By , Richard Read
Published October 10, 2016
No driver likes to see the "check engine" light pop on. Sometimes, it illuminates for a minor reason, like a loose gas cap. Other times, the problem is much more serious. Unless you have a diagnostic machine at your beck and call (or a tricked-out smartphone in your pocket), you won't know what's wrong until you take it in for service.
Unfortunately, motorists in different states can have very different experiences at the auto shop, and they're likely to walk away with very different bills. The folks at CarMD recently looked at repair costs across the U.S. and confirmed once again that those costs are going up. However, they're not going up at the same rate, and in some cases, they're actually falling.
To gather its data, CarMD analyzed 161,350 repairs carried out on vehicles from model years 1996 to 2012 during the 2012 calendar year. (Those repairs were logged into a database maintained by CarMD's network of Automotive Service Excellence-certified technicians.) The study was limited to repairs related to the vehicle's "check engine" system, meaning that many other problems -- belts, hoses, tires, bodywork -- were left out.
Here are the study's major takeaways:
Perhaps the best news that CarMD uncovered is that hybrid repair costs are on their way down. In fact, drivers in New Jersey paid less than anyone else to replace their hybrid batteries -- just $2,005.05, far below the high point of $4,409.94 recorded in Arizona. That's likely due to the increased presence of hybrid vehicles, parts, and mechanics to service them.
https://www.foxnews.com/auto/worst-best-states-for-car-repair-costs