Do dealers charge too much? I think so, but sometimes they will amaze you.
Our Volvos had been regulars at a one person indy shop for years. The repair bills were high but not what I would term out of the ordinary. Our last service there was the 30K service. Shortly after the service my wife started to hear sounds coming from the engine bay and thinking it may be a warranted item, we took it to the dealer to have it checked out. Long/short story, the indy guy "forgot" to check the power steering fluid which was waaay low. Needless to say we don't go to the indy anymore. Much as I hate to, I did the 60K service last weekend on our cars w/help from Volvospeed....and I know I will need them in the future because of ETC related issues ('00 S70 t-5, '00 S70 N/A, '89 740 wagon-recently retired)

I also had tt RX-7s and one needed an engine rebuild costing 6K because of heat related problems. The engine builder was known throughout the rotary world as one of the best. Long/short story, the cooling system was still losing pressure after the rebuild and he couldn't find a fix for it. I contemplated changing over to 0 pressure Evans coolant as a fix but then gave it one more try. Took it to the dealer and the mechanic found a part that was "glued" into the cooling system (called a pressure check which the renowned builder should have done). He tapped the part into the engine and the pressure problems went away. (Where else could you make 325 streetable RWH on 1.3L @ 9000RPM?)

Two instances in which I am glad I went to dealer.