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I understand that they have to charge $90-$100 an hour to keep their doors open. That's what I charge for engineering consulting, and I don't have tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment, or their insurance costs. BUT
A couple of years ago I let myself get behind on maintenance, and the day came that I had to take a day off work (which costs $$) to work on one of BMWs to get it back on the road. The '90 244 was in the driveway that day and had a clunk in the steering that I had not been able to diagnose. Since the shop is walking distance away (1 mile up railroad tracks), I decided to drop the 244 off at the shop while I was home for the day and let him try to diagnose and fix it.
When I went back, he had an estimate for $2300, which included new front struts, and various rubber parts including engine mounts and torque rod bushings that were less than a year old and were in perfect condition.
The only parts that he correctly identified as being bad were the loose were the inner tie rod ends. They were indeed loose. Front struts were old, but not failed or clunking.
Needless to say, I elected not to invest $2300 in my $1800 car. A little more diagnosis on my part revealed that the clunk was the steering rack. Replacing that got me the new tie rod ends as well.
I would have spent $2300 and STILL had a clunk if I would have gone along with the shop.
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