The real blocker I dont mention is time. Your shop will need that car for a few days and shipping will take time too. At some point the wait isnt worth it anymore. The upside is, 2 used Toyotas are still cheaper than a new one new Toyota
The other thing that people don't talk about as much is the parts market got seriously messed up during COVID and still hasn't fully recovered. It's more common now for repair parts to either be unavailable or enormously marked up. Like a particular repair might only take a few hours and what should be a few hundred bucks in parts, but the car gets totaled because one of the parts is unavailable or inexplicably costs thousands and the shop doesn't want the liability of hacking together an alternative solution. Especially if the missing part is an ECM or sensor or something else that might make the car fail an inspection.
I knew a kid changing turbos in Mk4 VWs on his lunch break. He had time to drive home, replace a turbo, and drive back to the shop.
Shop was still going to charge a few hours.
Labour last time I had front shocks and struts done? 3 hours not including the alignment.
Friend's brake job? 2.5 hours - they were 4 wheel disk, what was the mechanic doing for the other 2h?
I don't think anybody is replacing my transmission for $500.
Did you mean the whole job for less than $5000?
There isn't an automation in the world that will take enough of the car apart for you. Or at least my mechanic friends haven't found it.
Will keep waiting for AI to grow itself some arms.
What "automation" innovations have lowered the cost of unbolting a heavy transmission out the back of an engine and attaching a new one??
As best I can tell, the process has been unchanged in a workshop for nigh on 40 to 50 years at this point - it's humans with wrenches and a car lift. I want to see this shop that will swap me a trans for under 500 bucks too...
On most cars the transmission is probably the biggest failure liability- I pretty much only drive manuals for that reason, doing a clutch is a lot cheaper than replacing an automatic, and the better you are at driving it the less you need to do it.
A transmission rebuild refreshes consumables like bronze bearings and seals, damaged pinions are replaced, and the rest are machined back to precision spec. This is cheaper than a used transmission. I paid less than a thousand for this service, when the quality used goes for $4k.