Toronto: How to save 20 percent off your next phone repair bill in 20 minutes

Do you know what dread feels like?
If you’re part of the 50% of smartphone owners who have had a cracked screen — then you do.

It’s you texting on your phone with both hands. Then, by some inexplicable lapse in hand-eye coordination — it fumbles from your grasp. Your eyes widen for the few seconds it’s airborne, your mouth gaping. You flail all your limbs in a fruitless (and pathetic) attempt to catch it.
It hits the floor with a thunderous crack. Face down.
The anticipation. The fear that when you pick up your phone you will see a shattered face on the world’s most advanced clock.
That’s what dread feels like. You pick it up and your hope fades. You let out a sigh. 21% of smartphone owners are walking around with a cracked screen. After three months of being among them — you decide to get it fixed.
If you live in Toronto there are a bevy of phone repair shops that can help . Your natural instinct is to call the ones close by. Pop in for a quote, and if you like the number, leave your phone to the pros.

But, what if you don’t like the number?

What if you have a sneaky suspicion that there’s a better deal out there?
How much better are the prices?
How far would you have to travel?

1. Your suspicions are correct.
2. Depends on where you go.
3. Not very far at all.

How do we know that?
We’ve done our homework. We’ve got the lowdown on phone repair prices in the Greater Toronto Area. So if your phone needs repairs, here are the best (and cheapest) areas to get it done.

The Method to the Repair Pricing Madness

First, a primer. Here’s how we did it.
We contacted over 150 phone repair stores in the following areas:

• North of Toronto
• Brampton
• Mississauga
• Scarborough
• Durham

We asked for quotes for the two most common phone fixes — screen repairs and LCD replacements.
The difference?
The LCD is what the screen is displayed on. On top of it is a digitizer. It converts all your taps, presses and swipes into actual inputs that makes your phone do things. A screen repair is fixing the digitizer. An LCD replacement is throwing out the whole thing and putting in a new one. The latter is faster, but more expensive. How do you know when you need one or the other?
If you see a crack in your screen but the image is fine — screen repair. If you see a crack AND your screen's image looks like it’s melting — LCD replacement.

Toronto phone repair stats1

For good measure, we also surveyed ads on kijiji to find you the best place to get your phone fixed. So, if you’re worried the repairs may be too expensive or think it might be cheaper to buy a new phone — stop. Read this first.

The Best Areas to Get Your Phone Repaired

After crunching the numbers. Here’s what we found:

If you’d like to know how much money you can save by venturing out from Toronto, then take a look at these figures:

These are the average prices you’re paying if you choose to stay in Toronto to get your repairs done. Now, let's head north:

Are you seeing what I’m seeing?

The average cost for every single repair is lower up north by an average of 8.8%. And here’s the kicker:
North of Toronto is the second most expensive area to get your phone repaired out of the areas we surveyed. So who comes in third?

Mississauga. Prices for repairs are a further 2.1% lower than North of Toronto and 10.9% lower than Toronto itself.

Coming in next are Scarborough and Brampton . Scarborough is a further 4% lower than Mississauga. Brampton another 0.4% lower than Scarborough. And compared to Toronto?

14.9% lower for Scarborough and 15.3% lower for Brampton.
Lucky last is Durham:

Another 4.3% lower than Brampton. And compared to Toronto: Average repair prices are 19.6% lower.
Yes. You can save almost a fifth of the cost on your next phone repair by heading east into Durham.

Phone Repair Prices in Context

What does this all mean?
It means that if you were to follow any direction on a compass, 75% of the time you’d end up with a cheaper phone repair bill.
The other 25% of the time? Well... you’d end up in the water. But, if your phone isn’t waterproof — now you know where you can go to get it repaired for a good price.

How to save 20% off your next phone repair bill in 20 minutes
No one likes getting their phone repaired. You’re too busy. It might be expensive. You don’t know where to go or who to trust. Or you just feel embarrassed that you dropped it in the toilet at work.
When you get it fixed, you don’t get that new-phone feeling. You just have your old phone again. No better than it was three months or three hours ago. It makes sense that you don’t want to pay a higher (or any) price to repair it if you don’t have to.
The way you find your phone repair store is usually based on your location. The closest to you, the most convenient. But, if you’re already in the area or a short drive away, why not save a few bucks?
Remember, these are the average prices for all repairs in the Greater Toronto Area. So whether you have:

• Cracked your screen
• Pushed your home button into oblivion
• Or destroyed your charging port

There’s a better price for its repair only a short commute away.