I am highly pi$$ed off

I took my '95 Jeep Wrangler in for service today. Several years ago I had a little bit of a lift put on it (about 1") and 5 years ago I needed new shock.

For some reason the bracket that holds the shock to the axle came off...actually the service advisor said the shocks were too small! I take it to the same location but the dealership has changed hands. They said I needed a new axle...to the tune of $3700!

I paid for the brake job and there is a 4x4 place here in town they recommended that can weld it. They do custom work and come highly recommended. The $200 figuring cost of new shock too) is a whole lot more palatable than a cost of repair that is more than the vehicle is worth...gee whiz....

What the heck! I do not understand how such a repair could cost almost 4 Grand!!

Daylight robbery

I traded in my 95 Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2003 and only got $4400 for it, so I'm assuming that the $3700 axle is worth more than the car itself, or at least close to it. I'd be calling around to every repair shop in a tri state area.

There is no way an axle can cost that much. Brand new axles for my Honda are like $95. You sure he didn't misplace a decimal point? I might believe (but still doubt) $370 for an axle + labor. Or $370 for a pair of axles.

Yeah it was a shock and all! And yup $3700 is more than the vehicle is worth! I did get them to finish the brakes and a couple of other repairs. I took it to a 4x4 place that welded the brackets back on the axle (which there is nothing wrong with!) and I went ahead and got a new pair of shocl absorbers. Since the old ones caused this problem, if they stayed it would just happen again. That cost me about $230. So I was out about $800 which is a whole lot better than the $3700!

I did find out that dealers will not weld like that for liability reasons. You have to take it to another shop.