How fucked is my car?

SLyM

So earlier while driving home from work I lost control of my car, and skidded off the side of the road. Long story short from what the the pickup truck driver said either a ball joint or something else on my front left tire broke and made the tire disconnected from the steering which is what caused the problem. So I have that, some superficial damage on the front, and my shitty muffler that I needed to get fixed anyway broken but not all the way off. I won't get an estimate until tomorrow, but until then I am just kinda worried about how much I have to worry about paying or even if I'll need to get a new car

bowen

ball joint alone could range anywhere from $200-2000

it's likely a costly repair

but, it's probably cheaper than a new car

mRahmani

I mean, depends on how much work you're willing to do yourself.

A control arm containing a ball joint and fresh bushings can be had for anywhere between $100-300, and takes about 2 hours to replace. Tie rod ends are cheaper and can be done in about an hour. Then you need an alignment ($50-100). If i know the make and model of the car I can give more accurate numbers.

Doing the work yourself except for the alignment, could be as little as $100-$400. Handing it to a shop... $400-$1000 I'd say?

zepherin

Do you have a mechanic you trust?

Djeet

The job with any mechanic will be cheaper if you can tell them what you want fixed, as opposed to having them diagnose and fix (if they fix wrong thing or don't fully fix the 1st time then there will be another repair necessary). This sounds like a straightforward mechanical issue as opposed to some strange hard to quantify issue like all of a sudden it doesn't start/drive/turn right w/out there having been an accident.

If you can get under the car and look at it and take some decent pictures then maybe you can post to a forum and ask what's broke and what needs fixing. If you whacked something hard enough to damage the control arm or ball joint then that side wheel bearing is also like F'ed.

SLyM

The place I had it towed to called and said the control arm is snapped in half and the muffler needs to be replaced, which they're saying would cost $2200. I called my uncle who knows more about cars and he says that seems way higher than it should be. I hope so, because I really don't wanna pay that much. On the other hand I tried calling somewhere else and they said without the car in front of them they couldn't say how much it would cost. I would really prefer not to pay to tow it somewhere else and have them charge me even more once they look at it.

bowen

Control arm is about $500, muffler can be anywhere from $100-800

I mean

yeah that's pretty high but not crazy high

make/model/year would help us narrow it down from $500-2500 to something within a few hundred dollars maybe

But it could be like $1100 in parts and another $800 in labor too (plus tax)

SLyM

Oh yeah it's a 2001 subaru legacy hatchback

mRahmani

They are ripping you off something fierce. RockAuto.com has the most expensive control arm for the car at $100 + shipping, and it includes the new bushings and ball joints you would need. That should be $400-500 tops including labor - assuming the control arm is the only thing broken. Muffler should be similar.

EDIT: For safety's sake, I would get both control arms replaced. If one side rusted through, the other is probably in similar condition.

bowen

yeah $1000 with labor would be high on that car

Cog

SLyM wrote: »

and have them charge me even more once they look at it.

Any shop worth going to won't charge you to look at it and give an estimate.

SLyM

I called the place back to figure out what the split was between parts and labor, and they have the parts at ~ 1200 and the labor at ~ 900. Does this mean they're replacing a bunch of parts they didn't tell me about, or that I misunderstood what they're replacing? Also I tried calling other places to see how much it would cost but they wouldn't even give me a ballpark without looking at it first, and I can't afford to cart it around from place to place looking for the best deal.

mRahmani

$1200 in parts is insane. Did they give you a written estimate of what work was going to be done?

EDIT: Only thing I can think of is if the wheel flopped around and smashed a bunch of stuff in the process after the control arm broke, but even then I have a hard time adding up to $1200. Control arm/sway bar/end link/tie rod still wouldn't total a fraction of that.

BouwsT

SLyM wrote: »

I called the place back to figure out what the split was between parts and labor, and they have the parts at ~ 1200 and the labor at ~ 900. Does this mean they're replacing a bunch of parts they didn't tell me about, or that I misunderstood what they're replacing? Also I tried calling other places to see how much it would cost but they wouldn't even give me a ballpark without looking at it first, and I can't afford to cart it around from place to place looking for the best deal.

There has to be other parts that they are including in that estimate that they haven't disclosed. Whether they are required or not are a completely different discussion, but your control arm and muffler are not worth $1200. They have to be quoting on both sides, plus tie rod ends or something at that price.

Definitely get the written estimate, and if there are other parts ask WHY they are necessary. If there aren't any other parts and they are quoting $1200 on a control arm and muffler, then run fast and run far.

SLyM

They called me back to basically ask if I had made up my mind so they could either fix it or put it back outside and I asked what it was putting their parts estimate at 1200, and he rattled off a list of things I couldn't really follow.

mRahmani wrote: »

Control arm/sway bar/end link/tie rod still wouldn't total a fraction of that.

I think at least a few of those were in the list.

Darkewolfe

You can just ask for an itemized list. Straight up say, "Control arm, sway bar, end link, and tie rod wouldn't be that expensive, could you please send me an itemized parts list."

You're allowed to ask them to explain what work they're doing, and it's not a rude question.