Starter replacement cost: the motor, the labor time and your state
Choose your vehicle type and your state. The estimator applies the Honda and General Motors starter times at your local shop rate and adds a catalog starter.
Starter, sedan, national: typical cost
$238
Range $173 to $409 · starter motor · before sales tax
| Labor time, sedan | 0.9 h |
| Shop rate, national | $114 to $159 per hour |
| Labor, typical | $121 |
| Parts, typical listing | $117 |
Compiled by Radif Partners · How costs are estimated · automaker labor times, BLS technician wages, parts read October 20, 2026 · not a quote
Having a shop replace the starter of a sedan costs about $238 at the national median rate of $134 an hour, in a range of $173 to $409 for labor and part before sales tax. The typical figure is $228 for an SUV, $212 for a pickup and $264 for a luxury car. The starter motor is the larger share, about 49 % of the sedan figure, with a median listing of $117 for the two reference sedans in the catalog read on October 20, 2026; the listings mix new and remanufactured units, the latter quoted without their refundable core charge. Labor is under an hour on every vehicle read: Honda and General Motors bulletins pay 0.6 h to 0.9 h, several of them with an inspection included. The luxury type has no bulletin, so it uses all 5 times. Across the states, the sedan job runs from about $212 in West Virginia to $263 in the District of Columbia.
What the starter does and where it sits
The starter is a small, powerful electric motor that turns the engine over until it fires. When you press the button or turn the key, a solenoid pushes a small gear into the teeth of the flywheel or flexplate and the motor spins the crankshaft. Once the engine runs, the gear pulls back. The starter is bolted where the engine meets the transmission, which often puts it low down and close to the exhaust.
The job itself is simple: disconnect the battery, unplug the heavy cable and the signal wire, remove two or three bolts and fit the new unit. What changes from one car to the next is access. On some engines the starter is reached from above after moving an air intake; on others the car goes up on a lift and the technician works from underneath, sometimes after removing a brace or a heat shield.
Honda and General Motors labor times
The 5 times used here come from documents in which Honda and General Motors told dealers to replace starters, filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Honda's lines cover a Civic and its 3.5 liter V6 models; General Motors' lines cover full size pickups with V8 engines.
| Type | Vehicle and engine | Bulletin filed with NHTSA | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pickup | 2013 Chevrolet Silverado / Avalanche, GMC Sierra 2WD, 4.8L/5.3L V8 (L20, LC9, LMG) | GM Service Update 12188, August 2012 | 0.6 h |
| Pickup | 2019-2023 Honda Ridgeline / Passport, 3.5L V6 | Honda Service Bulletin 23-023 (version 2), April 12, 2023 | 0.9 h |
| Pickup | 2013 Chevrolet Silverado / Avalanche, GMC Sierra 4WD, 4.8L/5.3L V8 | GM Service Update 12188, August 2012 | 0.9 h |
| Sedan | 2012 Honda Civic, 1.8L I4 (except Si and Hybrid) | Honda Service Bulletin 14-003, February 4, 2014 | 0.9 h |
| SUV | 2016-2022 Honda Pilot, 3.5L V6 | Honda Service Bulletin 23-023 (version 2), April 12, 2023 | 0.8 h |
Not every line is a bare swap. The Honda V6 operations add an inspection and new relays, and the General Motors ones include checking the date code of the old starter first. On those pickups, four wheel drive raises the time from 0.6 h to 0.9 h; the bulletin does not say why. No luxury model turned up, so for the luxury type the estimator uses every time read and says so. A starter tucked under the intake manifold of a V engine, a layout found on some cars, can take far longer than anything in this table, and a shop should explain such a time.
New or remanufactured
The catalog offers both. A remanufactured starter is a used unit rebuilt with new wear parts; it usually costs less and carries a core charge, a deposit returned when the old starter goes back. The prices below take the cheapest, the median and the dearest unit in stock for each reference vehicle, new and remanufactured together, with the core charge left out.
| Type | Reference vehicle | Lowest | Median | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedan | 2016 Honda Accord 2.4L L4 | $116 | $139 | $184 |
| Sedan | 2017 Toyota Camry 2.5L L4 | $70 | $96 | $266 |
| SUV | 2016 Ford Explorer 3.5L V6 | $74 | $92 | $196 |
| SUV | 2017 Honda CR-V 2.4L L4 | $146 | $149 | $164 |
| Pickup | 2016 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 5.3L V8 | $71 | $125 | $176 |
| Pickup | 2017 Ford F-150 5.0L V8 | $78 | $97 | $180 |
| Luxury | 2016 BMW 328i 2.0L L4 Turbo | $92 | $203 | $323 |
| Luxury | 2016 Mercedes-Benz C300 2.0L L4 Turbo | $102 | $123 | $150 |
The spread within one vehicle can be wide. For the Camry alone, listings ran from $70 to $266. SUVs have a median of $121, pickups $111 and luxury cars $163, where a high median for the BMW lifts the type. A shop resells the part at its own price, so a quote can sit above these listings; if you have the figure, type it in the estimator under More options.
Check a starter quote
Your quote for starter, national
$301
| Hours 0.9 h, reference 0.6 h to 0.9 h | inside the reference |
| Rate $134/h, reference $114 to $159 | inside the reference |
| Parts $180, catalog $71 to $180 | above the reference |
| Labor on the quote | $121 |
Before the starter is blamed
An engine that does not crank can have many causes besides the starter: a flat or weak battery, a loose or corroded cable, a blown fuse or relay, a fault in the ignition switch or the security system, or a shift lever not fully in park. A mechanic tests the circuit before condemning the motor, and that test is a separate charge not counted above. Only that inspection can say what your car needs, so ask for the test result in writing before you approve a new starter.
If the battery turns out to be the problem, the battery replacement page gives its cost. If the car starts but the battery keeps running down, the alternator page covers the part that charges it.
How far the state moves the bill
With less than an hour of labor, the state rate changes the starter bill only modestly. Each state's rate is the national survey of posted shop rates scaled by the mean technician wage from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $21.19 an hour in West Virginia against $32.65 in the District of Columbia. On a sedan starter, that gap is worth about $51. The quote checker tests a full quote line by line against these references.