Is there a way to repair my armor without paying near the price the armor cost to begin with?

Find similar armor or craft a repair kit.

how to i get the recipe for an armor repair kit? I haven't come across that yet.

I found a bunch but haven't gone around to using it yet (haven't need to). I don't remember where i got em cuz i scavenge a lot, but you should check out a workbench. I believe it should be at the bottom of the list and requires i think repair or science skills (dont remember) and obviously w/e materials you need to craft it. Sorry.. im not the biggest help since i play unarmed and don't use the workbench/reloading bench at all lol.

OOPS! Scratch everything that i said. I just checked my inventory and the bag is "Weapons Repair Kit"..... i thought i said Repair Kit for both armor and weapons.. mmyyy bad

all good, i thought that's what you were talking about..... Anyone else got any advice?

Well, I suspect that there is no Armor Repair Kit. There doesn't seem to be a craftable one, anyway. On the positive side, you can get stuff fully repaired for a reasonable price at the Mojave Outpost, including armour.

I noticed that some people who do repair have limited lists--Old Lady Gibson, for instance, only repairs weapons.

The only way is to find similar armor or get Jury Rigging and use slightly less-similar armor. Or pay out the wazoo to an NPC.

I forgot about jury rigging! I'm definitely getting that. I'm using Combat Armor MKII which at the Mojave Outpost (I checked) costs over 10k caps to repair (something like 11 or 12k I think). A rediculous amount to pay when it's giving me about 17 DT unrepaired and it will repair to only give me a few more points. That's gotta be one of the most helpful perks you can get.