4 ms·

Modern cars aren't designed to be easy to work on which really inflates the labor hours required for even trivial issues.

magicalhippo 2y ago
The my front left indicator light went on my BMW i3. Tried looking up the specs for the bulb to buy a new one. Of course it wasn't that simple. Oh boy was I naive. No, it required a whole new headlight assembly, $800 plus labor. Funnily enough, the car got totalled shortly after, before I had decided to go ahead with the repair. Someone hit my SO as she was in a roundabout, and the impact moved the car several meters. Cracked the carbon fiber chassis. Estimated repair cost was 1.5x price of a new car. So, never got the pleasure of finding out how much labor would have been for replacing the headlight unit. I'm assuming it would have been a lot more than for replacing a light bulb...
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- pram 2y ago
  Similar thing happened to me on my GTI, the Xenon bulb replacements weren’t too expensive but replacing it literally required disassembling a large portion of the front end of the car. I couldn’t believe it.
  - celim307 2y ago
    I have been quoted 500$ to fix a stuck gascap cover, because apparently the spring is inside and attached to the rear body panel, and would require a major part replacement. Although im starting to suspect my mechanic is taking me for a ride
- consp 2y ago
  On my ford it's three bolts and two cables and you can take the headlight unit out, 5 minutes work tops. And that's with LED lights which should never be replaced (by the owner as they always need calibration). On my previous one it was even easier to let them stay in and move your hand in an awkward position to get the job done.
  - magicalhippo 2y ago
    Nice. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, had the unit itself been reasonably priced.
- specialist 2y ago
  My neighbor has BMW z3. He has same story about its lights, which fail more than you'd expect. Also: It's a hard top convertible. The mechanicism stopped fully opening or closing. Bummer. Two repair shops gave ridiculous quotes to troubleshoot and repair. Using a scanner (generic OBD II scanner with BMW's specific codes), we narrowed the search. The ultimate fix was just two $15 switches. Being noobs, it took us some effort to detach and reattach the hard top. I don't mind the labor effort (costs). It is a BMW after all. But it's ridiculous that these cars can't report their failing electronic bits.
- yesthisiswes 2y ago
  $800 is steep. I have a 2018 Subaru Outback. I got in a fender bender that caused the right front headlight unit to snap near the top bolt where it attached to the car. I found out when my car failed inspection. I called the dealership and they quoted me $500 just for the headlamp. I went on rock auto and bought one for $250 and installed it. I had to take the front bumper off the car to install the headlamp. Passed inspection after I installed it though so it was all good. Just can’t believe they were marking up parts like that.
  - sokoloff 2y ago
    One Rockauto tip is to Google for a 5% discount code and enter it at checkout. I’ve never not found one.
    - yesthisiswes 2y ago
      I had no idea they did discounts Thanks for the tip!
- aitchnyu 2y ago
  Damn, crash tests should include repair costs for many types of minor accidents. Maybe we will see two piece rear bumpers and sacrificial headlight lenses.
bobthepanda 2y ago
right, the $42K Rivian fender bender was a particularly egregious example. https://www.theautopian.com/heres-why-that-rivian-r1t-repair-cost-42000-after-just-a-minor-fender-bender/ https://www.theautopian.com/heres-why-that-rivian-r1t-repair...
- karma_pharmer 2y ago
  oh my god. what exactly were the rivian engineers thinking?
  - AlotOfReading 2y ago
    They weren't thinking about repairability. They were trying to get smaller BOMs and reduced assembly costs.

magicalhippo 2y ago

The my front left indicator light went on my BMW i3. Tried looking up the specs for the bulb to buy a new one. Of course it wasn't that simple. Oh boy was I naive. No, it required a whole new headlight assembly, $800 plus labor. Funnily enough, the car got totalled shortly after, before I had decided to go ahead with the repair. Someone hit my SO as she was in a roundabout, and the impact moved the car several meters. Cracked the carbon fiber chassis. Estimated repair cost was 1.5x price of a new car. So, never got the pleasure of finding out how much labor would have been for replacing the headlight unit. I'm assuming it would have been a lot more than for replacing a light bulb...

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pram 2y ago
Similar thing happened to me on my GTI, the Xenon bulb replacements weren’t too expensive but replacing it literally required disassembling a large portion of the front end of the car. I couldn’t believe it.
- celim307 2y ago
  I have been quoted 500$ to fix a stuck gascap cover, because apparently the spring is inside and attached to the rear body panel, and would require a major part replacement. Although im starting to suspect my mechanic is taking me for a ride
consp 2y ago
On my ford it's three bolts and two cables and you can take the headlight unit out, 5 minutes work tops. And that's with LED lights which should never be replaced (by the owner as they always need calibration). On my previous one it was even easier to let them stay in and move your hand in an awkward position to get the job done.
- magicalhippo 2y ago
  Nice. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, had the unit itself been reasonably priced.
specialist 2y ago
My neighbor has BMW z3. He has same story about its lights, which fail more than you'd expect. Also: It's a hard top convertible. The mechanicism stopped fully opening or closing. Bummer. Two repair shops gave ridiculous quotes to troubleshoot and repair. Using a scanner (generic OBD II scanner with BMW's specific codes), we narrowed the search. The ultimate fix was just two $15 switches. Being noobs, it took us some effort to detach and reattach the hard top. I don't mind the labor effort (costs). It is a BMW after all. But it's ridiculous that these cars can't report their failing electronic bits.
yesthisiswes 2y ago
$800 is steep. I have a 2018 Subaru Outback. I got in a fender bender that caused the right front headlight unit to snap near the top bolt where it attached to the car. I found out when my car failed inspection. I called the dealership and they quoted me $500 just for the headlamp. I went on rock auto and bought one for $250 and installed it. I had to take the front bumper off the car to install the headlamp. Passed inspection after I installed it though so it was all good. Just can’t believe they were marking up parts like that.
- sokoloff 2y ago
  One Rockauto tip is to Google for a 5% discount code and enter it at checkout. I’ve never not found one.
  - yesthisiswes 2y ago
    I had no idea they did discounts Thanks for the tip!
aitchnyu 2y ago
Damn, crash tests should include repair costs for many types of minor accidents. Maybe we will see two piece rear bumpers and sacrificial headlight lenses.

bobthepanda 2y ago

right, the $42K Rivian fender bender was a particularly egregious example. https://www.theautopian.com/heres-why-that-rivian-r1t-repair-cost-42000-after-just-a-minor-fender-bender/ https://www.theautopian.com/heres-why-that-rivian-r1t-repair...

karma_pharmer 2y ago
oh my god. what exactly were the rivian engineers thinking?
- AlotOfReading 2y ago
  They weren't thinking about repairability. They were trying to get smaller BOMs and reduced assembly costs.