Every time you fix your car problem, you wonder if you are actually billed correctly. You must understand your auto repair bill to avoid any auto repair scams. An auto repair bill typically consists of two components: parts and labor. I would like to elaborate on common fees associated with these components.

• A flat fee refers to a service that is not itemized into parts and labor (e.g., wheel alignment and tire balancing).
• An inspection fee is charged for testing the basic parts, such as the engine, battery, tires, and mufflers.
• A diagnostic fee can be added when the technician uses his/her shop’s equipment (including computer equipment) to detect the source of the car’s malfunction.
• A hazardous waste disposal fee is required by environmental law regulating the disposal of motor oil, brake fluid, and other harmful fluids. This fee may vary in different states, counties, and cities.
• A tire recycling fee can be added whenever the repair shop installs new tires.
• A flat or itemized fee for shop supplies, such as solvents, rags, brake cleaners, and the like, can be added to your bill.

The followings are simple tips for avoiding auto repair bill scams.

• Be aware that no repair shop should do any repair that you did not authorize.
• Suspect the overcharge if the final repair price is more than 10% higher than the estimate quoted by the technician, although the estimate is a ballpark figure.
• Familiarize yourself with an extended service plan. Vehicle warranties often cover repairs and replacements for manufacturing defects or malfunctions resulting from the car’s design or an installation error that happened in the factory.
• Understand the average hourly labor rate for car repair. As of 2020, most local repair shops in the US charge between $80 to $100 auto repair labor rate per hour, with an average cost ranging from $45 to $170 per hour, whereas dealerships charge between $95 to $125 per hour.
• Know how many hours are needed to complete a repair.
• For detailed repair bill estimate, please check the websites of Napa Autocare repair estimator (https://www.napaonline.com/en/auto-care/car-repair-estimator) or Kelly Blue Book ( https://www.kbb.com/auto-repair/).

The automobile is our lifeblood since we cannot live without it. Thus, it is important for us to keep our car run properly. However, today’s typical automobile is comprised of more than 20,000 parts. Considering this complexity, we won’t be able to read the entire owner’s manual and figure out exactly how to maintain all of the vehicle parts. Regardless, getting the lowdown on upkeep can save you a consider amount of money and keep you free of troubles.

Having said that, the following is a list of things to do to keep your vehicle safe and avoid any disastrous car problems.

1. Inspect tires’ conditions and check their pressures
   • Regularly check for wear (one-sided shoulder wear, two-sided shoulder wear, heel and toe wear), tear,cracking, embedded objects, exposed belt materials, bulges, and cuts.
   • Based on the factory-recommended air pressures for each tire, check the tire pressure at least once a month to see if it is correct. Incorrect tire pressure affects driving safety, card handles, tire life, fuel economy, car noise and vibration.
   • Check the car manufacturer’s sticker inside the driver’s doorjamb for the vehicle’s original tire size,load index, speed rating and cold tire inflation pressure.
2. Check and replace nine fluids such as engine oil, coolant, antifreeze, transmission, power steering, brake and washer fluids, and air conditioner refrigerant.
   • Since the use of poor quality engine oil can void your car warranty, we advice you to use the synthetic oil that can be be changed every 10,000 miles. Though expensive, synthetic oil is usually slipperier than conventional/regular engine oil and thus can enhance fuel economy. Synthetic oil comes from many different sources and processes and provide enhanced performance as compared to conventional oil that primarily (80% of its volume) comes from base oil refined from crude oil.
   • Check the owner’s manual to determine the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) viscosity (thickness of oil) grade, specifications and standards recommended by the manufacturer for your car’s engine oil.

3. Replace wiper blades every six months.

4. Do not ignore trouble/warning lights on the dashboard.

5. Wax your car every three months to protect car paint.

With more drivers on the road, increasingly costly repairs, and more texting while driving a car, auto insurance claims are rising and subsequently premiums are fast rising as well. According to the recent Bloomberg Business Week (2017), U.S. auto insurers have been paying $1.05 in costs for every $1 in premium revenue as compared to 95 cents per a dollar premium revenue about a decade ago. Thus, auto insurers are currently losing money. One of the culprits for high costs is the higher repair costs. A normal repair bill for a typical accident costs $1,500 about 10-15 years ago, but now costs approximately $3,500. To make up for such loss, the auto insurer is raising its price (e.g., more than 10% a year). The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent consumer price index shows that the pace of auto insurance premium increase has hit a 13 year high.

Five most expensive states in the U.S. (in terms of average annual premium) are:

1. Michigan: $2,087 per vehicle
2. Delaware: $2,073
3. Oklahoma: $1,990
4. Kentucky: $1,925
5. Texas: $1,762

Five least expensive states in the U.S. are:

1. Ohio: $764
2. North Carolina: $817
3. Idaho: $919
4. Maine: $937
5. Iowa: $971

For comparison shopping of the best auto insurance deal, please visit https://www.compare.com/lp5?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1t1&creative=156346861194&device=c&matchtype=e&network=g&gclid=CNHZ66OazNICFRUkgQoddhsGNw&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&adpos=1t1&creative=156346861194&device=c&matchtype=e&network=g&gclid=CNHZ66OazNICFRUkgQoddhsGNw

Before deciding on the best option, you need to answer the following questions.

• How much coverage that I need? Some auto insurers such as Metromile offer cheaper options by allowing its customer to pay for coverage based on how much he/she drives.
• How can I get more value for my insurance premium?
• How can I lower my insurance premium? Some insurers such as Nationwide offer discounts for the alumni of certain universities. Also, preventive safety measures such as lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking system, adaptive cruise control, and self-parking technology may reduce premiums.  Plus, bundling your policy (both auto and homeowner’s insurance policy) with the same insurer can lead to significant discounts.

According to the Newsroom.AAA.com, 16.5  million drivers unnecessarily splurged on premium fuel for their vehicle in 2016. So, U.S. drivers wasted $2.1 billion annually using premium gas in an automobile designed to run on regular gasoline. However, a fact of the matter is that premium gasoline is simply the higher octane (91 – 93 octane), not necessarily the higher quality fuel than regular gasoline (87 octane). AAA test showed that the use of premium gas for the vehicle designed to operate on regular-grade gasoline did not significantly improve horsepower, fuel economy or emissions. In other words, unless the vehicle is designed to operate on premium gas, premium gas does not provide any clear advantages.  Despite a lack of discernible advantages, premium gas is typically 20 – 40 cents a gallon more expensive than regular.

Instead, it is recommended that the driver use a top-tier fuel listed as follows.

Thirty filling stations sell Top Tier Detergent Gasoline in the U.S., including Aloha Petroleum, 76 Stations, Arco, Beacon, Chevron, Conoco, Exxon, Ohana Fuels, Valero, Kwik Trip Express, Mahalo, ARCO, Metro Petro, Beacon, MFA, BP/Amoco Ultimate, Mobil,BP Regular, and OAAI. In Canada, the seven stations selling top-tier fuel are Esso, Chevron Canada, CO-OP, Costco Wholesale, Shell Canada, Tempo and Petro-Canada.  For more details, visit http://www.toptiergas.com/licensedbrands/

Oil change is the common routine for auto maintenance. Oil change will protect the engine of your gasoline-powered or hybrid car from damage (e.g., heat created by friction). Although the 3,000-mile oil change is the credo of the quick-oil change industry, you don’t have to change the engine oil that often with the availability of synthetic oil. The question is whether we would rather use synthetic oil than cheap regular oil.

The following is a summary of pros and cons of using synthetic oil.

Benefits:

• Synthetic oil lubricants offer high purity and improve resistance to breakdown as compared to regular oil.
• Make the cold-engine starts easier during the winter, while prolonging high-speed driving during the hot summer season.
• Improve fuel economy since synthetic oil is usually slipperier than regular oil and thus reduces engine friction.
• Oil only has to be changed every 10,000 miles instead of 3,000 or 4,000 miles.

Shortcomings:

• More expensive than regular oil (Using synthetic oil bumps the price to $45 to $70 (or higher typically at the dealer) on average, as compared to costs of $20 to $55 for conventional oil change.
• Your new car warranty can be voided, if your vehicle owner’s manual requires or specifies synthetic oil, but you still uses regular oil.

Overall, synthetic oil is recommended instead of regular oil.

Siping is a practice of cutting extra fine slits or cuts to the tire thread surface to improve tire traction during inclement winter weather which often creates slippery road conditions.

According to some tests, siping is known to help a little on snow-covered or icy roads, although it may diminish tire traction when the road is wet or dry. It typically costs you $60 – $80 for a set of four tires (AAA.com/world, Consumer Report).  Tire dealerships typically charge around $15 or more to sipe tires. Pros and cons of siping are:

Pros:

• Improve a tire’s snow and ice-biting ability in snowy and icy days

Cons:

• Invalidate the tire maker’s warranty and cause premature or uneven tire wear
• braking distances on wet and dry pavement were a few feet longer
• There is no need to modify tire design, since today’s tires already use siping in the way that there are designed and manufactured after rigorous many tests and experiments