I have this select where I want to get id count:

$x = DB::select('   select count(id)
                    from repairs
                    where vehicle_id = ?',
                    [$vehicle->id]);

But I am not sure if I am getting in my variable $x just a simple int number or some string type, because I want to use this $x variable in

if($x>0){ 
   do something
}

And I always get non zero value, even though I should get zero. What is wrong?