I went to a shop today to replace the struts on my 2003 Civic LX. They were 120k old. I am happy about the work done so far, my car feels much better. However, I think the price was inflated. The struts are KYB and the price they charged me for each part is basically twice as much as the price I can see online for the exact same part. Is it typical to get prices like this when you go to a shop instead of doing it yourself?

They also said that I didn't need alignment after replacing them because it is not required on this model. I saw online that alignment is pretty common when you replace struts. Were they lying to me?

Thanks.

 

Yeah prices are inflated. When I changed mine the price Fleet Farm quoted me on was twice the amount that I could get them from at Advanced Auto. Mine weren't KYB though... they were probably some not-so-well-known brand, but Fleet Farm would've put in no-namers too so I was happy.

 

My experience has generally been that there is a lot of markup from shops on parts. I prefer to buy my own parts and install myself if I can. But if I need to go to a shop, I find that I can get a much better deal if I bring my own parts. However, a lot of shops won't let you bring parts.

I am pretty sure you should get an alignment. Does the shop you went to do alignments? Maybe they just didn't want to refer you somewhere else.