You certainly have noticed that auto repair prices are not the same from one repair shop to another. A shop may offer you a quote while another may offer the same repair at a cheaper or more expensive price. There are many factors in determining these price differences but to better understand what is going on, everything needs to be broken down into a few basics.
1. Parts
There is very little wiggle room in terms of parts and they make up for a large part of auto repair prices. When you repair a car, repair shops tend to use the same suppliers for parts. Prices for parts in one repair shop tend to be the same at a different shop. Their profit margins on parts are very low. What can happen is for you to notice a considerable price difference for parts if a repair shop offers you aftermarket parts or OEM parts. OEM parts are much more expensive than aftermarket parts but there is also a difference in quality. Cheap aftermarket parts should be avoided.
2. Labour
The second part of auto repair prices is labor. This can include the diagnostics of the problem and all the costs associated with installing a part. Even if it is not clearly stated, the labor costs also need to cover all the costs of the car repair shop. This includes the cost of tools, staff, supplies, rent, etc. What this means is that labor costs can fluctuate a bit. As each car repair shop is managed differently, the costs will be different. What you need to know is that they are included in the labor costs. The labor costs are usually an estimation of how long it will take a mechanic to replace a part or fix a problem. The thing to take home is that auto repair prices are very complicated when you dive deep into them.