Transcript: Expensive car repairs
By Bankrate.com

Anchor Intro: These days modern cars can come packed with high-tech features that make your ride safer, more fun and maybe a littler easier. But if you get mesmerized by all the bells and whistles without checking a few key facts, it could really wreck your budget. Bankrate.com explains.

Voice over 1: Everybody knows that maintaining a car isn't cheap. But the price of repairs for some of today's accessories could blow you and your budget away.

Voice over 2: Example? Navigation screens that also contain your radio, climate control and more.

Voice over 3: Say you hit the brakes one day and your kid's baseball bat flies forward and...

SOT:(Bankrate's Terry Jackson) "...you might say to yourself, 'OK, I'm not going to fix it, I can do without the radio." But the problem is, it controls many other systems, so you go to get it fixed and maybe when the car was new it was $2,000 option. To replace it might be $5,000 or $6,000 and now you're in trouble."

Voice over 4: And that's just one of many examples.

SOT: "Let's say sensors in the bumper that monitor parking -- there's even some cars now that have radar cruise control -- and if you crash the front end of the car, where these sensors are, they are going to be horrifically expensive to replace."

Voice over 5: Of course, if you can afford to buy a car like this $65,000 Corvette or the $80,000 Audi A8, that kind of expense may not bust your budget. But pity the poor person who buys these cars used -- then something high-tech goes haywire.

SOT: "The replacement value, the repair value could exceed the value of the car, especially in the eyes of your insurance company."

Standup: So while navigation is nice and sonar sensors sound sexy, today's technology may be a ticking time-bomb, especially if you buy your cars used. So do some research, and avoid totaling your family's finances. For Bankrate.com, I'm Kristin Arnold

Editor's note: : Since the recording of this video Bankrate auto expert, columnist and writer Terry Jackson passed away after a lenghty battle with cancer.