.

Also, many people that buy an F-series truck for a business may be better served by an E-series van - it's cheaper, and has roughly the same cargo capacity without the thievery and cargo getting wet if it rains. Any business working in agriculture or other outdoor work is probably served best by the truck, but construction contractors usually go with the van, because they can lock up all their tools and still have room for several 4x8 sheets of wood, wallboard, boxes of tile, etc. without the risk of having all of it ruined should there be weather.

But vans aren't "cool" so the F-150 is the best selling vehicle in the world by a long way.