That place buys from GM at what is probably a 30% discount and put a little profit on it. Commercial shippers pay crazy cheap shipping. People blame fuel costs on the ever rising cost for us little people to ship our things. I believe what it is, with such a huge amount of products now being bought "mail order" and parcel carriers giving deep discounts to compete for contracts, our cost keeps going up.
So you paid $300 for the truck? You realize that you are now exceeding the purchase price of this vehicle with the cost of this repair
. You can truly say it's like buying another truck. But it would be hard to find one today for the cost of this repair. You are buying a new life for the same truck is more like it. A truck you know and like.
I had an engine swapped in to my '92 in '06 and $1,000 was the shops standard charge for that. So, not too bad for today in your area I'd say