Auto insurance is what you pay for to help cover the costs if you crash your car. If insurance companies have to pay out more often or for bigger repairs, your rates usually go up.
“Totaled” means the insurance company decides it’s too expensive to fix the car, so they treat it as a loss. Newer cars often get written off sooner because repairs cost a lot.
The Chevrolet Tahoe is a large SUV. The host mentions it because its design is different from many cars—its body is built on a separate frame, which can affect how damage happens in a crash.
The Honda CR-V is a common SUV. The host is using it to say that even everyday cars and SUVs can get expensive after crashes because repairs are more complex now.
Body-on-frame means the car has a separate “frame” underneath, and the body is attached to it. The host is saying this layout can affect how crash damage spreads and how expensive repairs can be.
A unibody car doesn’t have a separate frame—the body and structure are basically one piece. In a crash, that can mean more of the car gets damaged, which makes repairs more expensive.
High-strength steel refers to stronger, often more rigid steel alloys used in modern vehicle structures. While it helps with crash protection, it can also increase repair complexity and cost because damaged sections may require specialized repair procedures or replacement.
A unitized body means the car’s body is doing the structural work, not a separate frame. In crashes, that can mean damage spreads through the body more than it would on a framed vehicle.
A headlight assembly is the complete front lighting unit, often including the housing, lens, internal components, and mounting hardware. The host’s point is that even “simple” parts like this can cost hundreds of dollars (plus trim/moldings and bulbs), which adds up quickly after a crash.
Body shops are the places that fix crash damage and repaint cars. If the repair involves paint matching or expensive parts, the bill can get very high.
Pearl finishes are paints that give a sparkly, shimmering look. Fixing or matching that kind of paint can cost more because it’s harder to get the color and effect to blend correctly.
OEM parts are the “factory” parts made for your exact car model. They usually fit right and match the original design, but they cost more than cheaper alternatives.
An insurance policy is the written agreement that says what the insurer will cover after an accident. The rules in the policy can affect whether you get new factory parts or cheaper used ones.
Labor rate per hour is what the shop charges for the time technicians spend fixing the car. If the insurer limits that hourly rate, the shop may have less money to work with for parts and repairs.
Collision insurance covers damage to your car from crashes (like hitting another vehicle or an object). It generally doesn’t cover mechanical breakdowns—like engine or transmission failures—because those aren’t caused by a collision.
An extended warranty is extra protection you buy after the factory warranty ends. If something expensive breaks, it can help pay the repair bill so you don’t have to pay everything yourself.
A service contract is a plan you buy that helps pay for repairs if something breaks. Like a warranty, it can save you money, but you should check the fine print to see what it covers.
They’re saying the price of the service plan might be something you can bargain on. So it’s worth asking for a better deal instead of accepting the first price.
If you switch cars every few years, the deal can get costly—especially if you’re still paying off the old one. The car may not be worth as much as you expect by the time you trade it.
The Hyundai Santa Fe is a family SUV. The point here is to look up how that exact model has done over many years, including whether it tends to have common problems.
An oil change is when the old engine oil is drained and replaced with fresh oil. It’s a normal service, and the cost can differ a lot depending on where you do it.
The transmission is what helps the car shift gears and send power to the wheels. If it fails, repairs can be expensive, so the host mentions buying a used or rebuilt one to reduce cost.
A second opinion is when you ask another mechanic to check the problem too. It can help you avoid paying for a repair you don’t really need.
LIVE
Hey folks, Lenny Lawson here, The Car Guru, and I'm hearing so much more now than I ever
heard before of people complaining about the cost of things, and it is understandable.
You know, I can't help you with the cost of your groceries, the cost of your electric
bill, your mortgage, none of that stuff.
I can help you with the cost of your automobile, but first I'm going to tell you why that has
gotten so much more expensive, and what you can do about it.
This is supposed to be helpful, right?
That's why people listen, and that's what it is, and is going to be today, even more
so.
Okay, you ready?
Let's go.
So, it's not just cars, it's everything, but the pandemic, that had a major impact
on the cost of things.
It had a huge impact on the cost of labor.
For me, what I had to pay employees and new employees, even unqualified employees, before
the pandemic, I could hire people to work in a cleanup shop for $12 an hour.
Now, they won't even wink at you for less than $18 an hour, and in some cases, more
than that.
Well, you got to pay them a living wage.
Well, I don't know what that is anymore.
I know it's a lot.
A lot of the people that work for me live with their parents, or they're living with
other friends so that they can share expenses, so I do understand that.
I know how much it costs to run my business.
What I have to spend on property taxes and advertising and electric bills, I mean, it's
just incredible.
But we find a way to make it work, and that's what you have to do.
So yeah, insurance is up, repairs are up, tires are up, even a simple accident can turn
into a major expense.
Today on this show, we're going to talk about why your car costs more to own than ever before
and what you can do about it.
So let's look at auto insurance first.
Why has that gone up so much?
Because of the claims experience of auto insurance companies.
Cars have gotten so complex and so expensive to repair.
I mean, just look at a, I don't know, a Tesla.
I mean, if you hit one very bad at all, it's totaled.
Cars didn't use to total.
Used to be able to fix cars.
Now just about every car, when I say car, I'm talking about passenger vehicle could
be an SUV, you know, like a Honda CR-V or a Chevy Tahoe, it could be, well, Chevy Tahoe
is a bad example because it's still a body on frame construction.
It can handle a major accident and be repaired better than a unibody vehicle can.
And just about everything that you folks are driving out there are made of a high-strength
steel in a unitized body without a frame.
And so when you get a pretty bad hit in the left front, it can affect the right rear.
It can buckle the roof in places that you just wouldn't think it would be possible to
buckle the roof there from a hit to the left front, but that's just the way it is.
And that headlight assembly that used to cost $400 or $500, including all the trim and the
moldings around it, the light bulbs and the sockets for the light bulbs, you know, all
of that was through $400 now, as much as $2,000 to $4,000 for one side.
Why did they have to make headlights smart?
We didn't need our headlights to be smart.
We just wanted them to light the road ahead.
Did they need to turn when we turn our steering wheel?
No, we got by just fine with the headlights not turning.
And all this LED stuff, it was supposed to save us all kinds of money.
All that's done is made the headlights perform better.
They're brighter.
I like that.
But they blind the oncoming traffic.
I don't like that, but nobody cares about what I like.
So repair costs to body shops.
My goodness, a gallon of paint anywhere from $500 to $1,000 for a gallon of paint.
And all of these different wild colors, like the ones that change color as it's driving by,
those are expensive, or these pearl finishes that are just really complex to actually get
right and to match the paint.
Those are terribly expensive.
Replacement parts are expensive.
That's why companies like LKQ came into being like kind and quality.
These are companies that sell Chinese made parts and also refurbished parts.
Because OEM parts, original equipment, manufactured parts by, you know,
all the different makers, they just got so expensive.
And then the automakers said, well, wait a minute, we don't want them selling all the parts.
We're going to have to make ours more affordable.
So they did to a certain degree.
And they actually carry a longer warranty and they're made better.
You know, they have to put on this big sale job as to why you need to use OEM parts.
They are more expensive, but they are engineered for your vehicle.
But guess who doesn't want you to use them?
That's right, the insurance companies.
And they've written into contracts that they sign insurance policies that
after a certain period of time, so many miles or it could be a period of time,
they say, okay, if you have a wreck now, you're using LKQ parts like kind and quality.
Or you're using junkyard parts.
We're not putting a new door on your vehicle.
Not a brand new one from Chevrolet.
Yep, we're going to get one out of a junkyard and you will like it.
I don't want that.
Well, that's what you've got to have.
Unless you want to pay the difference, how much is the difference?
$1,500.
No thank you.
So that's why auto insurance rates have increased tremendously over the last five years.
Labor.
Also, I don't want to leave that off because labor has gotten more expensive.
We already talked about that in my detail shop, you know, from $12 an hour to $18 an hour.
Body shop repair techs, they used to be the lowest repair men in the auto industry.
Now they're one of the highest and they'll make anywhere from $30 to $60 an hour.
But see the insurance companies restrict how much they will pay as far as labor rate per hour.
And so they determine what shops get paid.
That's not fair, but that's just the way it is.
Mechanical repair shops, a lot more expensive.
Labor rates have gone up dramatically because everybody's had to pay their employees more.
That's why.
And then the total repair, which includes parts and labor,
has gone up dramatically because parts prices have gone up.
Now these type of repairs are not covered by your collision insurance company, obviously.
State Farm and Farm Bureau and Progressive or any other Liberty, Liberty, Liberty.
They're not covered by them.
No, to get the mechanical repair bills covered, you have to buy either an extended warranty
or some type of service contract that will help you if you have a major engine failure or transmission
or air conditioning or whatever.
And those have become a whole lot more important as auto repairs have gotten
so much more expensive.
It's definitely worth considering.
But then what does that do?
That jacks up your monthly payment.
I remember not too long ago, we could sell an extended service contract to somebody for,
you know, if they're financed for 60 months, it might cost them $12 to $15 a month more.
Now, now it's $60 to $75 a month more.
That's significant, but which is easier to handle an extra $75 a month
or an unexpected $8,000 repair bill.
So if you're buying a new car or a used car, always get a price on a service contract.
Just see what it is and understand that it's negotiable.
And that might help drive down some of the cost of these unexpected automotive repairs
that always seem to come up at the worst possible time.
Don't think.
Okay, I'm going to take my first break.
I'll be back here in just a minute.
As I've said so many times before, but I will repeat it because there's always new people
coming on board to the podcast or to the radio show.
I am a new car dealer currently.
I own a Ford dealership and a Nissan dealership.
And I've been doing this for 48 years.
So I do have a level of expertise and I've seen just about every scenario that you can imagine
of individuals making decisions to either buy a car, whether it's new or used,
make a financing decision, struggling with credit issues, deciding how to handle a
real extreme repair situation.
They've totaled their car and they don't know what to do next because they owe more on the car
than the insurance company is going to pay.
All of these things or all of these issues are things that I have seen before.
And I have helped people navigate their way out of a lot of problems.
A lot of the wounds are self-inflicted.
You know, it's just like buying too much car to begin with.
We just lose control of our enthusiasm.
We get so excited.
The purchasing process pushes us to bad decisions.
It's just, that's what it is.
I mean, the dealership wants you to spend as much money as possible
and they want to maximize their gross profit on the deal.
They don't just want to sell you a car.
They want to make as much money as possible on that transaction.
Now, in today's world, it was different during the pandemic because there was such scarcity
of product, dealers could charge MSRP or greater.
That's not the way it is right now.
The deals are out there, but the negotiating skills are lacking for most individuals.
They feel uncomfortable doing it.
If they would just follow the guidelines in the My Car Guru guidebook,
that'll solve that problem.
Send me your email address to 423-552-2020 and I'll send you a PDF, a copy of it.
But if you don't have that and you want to go it on your own, then best wishes
because I'm telling you that the people that you're buying a car from
are a whole lot better negotiators than you are and they know the inside story.
And if you don't negotiate the four targets separately, as described in the My Car Guru guidebook,
then you will end up paying too much unless you are just an extremely
savvy calculator carrying math whiz that is not subject to emotional pressure.
Those people tend to do okay.
They're just not swayed.
They come in, they know what they want and they know what they want to pay and they stick to
their guns.
They'll negotiate a little bit if they have to, but they're willing to walk.
So that's important.
That's one way you drive a huge amount of cost out of your budget is just by
not paying too much for the car to begin with.
I mean, it can make a huge difference in your monthly payment or the ultimate sales price,
the price that you pay.
Just because you're a cash buyer doesn't mean you're not vulnerable.
I'll never forget when customers come in and they're going to pay cash.
They say, I'm going to pay cash.
You know, like that's going to make the price go down.
It doesn't.
It used to back in the fifties when dealers carried their own floor plan when they would
finance their own cars and they get desperate and they didn't want to have to wait for somebody
to go to the bank and get the money.
They could lose the customer.
You know, they might run into a competing car sales person down at the bank.
Maybe they lurked around there.
But you know, and today, no, we don't care if you're paying cash or if matter of fact,
we'd rather you finance because we can do better by financing the car for you.
The bank pays us a little funder's fee.
But before we get into all that, we need to have shopped around the insurance on the car
that you're interested in.
Just don't go with the same insurer all the time.
Make them compete for your business and tell them you're shopping around.
Maybe they'll cut you a deal somehow, throw in some extra benefits, maybe reduce the deductible.
They can do that.
They can't really change the cost of insurance because that's regulated.
They have to post those rates with the state that you live in.
So you're not going to get a discounted insurance rate, but you might get an adjustment.
You might get better coverage.
You might get a lower deductible.
So ask for it, though.
Make them work for your business.
Get three bids every time your homeowner's insurance comes up.
Every time your car insurance comes up.
I know it's nice to be able to stick with Bob down at the Farm Bureau office.
But maybe Bob's not competitive anymore.
Maybe they've had a terrible year of claims.
And so they have to adjust everybody's rates that year.
That's why you need to shop around.
But you do it before you go out and buy the car.
And then the second thing is to understand what your credit situation is before you go to buy a car.
That way, if you have decent credit and you know what you can borrow money for as far as
the interest rate is concerned, then if some finance guy or a salesperson at the dealership
says, well, the interest rate is going to be 14%, you say, no, it's not.
And you can back that up because you know what you can borrow money for.
So I'll just get my own financing then.
Oh, then you'll see the rate drop.
Remember, that's one of the four targets.
Yeah, you've got to pay attention to the loan terms, the actual length of the loan,
the interest rate, if there's any prepayment penalties,
all of these things, you need to be aware of it.
And then you're thinking about going to the dealership and you've been investigating this
car, just make sure you know how quickly they tend to depreciate.
You can do some research online.
You can call me 423-552-2020.
I'll tell you if that particular car will drop like a rock.
And if you finance it for 84 months with nothing down, and you like to trade every
three to four years, you're in for a rude awakening.
And then you can go to that website, carcomplaints.com, and it will tell you how reliable
that particular vehicle has proven to be over a period of time.
You can look back like 10 years and see how that Hyundai Santa Fe has done over the years.
You might find out how many engine problems they've had during a certain period of time.
Maybe they've got all those corrected by now.
Who knows?
But you can find out by just going to that website and find out if it's a problem car.
Do that first, and then find out about the insurance and all that other stuff.
Before you go into the dealership and then you can buy with confidence.
Does that make sense?
Of course it does.
And then the final thing, what does it cost to maintain this vehicle?
What's an oil change cost?
Like if you go back to the dealership, what's a typical oil change going to cost?
I mean, regular maintenance, tire rotations, all that.
What are they going to charge?
I mean, is it $500 a trip or is it $150 a trip?
Is that going to make a difference for you and your budget?
For a lot of people it will.
And you need to know that.
You know, does this car just really cost a lot to maintain?
I mean, if you're sensitive to that, don't buy Mercedes.
You know, don't buy Lexus or an Acura or a BMW or a Porsche for goodness sake.
You don't want to buy any of those cars because you'll find out that your monthly payment
is a whole lot less than an oil change if you're not careful.
And you know what?
This is hard for a new car dealer to admit.
But sometimes it just makes sense to buy a used car or just to keep the one you have until it
absolutely stops running.
Now, when the repair bills get ridiculous and you get into a 10-year-old car and all
of a sudden it needs an engine or a transmission or something like that,
I mean, there are ways to mitigate some of that cost by buying a used engine or a
remanufactured transmission.
You know, there's ways to get around it.
But if you just go to a dealership or to a repair center and they get a new car,
they say, well, your engine's toast and you need a new one and it's going to cost you $12,000,
that's something I'm going to shop around on.
Just like I get a second opinion from a doctor, I'm going to get a second opinion on that as well.
You can shop that around.
You just don't have to take, you know, the first option.
That could definitely have a good impact on your budget.
Okay, I'll be back in just one minute.
You know, if we just had an expert for everything, we had somebody on call, whether it's a plumber
or somebody to work on our washer and dryer or a builder or electrician or a car guy,
maybe even a car guru.
I had a guy show up at the dealership one day.
We had, several years ago, we just had a bunch of hailstorms come through this area and it just
beat the heck out of a lot of people's cars.
But apparently it had a bad impact on a lot of people's roofs on their houses.
And so I'm just talking to this guy.
I noticed his sign on the side of his vehicle said he was in the roofing business.
And we just started up a conversation.
He said, did your house, did you have a hail at your house?
And I said, oh yeah, we had a bunch of hail.
He says, well, let me come look at your roof.
I might be able to get you a new one.
What?
He said, yeah, I mean, the insurance company will pay for it.
I said, well, my house is like 25 years old.
He said, it doesn't matter.
At the time, the insurance companies, they had like a, I don't know.
I think my deductible was like a thousand dollars.
And they did not depreciate your roof, your shingles.
So he went out, inspected my roof and it had, it had some missing tiles and a few pieces and
stuff here and there came back and he said, submit this to your insurance company.
I did 35,000.
They put a new roof on my house.
It cost me a thousand dollars.
You know, sometimes it pays to run into an expert and I did.
I think they sent an adjuster to my house to look at it and he said, yeah, no problem.
Just go ahead and do it because I certainly didn't want to commit insurance fraud
because it seemed a little sketchy, but so far, nobody's come knocking at my door saying,
hey, give us that money back.
No, I got a heck of a nice new roof.
So I think what happens when there's some type of an event like that, something happens to your car
or something happens to your roof.
I think people panic and they think that the first option is their only option
and it's because they don't really check around.
They don't even know that they're supposed to.
And they sometimes, I swear, I think they're embarrassed to, you know, get multiple quotes.
They don't want to offend anybody.
Oh, well, you won't offend them because that's the business they're in.
They understand sometimes people need to shop around.
I've faced that my entire life with people coming to get a price on a new car and one
would go shop around and, you know, I welcome it.
I don't like it, but I realized that if somebody wants to make sure that they're
getting the best deal as far as just the price, then some people just need to do that.
In the old days, they had to actually physically go to the dealership to do that.
Now you don't.
Now you just can shop around online.
And that's one of the other things I recommend people do is before you walk into a dealership,
if you want to do the safest car buying experience, do most of it online
with what we call the business development center, the BDC.
If you call most dealerships and say, I'd like to speak to somebody in your BDC, that's boy dog,
cantaloupe, and that's going to be a person who is probably a female.
Sometimes it's a male and sometimes they have a whole lot of knowledge and sometimes they are
just a separate telephone operator for the sales staff.
Now at our dealership, Katie does pretty much all of it.
She can get you all the prices you want, handle the financing, get the credit applications,
just the whole thing.
And then you come in, take delivery of your vehicle, but some dealers do it differently.
You call into the BDC and you make an appointment and as soon as you get there,
you're talking to a salesperson, just a regular salesperson.
And that's not avoiding the unpleasant things that a lot of people don't like.
If you go totally through the BDC, then you avoid that.
And it's a little bit easier to hit all four targets when you're not sitting in the store
and feeling intimidated by the people there.
You just have to make sure that you get everything in writing, either faxed to you,
which is old school, or have it emailed to you.
And then you can handle all of that unpleasantness in the comfort of your home.
Well, thanks for listening to this edition of My Car Guru.
I hope it gave you some good ideas that you can use to save money
to combat these high costs that are hitting us from all directions.
If you need me, call me 423-552-2020 or send me an email to Lenny Lawson,
2020, at gmail.com and I'll see you next time.
About this episode
Car ownership costs have surged, and it’s not just “cars”—pandemic-era inflation pushed up labor and repair expenses. Modern vehicles are complex to fix, so insurance claims rise, parts get restricted, and insurers cap labor reimbursement. Mechanical repairs often fall outside collision coverage, leading people to pay more for warranties or service contracts. The host also ties big bills to buying/financing choices—like long loans and frequent trading—and recommends shopping insurance, researching reliability, and doing more online with everything in writing.
