[masraum]

I understand that you guys have to make a living and I'm OK, with that. The only time that I have an issue is when I can get the part for $200 and a shop is charging me $300-400 for the part itself. Or, I had a transmission shop quote me a bizarrely low price on a trans rebuild once back in the early 90s, I think it was $165 for a TH400 for a "soft parts rebuild". It sounded low to me, but the car was a project, so I was going to deliver the trans to the guy and figured the R&R of the trans was a big part of the difference. So I deliver the trans to the guy, and he calls later and the price is now $600. I wasn't thinking, but hell, I could probably have gotten a rebuilt from summit for that price at the time. I actually worked at a retail parts place at the time. I asked the guys for the rundown on the extra parts that weren't included in the "soft parts rebuild". Apparently the bushings (not bearings, bushings) were not included, fine, those aren't soft parts, but when you quote me $10-15 each for a couple of bearings that I could pay retail for $1 or 2... The oil filter was something else that was NOT included in his soft parts rebuild, and I think he quoted something like $25 for that. My retail price was $5-6. As far as I'm concerned, the guy was a crook. And he's not the first guy that I've run into like that. Unfortunately, I think a lot of folks get screwed by those folks and have no idea.