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Our friends over at AutoMD may be the most dedicated auto writers and researchers ever – they went around to auto repair and service centers nationwide to calculate the best and worst in the industry. We know, every mechanic is trying to scam the last buck out of your wallet…or are they? AutoMD.com released its Advocacy for Repair Shop Fairness Report, the first to analyze how how service centers providing fair cost estimates.



AutoMD.com mystery shoppers visited over 600 shops in the top-50 most populated cities in America, which included “mom & pop” repair facilities, dealership service centers and franchises (ie: Pep Boys, NTB, etc.) – According to the report: To measure pricing integrity, the mystery shoppers called back two weeks later with an industry standard price estimate. The best and worst list was then calculated based on each city‘s rankings for three critical factors, weighted equally:

1. Repair Affordability: The average cost-per-job for that city based on prices quoted by repair shops
2. Price Disparity Range: The percentage variance between the lowest price quoted and the highest price quoted in each market
3. Shop Integrity Factor: The percentage of shops that shifted their original quoted price by more than 5% when presented with an industry standard price estimate

In AutoMD’s report, Memphis ranked as the best city for fairness and consistency of prices quoted. Chicago, the windy city and home to Molly’s Cupcakes, ranked as the worst. Here’s the 5 Top & Bottom cities:



Thanks to Dan & AutoMD for the heads up on this great research!

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