As Car-Repair Costs Rise, More Drivers Are Taking the DIY Route
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Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. Inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, December 3rd. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. The cost of car maintenance and repairs has risen 28 percent over the past three years, according to the Labor Department. That's caused more drivers to pump the brakes and try to make the fixes themselves.
There are some jobs that a dealership might charge you $500, $800, $1,000 that you could do with a part yourself that, you know, you can buy for $50 to $100. So there are real savings and people are capable of more than they think they are.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Joe Pinsker after the break.
Access to affordable credit helps me pay my employees, but I don't really need it. Inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See? Banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need. While increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durbin Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. Paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition.
More car owners are taking the DIY approach to making repairs to reduce costs. But what kinds of work should be left to the professionals?
How much have car repair and maintenance costs risen recently?
Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Joe Pinsker joins me. Joe, what kinds of car fixes are people trying to do themselves?
Some people are looking at the kind of classic DIY things like changing your own oil, but some people are getting a bit more brave in what they're willing to do out in their own driveways. If they smash their side view mirror, they might try to order a part online and replace it themselves. Maybe they have a few scratches on their car and want to maybe even try spraying some paint on themselves. Sorts of things that we usually think of as stuff that you might want to leave to the professionals.
How much more expensive is it to get these fixes done by the professionals?
The gap can be huge.
Why are more drivers trying DIY car repairs to save money?
I talked with somebody who got quoted $1,000 to fix his side view mirror and he ended up ordering the part online for $50. He says you can barely tell that he did the job himself. There's just like a little bit of a paint mismatch and... The new mirror doesn't have a turn signal built into it like the old one, but it's small stuff. He said to him, it's not $900 worth of difference.
What do the DIYers learn to do these projects?
Well, there are sort of official channels that you could try to learn through. You can buy specific repair guides that are for your car's make, model, and year. But a lot of people actually end up finding good quality stuff on YouTube. There's a good deal of variance on the information out there, but there are some people putting out really good step-by-step instructional videos on all sorts of different cars and all sorts of different parts. One auto repair expert who I talked to said that sometimes even in a repair shop, a professional will fire up YouTube when they are working with a car that they're unfamiliar with.
So YouTube is the big solution here.
It sure seems like it.
Is the DIY approach to car repair a growing trend?
It seems to be something that's on more people's minds. There's this automotive market research firm called IMR that has survey data showing that in 2020, about 26% of drivers said they would likely try doing a repair themselves if their vehicle needed fixing immediately. And in the first half of this year, that percentage is now 30%.
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