I recently took my car into the dealership's service garage for limited work, i.e. replace summer tires with winter tires and an oil change. I was told in advance it would cost $450, but the garage performs an inspection before it commences work on the car. After the inspection, the garage said that a number of other work items needed to be performed and the estimate inflated up to $1700. This was not the first time that such inspections inflated the cost and work to be done.

This is not the only garage in which I have experienced this kind of price shock. Have you ever experienced this type of thing, and how did you handle it?