Apparently the automatic transmission in my '93 ford escort is toast (it feels that way when I drive it). The total cost to repair the transmission is $1785. I practically pooped in my pants when I heard this figure. Oh yeah I also need a new torque converter. $385. F*ck.
Is this normal?
My mechanic threw out a ballpark number of $1700 for my '85 BMW 735i.
Shouldn’t a part for an Escort cost like one half as much as a part for a BMW?
I think I paid about $900 parts and $300 labor last time to replace the transmission in my '94 Dodge Grand Caravan. But then Caravan’s need their transmissions replaced about every 30,000 miles.
My neighbor had to replace the auto tranny in his 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. His first quote was $1700.
The second quote, which involved a rebuild instead of buying quite so many new parts, was for $850.
Thanks. The last time I had an automatic repaired it was a '76 toyota corolla and it cost me $400. Of course I didn’t expect the escort to be that cheap. I expected somewhere between $700 -$1200 tops.
2500… Yep I got screwed… but then again mine completely failed not just had symptoms or problems.
One of the reasons for the high cost is your car has a transaxle, not a transmission. Your better off money wise to just replace the transaxle. A rebuilt transaxle should run in the $700 to $900 range and add about $300 for installation. Shopping around helps too. I paid only $400 for a rebuilt transaxle for my wife’s Chevy Corsica and a kid that just opened his own auto repair shop swapped it for $200. Better than the $1800 Aamco quoted.
Hoo boy! It’s very difficult to get meaningful comparisons on something like this. First, there are different transmission/transaxle designs. Then, even on the very same model tranny, there are various parts that may or may not need to be replaced in one particular situation. And of course, different transmission shops have different pricing policies.
Transmission shops are reluctant to quote a meaningful price before teardown and inspection. It’s impossible to know for certain just what is needed until then, so any figure mentioned before teardown is just a guess. Tell customers a true average price (which may still be exceeded in some worst cases), and you get no business because other shops quote a lowball “$X and up” figure, making an honest quote sound high.
Now, all shops know from experience that repairing a given model tranny is realisitically never less than $Y, and 98% of the time does not exceed $Z. Still, some places seem dedicated to not revealing what the repair is likely to cost. They train to respond to questions in a way that’s calculated to get the car into the shop. I find this aggravating, and believe that some shops abuse the fact that the repair cost cannot be known beforehand to mislead and deceive. My experience is that honest shops, while understandingly reluctant to give a price up front, will give you an idea what to expect if you press them nicely. Still, you need to keep in mind that your car may be part of that unlucky 2% where the cost exceeds $Z. You’re going to have to commit to spending a few hundred to get to the point where the actual repair cost is known.
My counsel–avoid the chains. I don’t trust them, many of them have repeatedly been found guilty of fraud. Find a shop that’s a member of a trade organization (the one I’m aware of is ATRA–Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association). Check out the shop’s reputation with the Better Business Bureau, previous customers if you can locate some, and sources in the trade like other repair shops. If an independent shop sends their tranny work to a certain transmission shop, that’s a pretty good reference.