Why Does it Matter Where I Do My Transmission Repair?

As I mentioned in other articles, transmissions are complex with 300-500 parts.  We know that if a transmission needs internal repair, there are some parts that must be replaced to fix the immediate symptoms, some parts that should be replaced based on how much life the shop wants to get from the repair and some parts that are still fine for hundreds of thousands of miles.  The difference in repairs, regardless of whether they are called rebuilds or remanufacture, lies with the second group of parts.

It takes any competent facility pretty much the same amount of hours to repair a given transmissions.  Transmission specialty shops, such as AAMCO and other smaller chains, pay pretty much the same prices for parts, so why can there be such a big difference in price?  The answer is pretty simple – it comes down to what steps are taken and which are skipped.  Let me give you some examples so you can better understand the differences.

For a bargain basement price, you will tend to get a quick patch to your transmission.  In the industry, we talk about Soft Parts and Hard Parts.  Soft Parts are gaskets, seals, clutches, bands and other wear items including bearings and bushings..  Hard Parts are the large metal parts such as gears, drums, shafts, etc.  No one can tell which of these hard parts is bad in your transmission until they have looked inside.  The bargain basement shop will reuse many of the soft parts and only replace the hard parts that are severely damaged.  They will probably stop there and give you a very short warranty – perhaps only 60-90 days.

A small step above is to replace the soft parts except the bearings and bushings, along with a few hard parts.  By reusing the bearings and bushings, the shop has taken most of the labor hours out of the repair and saved themselves a great deal of cost.  In most cases, the repaired transmission will last a little over a year – just long enough to get you out of the warranty they provide.  But none of the parts line up correctly so this kind of repair is not going to provide a truly long life and the shop is not going to even offer longer warranties, such as 3 years, let alone Lifetime.

A quality, basic repair includes replacement of ALL the soft parts, taking the time to carefully remove the old bearings and bushings and then properly installing new ones.  It also includes the replacement of more hard parts – those that are not going to make it much past a year.  This is the standard of repair for the major chains and quality independent shops.  Remanufactured units and rebuilds built to this quality will typically offer better warranties, whether they are built into the price or offered as an option.

At AAMCO of Lee’s Summit, we go even further.  At AAMCO, we have been doing this for over 40 years and we rebuild approx. 250,000 transmissions each and every year – far more than anyone else.  From this extensive experience, we know what the weak links are in your transmission and can address these weaknesses BEFORE they become problems.  We do everything mentioned above, but then go the extra mile to bring your transmission back to as-new condition.

Your problem, as a consumer, is how can the shop prove what level of service they provide.  At AAMCO of Lee’s Summit, we prove it by standing  behind our work like no one else in the industry.  Your transmission rebuild comes with one of the best warranties in the business.  But you can get more. We offer optional LIFETIME WARRANTIES (4WD, commercial vehicles and some European imports excluded).  No one else stands behind their work like we do.  Most transmission repair shops are not even willing to sell you any kind of warranty extension, let alone a Lifetime Warranty – what does that tell you about their own expectations for the life of your repair?