CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — We all know how expensive auto repairs can be, but now there's a new garage you can go to in Charlotte, and fix it yourself.
Action Nine reporter Don Griffin looks at how one man saved himself thousands.
Leeann Shattuck is the owner of a new garage, where customers rent the bays and do the repairs themselves, and in the process save a lot of money.
The business, called Fix It Yourself Garage, which opened three months ago in north Charlotte.
Phil Rodda is changing out his differential, which is the part that turns the back wheels. It's a complicated repair, but Phil grew up working on cars and knows what he is doing.
Griffin asked, "How long should this take you, Phil?"
"Should take me an hour, maybe two," he said.
If Phil were paying a shop to do the work, he would be looking at $2,400.
What is his cost?
"With the part, probably $100," Rodda said.
That is a great savings even after paying Fix It Yourself Garage's standard price of $20 per hour for a bay rental.
The $20 charge includes placing the car on a lift, supplying a container to drain out the old fluids and a computer to look up car manuals online.
And as far as tools, Phil brought his own.
If you don't have tools, the garage will rent them to you even down to an onboard diagnostic reader for those check engine lights.
The "Fix It Yourself" Garage does not check your work to see if you have done it correctly.
They assume no liability and you are on your own.
If you have a consumer problem that you would like investigated you can reach Don by clicking here or you can write him at: Action 9, P.O. Box 34665, Charlotte, N.C. 28234.
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