Home
My Auto Repair Book
Automotive Blog
MakeMoneyWithCars
About Auction Cars
New Car Buying Tip
HowToBuyUsedCars
About Car Leases
Buy Car Online Tips
Learn Car Detailing
Car Alarm & Audio
Hybrid Cars
Auto Service Stories
Build A Web Site
Privacy/Disclaimer
Automotive News
Sitemap
Fast Hot Cars
Fun-Car-Games
Auto Tools & Supplies
Fuel Saving Tips
Auto-Scan-Tools-Info
DIY Auto Repair Tips
Auto Repair Manuals

Enter your E-mail Address

Enter your First Name (optional)

Then

Don't worry -- your e-mail address is totally secure.
I promise to use it only to send you Automotive Facts.

[?] Subscribe To
This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Add to Newsgator
Subscribe with Bloglines

Online auto repair manual

online repair manual image

The online auto repair manual can be used for Diy car repairs. But did you know it is also the best way to find out exactly what a car repair should cost at your auto service center. MasterTechMark here to show you how it all works.

When you understand were the prices come from and how they are determined you are better able to negotiate with the repair shop and protect yourself. The 2 most popular online car manuals include an estimating button to make this task simple.

I want to talk about the standard guides your shop should be using. The automotive industry has standardized pricing guidelines for parts & labor charges. In some states it’s the law to use them.

The 3 most popular standard online auto repair manual guides are Chilton’s, Mitchell’s and All Data. You can arm yourself with the same tools the shop uses.

There are no completely free online auto repair manual labor guides that I know of, but at Alldata.com you can get a subscription to your specific make and model of car for about $26.95 for a year or 44.95 for five years.

You can see a free demo at the All-Data online auto repair manual website.

Online auto repair manual contents

car repair diagram image It includes all the factory automobile repair manual information, TSBs, part numbers, prices and labor times to do any particular job.

I use it myself for my personal vehicle and also at work. I have found it to be an invaluable source of information. The TSB section stands for Technical Service Bulletins.

These are published by the vehicle manufacturer and identify inherent or common problems found by the manufacture during the warranty period of the vehicle. They often point directly to your own car problems.

I know it may seem overkill to spend $26.95 on another online auto repair manual at this point and you do not have to! You can still protect yourself by asking questions and being proactive about the auto repair process.

I just wanted to make you aware that there is a do-it-yourself online auto repair manual service that provides complete vehicle specific pricing information.

This can pay for itself on your first shop visit. You will most definitely recover the cost on your first home car repair.

Some people enjoy taking things to the next level. They fill their garage with the best equipment and use all the tools available to them. The subscription pricing of ($26.95 a year) enables you to freely access all of the information for a single vehicle based upon the Year, Make, Model and Engine configuration.

Please Note! It is very important that you use care while selecting the engine type. This can not be easily changed later so make sure you select the right one.

In most cases the engine size is displayed on the valve cover or air cleaner but you can also find it on the registration card, owners manual or under hood label. Double check to ensure that you are aware of the correct engine identification before making your selection.

Lets move on to a common curve ball as related to automotive service labor. Now what happens when the repair is not so straightforward and we do not know what is wrong with the vehicle? Now we have to pay for diagnosis, which has no set labor time or standard pricing

In the event of the need for "exploratory surgery," the phrase "time and material" comes in. Let's draw a hypothetical situation to illustrate what "time and material" means.

You're in a repair shop for a driveability problem. It seems as if your car does what it wants when it wants to. You step on the gas and the car shakes then stalls. Then sometimes it runs like a champ. The auto technician is confused he can't go right to the problem because it is intermittent.

You ask how much it will cost to fix it? He says I can't give you an exact price. This one is going to be charged on a time and material basis. The car mechanic will now begin a diagnostic quest in an effort to locate and isolate the your automobiles problem.

automotive diagnostics image The time will be logged and you will be charged the shop labor rate per hour, as well as the cost of any needed materials, until the problem is found (or until you tell them to stop).

The number one way to protect yourself in this situation is to only approve 1 hour of diagnosis at a time. This puts you in control of the time and money scenario. After each hour of labor passes demand a full report of the diagnostic tests that were used and what results were found.

Before approving the next hour of diagnosis find out what they plan to do in the next hour and if they are getting close to finding an answer to the cars problem. Also ask if they are using the automotive repair manual diagnostic section properly. They will love that one! But it may put them back on track.

Make sure the shop understands you refuse to write them a blank check and that you do not have unlimited funds to spend on diagnosis.

I have seen customer’s use this approach so well that the shop gets tired of asking for more money every hour.The shop then actually kicks in some free diagnosis to get to the bottom of the problem and complaint.

Another reason the shop will kick in this free labor is because they may know this mechanic has not been faced with this complaint before and is actually learning new diagnostic skills in the process of working on your vehicle.

When the diagnostic time starts piling up you want to make it clear to the shop that you are not interested in paying for their technicians training.

online auto repair manual can!

Protect your vehicles and your wallet against over priced auto repairs. You now have the power to confirm parts and labor pricing using the latest web based technology with All-Data online auto repair manuals.

Note that you can change your vehicle to a different model once during your subscription period. Also subscriptions to additional vehicles are deeply discounted after registering the first one.





Give this online auto repair manual page a Bookmark and Share Then explore the links to more information on this subject!

Online auto repair resources

My about All-Data page includes a new homemade auto repair video that shows you how to use and find the demo. This next link takes you to the main page for auto repair manuals


The All-Data online has recently upgraded its web based program. See my latest video that shows you how use the new interface and highlights the improvements for my favorite brand of auto repair manual



Tested certified mechanics provide help for Diy car repairs or second opinions on repair shop diagnosis.
JustAnswer.com







Search both of my car repair websites and the Net.
Custom Search




Find out more about me and why I built this automobile website on the homepage that answers car questions


footer for online auto repair manual page