A fully-automatic Allison Transmission costs between $3000 and $11,000 vs. any Automated Manual Transmission or AMT that costs between $3000 and $7000. But, Allison claims that the payback period for the premium price averages less than 3 years, in terms of maintenance and fuel savings.Allison Automatic-equipped vehicles cost less to operate than comparable competitively-equipped vehicles, states the company, because the transmission system uses a torque converter instead of a dry clutch, thereby eliminating clutch repairs and replacements that are commonplace in manual and Automated Manual Transmissions. This, according to the company, translates to less downtime and lower overall maintenance costs.The company also states that its FuelSense, a fuel-saving solution, has the potential to reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%.