Data as of October 2026 · 193 cited reports · 89 source pages
193cited owner reports
41repair jobs tracked
26 of 31jobs with a lower indie median than dealer
89unique source pages
Every month we pull together what owners have reported paying for common import repairs, at independent shops and at dealers. Here's where the numbers stand for October 2026.
Read this first: these prices come from owners posting in public forums across the US (and a few elsewhere), dated 2007 to 2026. We're a Denver-based site, but this is not a survey of Denver shop prices. Many jobs have only a handful of reports, and older prices aren't adjusted for inflation. Use it to sanity-check a quote, not as a price list.
The short version
On 26 of the 31 jobs where we have both indie and dealer prices, the independent median came in lower.
Where the prices come from: owners' own posts in public car forums and owner communities. Every report links to its source on the cost page. We skip labor-only quotes, prices where the owner supplied the parts, prices in other currencies, and reports for a different engine.
Indie vs dealer: anything not done at a dealer (independent shops, specialists, tuner shops, and unspecified shops) counts as non-dealer. That's 105 non-dealer reports and 88 dealer reports.
Ranges: when an owner reported a range, we use its midpoint.
Medians, not averages, so one wild quote doesn't drag the number around.
Savings by make is the median of the per-job savings percentages for that make, counting only jobs with both indie and dealer reports.
Sample size: 8 of 41 jobs have fewer than 3 reports: BMW N54/N55 high-pressure fuel pump (out of warranty), BMW N55 oil filter housing gasket, Subaru EJ25 (non-turbo) head gaskets, MINI N14 timing chain, VW DSG transmission fluid service (40k), Porsche Boxster/Cayman/911 (M96/M97) water pump, Mercedes M272 V6 intake manifold (tumble flap failure), Subaru front CV axles (both sides). Treat those as rough.
Snapshot: generated 2026-10-22 from the 193 reports on the site at the time. Later reports go into later months.
Sources
89 unique forum and owner-community pages are behind these numbers. Each one is linked from the cost page for its job. Start at all repair costs.
Want another data point? RepairPal's estimator gives an estimate for your car and ZIP code. The prices on this site are owner reports, each linked to its source. They're different kinds of numbers, so use them side by side. How to read both.
