What the hell is going on with shops?

Mopar to ya said
I get so tired of people bitching about how expensive a shop is. It costs what it costs. If you can do it yourself, do it and stop complaining about the shop. Or get a second estimate. I would be interested to know what year, motor and tranny. I looked up a 2005 R1500 with a 5.7 and the solenoid in that calls for 2 hours. In my shop that is $212 labor. Your solenoid, without having a VIN number to verify looks like it has dealer list of $127. We are not dealers and we are a for profit shop, I would sell that solenoid for $177.80. Add a filter and gasket kit for $35 and 5 quarts of ATF+4. I would be around $460. In addition to the quality work you get, you get a 12 month 12,000 mile warranty on parts and labor. So is he high? Probably. Get a second estimate. Also, they may be adding diagnostics. If you diagnose your own problem we can't guarantee it will fix your car. If I diagnose it I stand behind my diagnostics.

It sounds as if the guy went in and asked what a specific repair would cost. If he were to ask you for the same, would you automatically include diagnostics, or would you offer the diagnostics as an option? And if declined, do what the customer asked of you. Minus your warrantee of course, I wouldn't offer a warrantee on the job if it was based off of someone elses diagnostics.I've taken a vehicle in for a blown exhaust donut before. told them it was leaking, and when I went to pick it up they said they couldnt hear anything and here's our bill for checking. Didnt even replace the damned donut and STILL wanted 85 bucks.