Repair vs replace a Transmission

Sometimes there can be a thin line between, replacing your transmission and repairing. Sometimes you might need to see more than one mechanic to get the proper answer. If you do not know your mechanic well, and he or she does not know you well they may try to get you to agree on unnecessary changes, resulting in unnecessary charges. The difference between a replace and a repair, is when you replace you get a completely new transmission. Even if there was only a small thing wrong with your transmission, they will replace the entire transmission, resulting in something more expensive for you but a higher profit for the mechanic. This is why a lot of mechanics will tell you that you should replace it, they know that you probably know less about transmissions than they do because you are there asking for their help. Be strong. Negotiate with them and this might mean to go see other mechanics, and let your mechanic know you have seen another mechanic and they have offered you something better, cheaper, but still good quality work. If you are just repairing a transmission, this means that you are keeping the base, and repairing parts. If your mechanic does a good job and repairs the parts that need to be repaired properly an old repaired transmission should last as long as a new replaced transmission.

Things you should consider

Price: if every mechanic you go to offers you a smaller price to replace than to repair, than maybe it is the better idea. Ask why, and what they say is wrong with it. Mechanics enjoy being asked “can you show me” if they are lying than they will have trouble pointing it all out.
How old is your car? If you just got your car recently – you should not have to replace your transmission, you should have warranty on your car if you got it from a dealership. If your warranty is still valid, you should probably go to your dealer over any other mechanic – they specialize in your car brand.
If your car has a lot of mileage on it, this is very different than age, some people have a car for two years and they have more mileage on it than someone who has had their car for 10 years. It can be almost expected that there will be some issues with transmission if you have a lot of mileage on it. If you do not neglect your car, than this mileage can be a lot higher than if you always put off oil changes and whatnot.

What I recommend

Go on your search engine, such as Google, and type in transmission repair and the city or town you live in and than see what shows up. Click on the first couple and give them a call. A place like http://www.transmissionrepairtoronto.ca/which happened to be the first on my search talked to me over the phone and explained the things to me and than we discussed actually assessing my car in detail. I would do the top three websites that show up, maybe more if you have the time, and go from there.

Wish you the best, and good luck.

Adam Strongson – amateur hobbyist mechanic by night, pro review investigator at the http://www.localqanda.com/ by day