We have laws in our state, that an estimate of any repair work to be done must be given to the owner before any work can be done. I'll agree with these shops, this is a pita for them as they have to put the job aside till the customer can make their mind up.a local-to-me dealer will NOT even give me a rough estimate for replacing this leaking steering rack
after insisting that i just need a ballpark quote on what yer books tell you how long it ought to take they insist back at I that i MUST pay to them $160 diagnostic to tell me the rack is leaking and needs replaced and get a quote when i KNOW it is leaking albeit a bit more slowly with that Prestone stopLeak stuff...
i want them to tell me if its 2hours? or 5hours? to replace and not be having to pork out yet another $160 of good coin
earlier this year before the leak developed i called one yota shop for estimate on replacing just the rack bushings and they told me its $400
SMH
As far as any steering rack replacement job, expect to spend over $2k at a toyota dealer as they use all toyota components.