The shop rates are north of $80/hour. While reasonable for a car dealership, this is just ridiculous for car audio. I've gotten quotes of $250 to pull an aftermarket deck out of my car and put the factory deck back in - no wires were cut and is simply unplugging one and plugging in the other.
On a separate occassion I had a quote of $380 to install a basic car alarm with no special features (no remote start, nothing). The price gouging is ridiculous, and I think it's pathetic that their own employees come on here and give them 5-star ratings to skew the customer rating system.
Lastly if you think you'll catch a break in installation charges if you buy equipment from them, think again. A year and a half ago I purchased a JL Audio subwoofer from them, with box, and they actually charged me $45 to put the sub in the box. There was another charge of $65 to put it in my car, which already was wired for a sub (was replacing an older single sub). It does not take 30 minutes to screw a single subwoofer into a box. It does not take 45 minutes to unhook two wires from one terminal and hook them into another. If you're paying a premium for the products in the store, there should be some level of discount to the labor, I would think - especially if your labor is overpriced to begin with. Unfortunately my girlfriend was the one taking care of this for me, and she did not know any better so she could not challenge this - she thought it was standard fare. Good to know they take advantage of women there.
Best buy may not be the highest quality, but all the same jobs I've had Car Toys do in the past, they do for over 50% less money - and they guarantee their work as well. Best Buy even has a special that they'll un-install your deck and put your factory deck back in FOR FREE if you're selling your car.
Car Toys doesn't even have the customer service to make the price premium worth it. The staff comes across as arrogant, If you don't know about car audio, they'll take you by over-estimating labor charges.
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