It’s a hard lesson for those making their first major purchases in life that there’s an assortment of hidden and add-on costs that can make the price tag and monthly cost a whole lot larger than we first calculate.
In real estate, those costs mean annual property tax bills, insurance, utilities, maintenance and upkeep… it’s a lot.
And in the automotive world, on top of fuel and insurance costs there’s the wildcard unknown of how much in repairs a new or used vehicle is going to pull out of your pocket when something goes wrong with the engine, transmission, or any of the highly complex systems needed to keep modern cars and trucks running.
Which domestic car is cheapest to keep running?
The folks in the garage at Royalty Auto Service (@royaltyautoservice) in Georgia want the public to know more about the typical cost customers face when they bring their vehicle in for work. In a new TikTok clip that’s been viewed more than 240,000 times, owner Sherwood Cooke Jr. uses two years of data on repairs from his shop to show which U.S. automakers have the highest average repair bill.
| Average Repair Cost | Number of repairs | |||
| Chrysler | $1,172.80 | 404 | ||
| Ford | $1,051.62 | 418 | ||
| GM | $1,036.68 | 490 |
Source: Royalty Auto Service
Cooke has clearly seen the insides and underneaths of lots of models from each of the major makers, and offers some specifics about the kinds of problems that are most common for each.
For GM, it’s transmissions and engine problems that are seen most often, though he notes that generally speaking the GM vehicles that come into the shop are older and farther along in their life cycle. That suggests those brands could have fewer issues over their running life than their competitors.
What are the most common problems?
For Ford, Cooke points the finger at the Ecoboost engine, which has been marked by lots of major problems and was selected for a recall of assorted manufacturing years earlier this year.
The Chrysler models that make their way into the shop can be suffering from an assortment of problems that Cooke names like he’s reading from a long mental checklist: “camshafts, rockers, engine issues with the Hemis’ oil filter… oil filter housings on the (3.6 liter engines), they’re just kind of all over the place.”
While Cooke’s limited look at one-time repair costs is helpful and interesting, there are other wide-ranging examinations of how maintenance issues can affect the true cost of ownership for foreign and domestic brands. Consumer Reports’ look at the 10-year maintenance cost of all major manufacturers finds Tesla has the lowest total ($4,035) while Land Rover ($19,250) cost the most.
As Cooke suggested regarding the older age of GM cars in his shop, Consumer reports also looked at the first five years vs. second five years in terms of repair costs and found two-thirds to three-quarters of those repairs come in the back half of a vehicle’s first decade of operation.
Viewers react to the data
In the comments, users offered their own experiences with the major U.S. auto brands.
“I’ve owned all three, and, yes, Dodge was the worst for me. Returned on Lemon Law,” agreed one user.
Another user shared thoughts on all three. They wrote, “I have a fleet of law enforcement vehicles and my order in cost is GM,Ford, and Dodge. Our GM and Ford are close. The Dodge Charger’s V-8 and Durango’s V-8 are considerably more expensive to maintain.”
And another person pointed out the importance of accounting for how often a vehicle has to go in for repair work.
“Accounting for frequency of repairs is a must. Even though it’s seems expensive, $1,400 every 75k miles is less expensive than $,1000 every 50k miles,” they wrote.
@royaltyautoservice This is about what we expected… #chrysler #ford #chevy #cartok #mechaniclife #automotive #technician #jeeplife #jeep #viral #fyp #foryou #tips #duet #stitch #dealership ♬ Pop beat BGM / long version(1283324) – nightbird_bgm
The Daily Dot reached out to Chevrolet, Ford, and GM via email for comment.
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