Feb. 25, 2010—Memphis ranked as the best city for fairness and consistency of quoted automotive repair prices, while Chicago ranked the worst, according to the Advocacy for Repair Shop Fairness Report release_notesd by AutoMD.com Wednesday.
More than 600 shops were contacted for price quotes in 50 U.S. cities. The shops were also presented with an industry standard price to see if it would change its price quote.
Repair shop quotes in more than half of the cities for the same job had a variance from lowest to highest of more than 150 percent. More than two-thirds of the shops overall changed their price quote when presented with an industry standard price, says Shane Evangelist, AutoMD.com president.
"If you are one of the 88 percent of car owners who feel that they are not getting a fair shake at the repair shop, this report shows that you are probably right," Evangelist said.
The five best ranking cities for repair quotes are as follows:
Memphis, Tenn.
Jacksonville, Fla.
Omaha, Neb.
San Antonio
Austin, Texas
The five worst ranking cities are:
Raleigh, N.C.
Washington, D.C.
Albuquerque, N.M.
Honolulu
Chicago
Visit AutoMD.com for more details on the report.
