Top 5 Most Expensive Car Repairs

Car repairs are almost never inexpensive. Even if you drive an old beater, you aren’t likely to leave the repair shop for less than a couple hundred dollars. Most repairs cost a lot more. It’s not just the cost of the replacement part that sends the bill so high; it’s also the many hours of skilled labor that are required for making the repair. You should be skeptical if you find a shop that is offering you a much lower bid than other shops. In the world of car repair, what seems too good to be true usually is.

McCluskey Chevrolet offers the best car repair Cincinnati has to offer, and our skilled technicians perform the repairs properly and at a fair price. Getting proper maintenance for your vehicle can help you avoid costly repairs by keeping your car healthy. If you aren’t taking care of your car, here are some of the most expensive car repairs you might face:

Cylinder Repair or Replacement

Cylinders are some of the primary components of your engine. Each cylinder houses a piston, which moves up and down during the engine operation. Most engines are classified by the number of cylinders they have, and four cylinders are most common. These cylinders are arranged together on the engine block.

If a cylinder stops working, your engine stops working. Replacing a cylinder can cost as much as $8,000, and much of the expense is the result of the long hours of labor required to disassemble the engine. If you drive an older vehicle, making this repair would likely not be worth it. The cost of the repair could easily exceed the cost of your vehicle.

Meanwhile, replacing the whole engine can cost between $3,000 and $10,000. Therefore, you may want to just replace the engine instead of the cylinder if you face this repair.

Hybrid Inverter Assembly Replacement

Repairing a hybrid vehicle can sometimes cost more than repairing a traditional vehicle thanks to the complex technology included. The inverter plays a crucial role in regulating the electricity in the vehicle, so if this part breaks down, you will have a serious problem on your hands.

Repairing or replacing the hybrid inverter assembly costs between $4,000 and $8,000. Just like with the engine cylinder, a large part of this cost can be attributed to the long hours required disassembling and re-assembling these parts.

Transmission Replacement

Besides your engine, your transmission is perhaps the most important component of your vehicle. Also like your engine, your transmission is one of the most expensive components of your vehicle.

Replacing your transmission can cost between $3,500 and $5,000, depending on the make and model of your vehicle and whether you buy a new transmission or a rebuilt transmission. Again, depending on the condition of your vehicle and how old it is, the repair may be worth more than the vehicle itself.

Fortunately, you can easily avoid this repair by taking care of your transmission. For an automatic transmission, all you need to do is keep the transmission fluid fresh. For a manual transmission, you need to be careful about the way you change gears and the way you use the clutch. For example, you shouldn’t ride the clutch, or keep it pressed in while you are driving. These are simple preventive steps to save you thousands of dollars. Even replacing your clutch can cost between $1,500 and $2,500.

New Engine Head

The engine head is the place where the cylinders are joined, and it is the central operations location. If your engine regularly runs hot, the head can crack. Over time, the whole engine can fail.

A cracked head is one of the most common reasons that the “check engine” light comes on. Another sign that you have a cracked head is additional smoke coming out of your tail pipe thanks to leaking oil and coolant.

Replacing the engine head can cost up to $3,500. You can easily prevent this problem by getting a regular oil change and paying close attention to your car’s temperature when you are driving. Don’t let your car overheat, and take your car in for attention as soon as notice a problem with your engine or a light comes on your dashboard.

Closely related to a cracked head is a blown head gasket. The head gasket seals the cylinders and prevents the leakage of oil and coolant. If the seal blows, you’ll have to shell out between $1,200 and $1,600 to fix it.

Hybrid Battery Replacement

Hybrids are growing in popularity, but the technology that fuels them is still relatively new when compared to overall automotive history. Therefore, this technology is still quite expensive to repair or replace.

Replacing the battery on a hybrid is one of the most expensive jobs you’ll have done. Depending on the make and model of your vehicle, you could pay more than $4,000. That’s significantly more than the couple of hundred you might pay for a traditional gas-powered vehicle.

The good news is that most hybrid batteries are created to last as long as the vehicle itself. Even if the battery does fail, most hybrid vehicles come with an extended warranty that lasts about 10 years. So long as your hybrid is not very old, you will probably get the cost of the battery replacement completely covered.

While car repair can be expensive, this is one area of car ownership where you don’t want to try to pinch pennies. Putting off repairs will only allow the problem to intensify, potentially damaging other car parts and costing you exponentially more in repair bills. Going to a bargain-basement mechanic will only result in shoddy repairs that have to be repeated in a few months or few years or that put your car at risk.

Go to the shop that provides the best car repair Cincinnati has to offer — go to McCluskey Chevrolet.
Our expert mechanics will perform high-quality repairs in a timely manner and for a fair price.