It's hard to remove a part from a new car without coming across a wire attached to it. As tech grows to occupy every spare corner of the car, many buyers might not realize that all that whiz-bang stuff is going to make collision repair an absolute bear.
Even seemingly small damages to a vehicle's front end can incur costs nearing $3,000, according to new research from AAA. The study looked at three solid sellers in multiple vehicle segments, including a small SUV, a midsize sedan and a pickup truck. It looked at repair costs using original equipment list prices and an established average for technician labor rates.
Let's use AAA's examples for some relatable horror stories. Mess up your rear bumper? Well, if you have ultrasonic parking sensors or radar back there, it could cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 to fix. Knock off a side mirror equipped with a camera as part of a surround-view system? $500 to $1,100. (...)
AAA wasn't the first group to realize how nuts these costs can get. On a recent episode of Autoline, a CEO of a nonprofit focused on collision repair education pointed out that a front-corner collision repair on a Kia K900 could cost as much as $34,000. Sure, it's a low-production luxury sedan, but is anyone truly ready to drop $34,000 on a car that starts around $50,000?
by Andrew Krok, CNET | Read more:
Image: AAA
Even seemingly small damages to a vehicle's front end can incur costs nearing $3,000, according to new research from AAA. The study looked at three solid sellers in multiple vehicle segments, including a small SUV, a midsize sedan and a pickup truck. It looked at repair costs using original equipment list prices and an established average for technician labor rates.Let's use AAA's examples for some relatable horror stories. Mess up your rear bumper? Well, if you have ultrasonic parking sensors or radar back there, it could cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 to fix. Knock off a side mirror equipped with a camera as part of a surround-view system? $500 to $1,100. (...)
AAA wasn't the first group to realize how nuts these costs can get. On a recent episode of Autoline, a CEO of a nonprofit focused on collision repair education pointed out that a front-corner collision repair on a Kia K900 could cost as much as $34,000. Sure, it's a low-production luxury sedan, but is anyone truly ready to drop $34,000 on a car that starts around $50,000?
by Andrew Krok, CNET | Read more:
Image: AAA
