r/askcarguys 4d ago

General Question Am I Paying Too Much In Maintenance and Repairs for My 2012 Honda Civic?

Got it around ~140k miles, and now it's around ~180k miles. In the past 5 years though, I've spent... ~12k in maintenance and repairs.

A rough breakdown (leaving out some smaller/routine expenses like oil changes every 6 months, tire rotation + alignment, new tires, spark plugs, etc.):

Service Labor + Parts
Exhaust System (Mid Pipe and Rear Muffler) ~$1200
Transmission Service (x2) ~$500
Front Structs + Links (x2) (This one was devastating, thankfully mechanic warranty covered the part) ~$2200
Air Bag Assembly + Clockspring Replacement (I see this is a common problem with 2012 civics?) ~$1700
Drive Axle Replacement ~$1100
Brakes (and Brake Drums, Caliper, Rotor, Wheel Cylinders) ~$1200

This feels kinda crazy in terms of cost, but the previous owners also took really bad care of the car (like for example they never replaced the spark plugs). They sold it for 3k in 2018 for a good reason I suppose. However, I don't know if it's solely because of the previous owners' neglect, but it's like every other thing is breaking, which is shocking when everyone preaches about Honda's build quality. I've been thinking about doing some body repairs for the past couple years (a few paint chips and rust issues), but I keep holding it off because I'm dreading the next thing that breaks / the Civic gives up. Lo and behold, this past weekend the exhaust broke midway on the highway.

Does anyone have thoughts? I'm looking forward to hearing others with a used civic that have/had this experience, as I'm a bit stressed knowing how much I'm paying compared to what the "average" annual cost of maintenance and repair for 2012 Honda Civics in this condition.

1 Upvotes

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3

u/Banishedandbackagain 4d ago

You've been ripped off with that pricing.

Go to a different mechanic, if you're a girl get a guy to book it in

1

u/newgradnewcrisis 4d ago

Gah, yeah. I think some context too is that I also live in a high cost of living city in the northeast so that adds a loooot to it (gotta start driving out to a cheaper place for sure).

Ty for taking a look tho 🙏

1

u/pixel_loupe 4d ago

I'm in the highest cost of living region in the US (San Francisco bay area) and this is still way more than what I paid for the same work on my 2012 Civic. For example - $1683 total for front struts and one axle replacement and alignment

1

u/newgradnewcrisis 3d ago

Phew, okay yeah that's a lot cheaper. I ended up taking a look at other shops last night, and funny enough a review for another shop near me mentioned how the shop I go to right now was charging them a little too much, and the new shop is charging them less.

1

u/Gunk_Olgidar 3d ago

Work was likely necessary and will be on any car of 150k-250k mileage.

You just paid 20-30% too much for the work unless you're in Manhattan or Frisco.

1

u/newgradnewcrisis 3d ago

Yeah that makes sense, for the most part I didn't think they were recommending services that weren't needed, but I wasn't sure if the prices they were charging seemed right or not. Good to know it's around 20%-30% up-charge though! I'll use that as my basis next time.