What does this cost in your state?
California is the costliest state and Arkansas the cheapest; each square shows that state's midpoint of the estimate.
Lower-cost states ($47)MiddleHigher-cost states ($60)
What it shows: CA is the highest at $60 and AR the lowest at $47, across 51 states.
Counts below are complaints filed with NHTSA, not failure rates: a longer bar means more owners reported it.
Is your car affected?
Is it urgent, and what do owners notice first?
15,463 owner complaints name this part.
What owners describe. Warning light: 21%; Noise: 13%; Stalled or lost power: 11%.
Use the owners' words ("warning light") when you describe the problem to a shop, and ask what test they ran.
Which trouble codes do owners report?
P0302 Cylinder 2 Misfire Detected leads at 16.
The code owners quote most is P0302. Read your own code from a scan and give the shop the exact code, not only "the light is on".
What do owners say it led to?
Among the 15,463 owner complaints naming this part, owners most often say loss of power followed.
If your car shows the signs above, get it checked before it gets as far as loss of power.
What did owners say they paid?
Half of the 21 owners who wrote a dollar amount gave $2,000 or less; one in ten wrote more than $6,000.
These are bills owners wrote down, often covering more than this one repair. They show how far a job can run; get written quotes for your own car.
How fast were owners driving when it happened?
55 mph or faster leads at 58%.
Owners reported it most often at highway speed. Tell the shop what speed it happens at, because that narrows the diagnosis.
How serious did it get for owners?
Among the 15,463 owner complaints naming this part, being towed is the outcome owners report most often.
What it shows: Towed is the largest at 618, followed by Crash reported at 296; the smallest shown is Death reported at 2.
Which model years show up most in the complaints?
Among the 15,463 owner complaints naming this part that state a model year, complaints cluster in a few model years instead of spreading evenly.
What it shows: 2017 is the largest at 2,574 (17%), followed by 2015 at 2,238 (14%); the smallest shown is 2025 at 351 (2%).
Do car shaking repair problems track FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents across states?
Across U.S. states, NHTSA owner complaints about car shaking repair run higher where FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents is higher, after adjusting for the makes sold in each state. This is an association across states, not proof that FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents causes this repair.
How to read it: Each dot is a state. Further right means more ftc auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents (2024); higher up means more complaints for this repair than expected (1.0 is average). If the dots climb to the right, reports of this repair rise with ftc auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents (2024).
What it shows: States with more ftc auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents (2024) tend to sit higher on the chart across 50 states: a pattern in the data, not proof of cause.
- The 10 states with the most FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents (Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Delaware, Maryland, Arizona, Missouri, Connecticut, South Carolina, Illinois): reports of this repair run 2% above what the makes sold there would predict, and 5 of 10 are above expected. The 10 with the least (North Dakota, Iowa, South Dakota, Nebraska, Hawaii, Montana, Minnesota, Idaho, Alaska, Maine): 11% below, and 2 of 10 are above expected.
- Exceptions: Delaware, Maryland and Missouri are among the highest in FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents but report below expected.
- Split the states into thirds: the third with the least FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents runs 10% below what the makes sold there would predict, the middle third 1% below, and the third with the most 5% above. It steps up steadily.
- For FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents, after allowing for the 1562 comparisons we ran, luck alone would produce a pattern this strong about 1 time in 33. Take out any single state and the FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents pattern still holds.
- Weak spot: compare only states with similar registered cars and trucks per resident and the pattern keeps about 61% of its strength, so part of it may come from registered cars and trucks per resident instead of FTC auto-related fraud and consumer reports per 100,000 residents.
States where more residents report auto-repair, dealer and warranty problems to the FTC may be states where repair disputes and unexpected bills are more common.
What do owners say?
4 complaints quoted word for word, each with its NHTSA number.
After leaving the dealership after being serviced for a control valve body replacement I was involved in an accident 79 miles later/none of the safety features on this $60,000 vehicle engaged⦠no emergency braking⦠no vibration of seatâ¦.
The vehicle is still having bad vibration problems at speeds above 50 mph despite $7,000 in repairs.
Since then due to vibration my exhaust manifold has cracked and I was quoted almost $2500 to repair it.
I have had severe vibration in the rear of my pickup and have been to the dealer 5 or 6 times,they tell me all is normal and it's the nature of this $120,000 pickup.
Check your car
The calculator above puts a tire balance, its default fix, at $39–$70 for a standard midsize car at a mid-priced shop. The cause of the shake moves the price most: a CV axle runs $811–$1,443.
What does the estimate cover, and what does it leave out?
The range is parts plus labor for one named repair, shown as a low and a high figure. It assumes a standard midsize car at a mid-priced shop, the calculator's default.
It leaves out the diagnosis fee some shops charge to find the cause, taxes, shop supplies and any second fault found along the way. A shake can have more than one cause, so the first repair may not be the last. Ask whether the diagnosis fee is credited toward the repair if you approve the work. The calculator does not know your wheel size or tire brand, so confirm the final figure in writing.
How much does each cause of shaking cost?
The calculator prices five repairs that owners and shops link to a shake. Pick the row that matches when your car shakes.
| Cause (when it shakes) | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Tire balance (default) | $39–$70 |
| Wheel alignment (pulls and shakes) | $182–$296 |
| Wheel bearing (shakes and hums) | $312–$487 |
| Warped brake rotors (shakes when braking) | $553–$751 |
| CV axle or joint (shakes when turning) | $811–$1,443 |
Shop type and vehicle class move the same tire balance too. An independent shop is $33–$61 and a dealership $54–$95. An economy car runs $38–$67, an SUV or truck $41–$75 and a luxury or performance car $43–$81.
How do you tell which repair you need?
Start with the moment it shakes, because that is the clue the table is built on. Shaking only when you brake points at the rotors. Shaking while turning points at an axle or joint.
A hum along with the shake points at a wheel bearing. Shaking with a pull to one side points at alignment. A shake that stays steady and hits a certain speed is where a tire balance is the cheapest thing to try first.
This is a starting list, not a diagnosis. Write down what you notice: the speed, whether braking or turning changes it, and whether the steering wheel or the seat shakes. Hand that note to the shop with the car.
How do you get a fair quote for a shake?
Compare any quote with the calculator range for the same repair, not the default. A quote near the top of the range for a bearing is normal. A quote far above it deserves a second opinion.
Ask three questions before you approve work:
- What did you test to find this cause, and can you show me?
- Is the quote for one repair or a list, and which item fixes the shake?
- If the shake is still there after the repair, what happens to the price?
A shop that cannot say how it reached the cause is guessing, and a guess is the expensive way to fix a shake.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to keep driving with a shaking car?
It depends on the cause. Ask the shop to road-test the car and tell you plainly whether it is safe to drive. If the shake comes with a warning light or the brakes feel different, get it checked before you drive far.
Can I just balance the tires and see if it stops?
A balance is the cheapest repair in the table, so it is a reasonable first step when the shake appears at steady speed. If the shake stays, ask the shop what it checks next instead of paying for the same repair twice.
Sources
Data shown on this page
- NHTSA owner complaint file (2015-2019 · 2020-2024 · 2025-2026) file downloaded 2026-10-05
- CalcScrape calculator model scaled by BEA Regional Price Parities data from 2024
- FTC Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2024, joined to NHTSA owner complaints file downloaded 2026-10-06
Terms: US government data, public domain.
Observed: records as filed; owner reports are unverified and are not failure rates. Modeled: our estimate, not a quote. Derived: computed from the records; an association, not a cause.
What is our own estimate
The price range comes from our calculator's formula. Its parts prices, labor hours per job and shop-rate tiers are CalcScrape estimates, not a published price dataset. Checked against RepairPal's range ($37–$55) on 2026-10-04: our default's midpoint is 18% above the middle of that range. Methodology