Jack88

Good god, if you were here in California, I'd just say come on by, I'd have the old one out and new one in in about an hour and even with new OEM parts, for about half what they want for it. I work for beer and pizza. Anyway, it's not a complicated job replacing the strut, you only need the replacement strut, a new pinch bolt, and a new nut for said pinch bolt. When my brother brought it to a shop to be done, he was charged 1 hour labor. Just about any shop can do it, just make sure you put the car in jack mode for them, every shop I have been to has neglected to or confused it with lift mode, even when asked to do so, and it often kills the battery. Seriously, one plug and three bolts on top, the pinch bolt, the air line, the bottom bolt, and sway bar link bolt just to make it come out a little easier. All of those things are easily accessible and only the pinch bolt is prone to seizing in place, not that a competent shop would be slowed much by it. You can order a rebuilt strut for about half the price of a new one, or take a gamble on a used strut for half of that. A rebuild kit is just over $100 and is pretty easy to do for any competent mechanic, Louis made a video detailing the process and even I did it for one of mine.

So, to summarize, you can do a rebuild kit the cheapest, a mechanic would probably charge you 3-4 hours labor, say $150 in parts on the high side, to get it all done and the only special skill required is the ability to solder 2 wires together. If you choose a replacement strut, figure 1-2 hours labor charge to swap it out. For the parts end of it, a used strut would be roughly $300, a rebuilt strut would be around $600 or so, and a new strut runs around $1500.