AAIA study finds vehicle repairs cost more at dealerships

Posted: March 20th, 2009 09:41 AM  GMT-05:00

BETHESDA, Md. -- According to a study just released by the Automotive  Aftermarket Industry Association. vehicle repairs cost an average 34 percent  more at new car dealerships than at independent repair shops, resulting in $11.7 billion in excess costs annually to consumers.

AAIA's Vehicle Repair Cost Analysis: Comparing New Car Dealerships vs.  Independents looks at the parts and labor costs of 10 vehicle repair jobs  for domestic and foreign nameplate vehicles in six cities across the country, including Boston, Newark, Atlanta, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Highlights of the study include:

• Vehicle repairs for parts and labor averaged 34.3 percent more at new car  dealers than at independent repair shops.
• Foreign nameplate repairs performed at dealers averaged 36.8 percent more than at independent repair shops while repairs performed on domestic nameplates averaged 31.5 percent more at dealerships than at independent repair shops.
• Total 2008 cost difference for consumers having repair work performed at car dealers rather than independent repair shops for the 10 jobs equaled 11.7 billion.

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