this post was submitted on 30 May 2025
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United States | News & Politics
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5% fuel savings on an average vehicle driven an average number of miles at an average gasoline cost is $120 per year.
A new starter for a Ford escape runs around $150. Depending on where it is when it breaks down in the field, AAA membership can range from $55/year towing up to 3 miles and as much as $114/year for one 200 mile tow. That 200 mile tow wouldn't even be able to make it from Miami to Daytona. For the fleet I have and the distances we cover, it makes more sense to keep a tow truck guy on payroll. Personally, I'd rather eat the $6-65 in cost and know that I'm not intentionally imposing more wear and tear on a critical part of a car's operation. The ultimate solution though is switch to electric, which is why I skipped all that nonsense from the 2010s and on ice vehicles. I'll make what I have run forever before buying into an intentionally inferior design.
As far as stress goes, breaking down locally is one thing. Breaking down hours from home base is a much bigger deal both logistically for business vehicles and mentally for personal vehicles.
The mechanics of starters for auto stop-start models are beefier. They rated for several times the cycles of a traditional starter. So realistically they will last just as long as a standard starter. Now, the question why manufacturers cheap out and not install the beefier starters as standard...
Probably why the OEM starter for a Ford Escape is $330. 1 replacement wipes out nearly 3 years of savings. Either way, I'd love to see numbers on failure rates for vehicles with and without and calculate with the cost of replacement for starters (parts, labor, and downtime) and see where the break even would be.
So the cost of a tow or mobile mechanic + cost of a replacement starter + cost from alternate transport or loss of wages would take years to make up for, each.