Start with what the car is actually doing. Pick the closest match below.
Every page here follows the same five steps: what it probably is, a free check you can do in five minutes, whether you can fix it yourself, what a shop should charge if you can’t, and the upsell that usually rides along with that repair.
Click whichever one sounds like your car.
It won’t start
Clicking, one clunk, cranking but not catching, or nothing at all. What you hear narrows it down fast.
The check engine light came on
Steady or flashing means two very different things. Read the code yourself before anyone quotes you a part.
Something’s wrong with the brakes
Squealing, grinding, pulsing, pulling, or a pedal that doesn’t feel right. Some of these can wait. Some cannot.
It’s overheating
Gauge climbing, steam, or a sweet smell. The one where driving a few more miles turns a small bill into a huge one.
It’s making a noise, or it smells
A decoder for the squeals, clunks, hums and burning smells — and which ones mean stop driving.
Something electrical stopped working
A window, a light, the radio, a socket. Usually far cheaper than people fear — often a one-dollar fuse.
If none of those fit
These six cover most of what goes wrong, but not all of it. Three places to try:
- The cost table, if you already know what the repair is called and want to know what it should cost.
- Fix It Yourself, if you want to have a go at it.
- Taking It to a Shop, if you are heading for a garage and want to walk in prepared.
More symptom pages are being added. If the thing your car is doing is not here, tell me — requests genuinely decide what gets written next.
These pages are a starting point, not a diagnosis. See the disclaimer.