If you have signs of transmission problems, ignoring them will lead to a much higher transmission repair cost. In many cases, ignoring the warning signs of a failing transmission will require you to end up paying for a transmission replacement because once your transmission is going bad, it won’t take long for it to fail completely. There are two main challenges you may face when it comes to having your transmission repaired.
- The repair may cost more than the initial estimate
Sometimes a mechanic will diagnose your issues based on what you tell them the symptoms are, only to open up the transmission and see that the damage is much worse than they thought. The issue here is twofold.
The first issue is that if your mechanic quoted you, say, $500 to fix the transmission and you were willing to pay that, but after he opened it up and discovered the actual repair will cost $1500, that means you have to pay three times as much as you were expecting!
The second issue here is that, if this happens, you still have to pay the mechanic for the few hours of labor he did just to open up the transmission! This means you might be hit with a much larger repair cost than you initially expected, and even if you choose not to fix it at that point, you still owe him money for the labor he already did! At this point, even if you decided to junk your car because of the repair cost, you will still owe him a few hundred bucks in labor costs! Not to mention, the auto repair shop will usually charge storage costs while you make your decision or find the money to complete the repair. It’s a lose-lose for you.
- The repairs might take much longer than expected
This is especially the case if you have a foreign car that needs a transmission repair or a classic car that needs a transmission repair. With cars like these, parts aren’t always available right away. This could take weeks for the shop to receive the parts. That means weeks go by while you don’t have a car. If you need a car for daily driving, like going to work or taking the kids to school, it means you’ll have to pay the cost of a rental car while your car is sitting idly waiting to be repaired. This just means it’s one cost on top of the other, coming straight out of your pocket.
