- Hybrid and electric batteries lead the ranking of the most expensive car parts to repair, costing $12.5K.
- In 2nd place are engines and cylinders, with the most searches about repairs, at 2.46M.
- The broken and repaired transmission makes the vehicle lose 30% of its value.
As the electric vehicle repair service market increases by a projected $40.06 billion in 2025, understanding which car components carry the steepest repair costs has become more critical than ever for vehicle owners. A recent study by NexusMedia analyzed car repair costs to identify the most expensive car part repairs. The analysis—using insights from EasySearch, a leading Shopify Year Make Model search solution—highlights the average cost of critical parts like transmissions, engines, and hybrid batteries. The research compared the most commonly replaced and failure-prone car components across traditional, electric, and hybrid vehicles, using key criteria such as average repair cost, repair-related searches, and estimated value loss for a vehicle repair. The study ranks car parts according to a calculated impact score, which reflects the effect on the final resale value of the vehicle.
Here is a summary of the findings:
| Car Part | Average Cost | Searches (Repair Related) | Estimated Value Loss for Resale ($) | Impact % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid or electric battery | $12.5K | 2.11M | $9K | 45.00% |
| Engine and Cylinders | $7K | 2.46M | $8K | 40.00% |
| Automatic gearbox | $5K | 449.9K | $7K | 35.00% |
| Transmission | $4.5K | 1.04M | $6K | 30.00% |
| Inverter (EV/Hybrid) | $3.5K | 62.5K | $4K | 20.00% |
| Air Suspension (if not covered in suspension) | $2.75K | 17.6K | $3K | 15.00% |
| Airbags | $2.5K | 56.1K | $5K | 25.00% |
| Suspension | $2.5K | 1.48M | $2.4K | 12.00% |
| Head gasket | $2.25K | 1.30M | $3K | 15.00% |
| Turbocharger | $2.25K | 138.1K | $2.4K | 12.00% |
You can access the full research findings by following this link.
The most expensive car part to repair
The most expensive car part to repair is a hybrid or electric battery, with an average cost of $12.5K. Repairing a battery also affects the resale price of the vehicle the most, with a 45% value impact. After the repairs, the cars usually lost $9K of their price.
Engine and cylinders rank 2nd on the list of the most expensive car parts to repair, costing around $7K. Engine and cylinder repairs are also the most common, with 2.46M searches. After the repairs are complete, the vehicles still lose up to 40% of their value.
The automatic gearbox repair takes third place, costing $5K. A fully repaired automatic gearbox decreases the car's value by $7K on average, which amounts to an impact of 35% on the resale value.
Transmission repair follows closely with the fourth position and costs $4.5K. Transmission problems are more common than with the automatic gearbox, with 1M monthly searches. At the same time, transmission repairs decrease the value of the car a little less, having a price impact of 30%.
Inverters for electric and hybrid vehicles rank fifth on the list of the most expensive car parts to repair, costing $3.5K. This is a less common car repair, with only 62.5K monthly searches, affecting fewer car owners. After the repair, the vehicle can lose up to $4K in value.
In sixth place is air suspension repairs, which cost $2.75K. It is the least common problem among car owners, with only 17.6 people looking for repairs each month. The repair itself can cause the car to lose up to 15% of its value.
Airbags rank seventh, with an average cost of $2.5K. Airbag problems are less common than inverter repairs, getting 56.1K monthly searches, but they affect car value more, with an impact of 25%.
Suspension repair follows closely with eighth place and a similar cost of $2.5K. While the repair costs are identical to airbags, this is a more common problem, gathering over 1.4 million search queries monthly. It also affects the overall car 2 two times less, losing only 12% of the price during resale.
The head gasket repair is ninth, costing $2.25K. It is a common problem, collecting 1.3 million searches. The repairs for the head gasket affect the car value the same way as air suspension repairs, causing it to lose 15% of the original price.
Turbocharger rounds up the ranking of the most expensive car parts to repair, with an average cost of $2.25K, similar to the head gasket. It affects the car value the least in the top 10, with an impact of only 12%.
A spokesperson from NexusMedia recently commented on the study: "The era of 'fix it until it dies' car ownership is rapidly coming to an end, replaced by a more calculated approach where repair decisions increasingly resemble stock trading, with knowing when to hold, and when to cut your losses. Today's drivers face a paradox: while electric and hybrid vehicles promise lower lifetime maintenance costs, a single catastrophic component failure can instantly wipe out years of fuel savings and render an otherwise functional car financially toxic.”
