Elevate Garage Since 2021

I brought my car into the dealership for a recall a little while ago and when I left they handed me a repair list for my vehicle. Most of the items listed had been done recently and didn't need to be done, but I flipped through it curious to see the pricing. When I checked the pricing for a new set of spark plugs, the quote was $873.23, which was a shocking amount. I know from experience that it only takes me an hour to do my sparkplugs and I can get a full set of 8 plugs for around $100. That means the dealership is charging around $750 for an hour of their time.

Curious about the reality of that pricing, I called up my usual mechanic to get a quote from him. He quoted me $280.00, about a third of the price of the dealership. This was much more reasonable, but I knew I was going to do the change myself so I decided to run the numbers on what my actual cost would be.

A full set of 8 plugs from my local parts store is $103.92. I know from previous experience my car has easy to access spark plugs, and the job usually takes me about an hour to do. If i were to do it at Elevate Garage, I would not need a lift, so a jack bay would be sufficient. This adds $25.00 for the hour bay rental for a total of $128.92. This is 85% off the dealership pricing and 54% off of my mechanics price.

Just a little bit of knowledge can save you a lot of money, about $700 in the example above. This is not just the case with one part, this is the situation with most vehicle repairs. Mechanics charge an average of $150 an hour for labor, regardless of if the repair is simple or not. With just a little bit of knowledge, access to tools, and some time to get your hands dirty, you can save thousands a year. 

That is why I love Elevate Garage. I get to teach people how to save money each year in car repairs and teach them something that will help them over and over again.