From: nospam@nospam.com   
      
   What's a good reliable reasonably accurate way to look up car repairs?   
      
   It's as easy as "shop rate times flat rate time" but you have to know both.   
   Parts are very easy though as you just add the dealer's inflated prices.   
      
   I've never been to a mechanic in my life but I've asked plenty how much   
   large repairs cost and rarely do they give you a price for repairs which I   
   understand because they will tell you that they have to look first for the   
   bigger jobs.   
      
   That makes sense but I just want a price assuming all goes to plan.   
   Steering racks   
   Cooling systems   
   Brakes   
   etc.   
      
   Often they give you a huge range which is better than nothing but still not   
   a good answer to the question (for example $500 to $1500 for brakes or a   
   clutch).   
      
   All repair "can" get bigger but many times they don't (although often they   
   do) where all I want to know is the "traditional" cost of the basic repair   
   in my zip code (I can easily find out the shop rates so that's not the   
   problem as I can assume $100 per hour or something like that).   
      
   While I understand that I'm never going to go to a mechanic I still would   
   like to know for my own benefit how much I'm saving by my own home DIY.   
      
   I take a long time to do any job so the amount of hours it takes me is   
   nowhere near what it takes them (they just want to get to the next job).   
      
   What's a good reliable reasonably accurate way to look up repair costs?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)