If you have hydraulic power steering, you want to wait at least 30 seconds to drive off after turning the car on when it’s extremely cold. The pressure in that system is insanely high with cold fluid, and one of the most common cold-weather tow-ins is a burst power steering line from someone turning their car on and cranking the wheel to the stop straight away.
I didn’t work at Toyota/Lexus, but for Nissan/Infiniti. Very common for a part to be completely non-existent or only 1 in stock for the entire country. We couldn’t see inventories in US or Japanese warehouses, and definitely had no information as to whether or not a part was still in production. Most stuff was on back-order.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if it was the last one in Canada. But I don’t know how things work at Toyota.
The shop likely picked up the phone, called the dealer with the VIN number, and was given a price on that part. The shop either gave you the list price they received, or applied a specified markup to their cost on the part. The easiest way to find out if you’re being gouged on the part is to call a Lexus dealer yourself and ask for customer cost on the part.
As for the parts available on RockAuto, your local shop likely doesn’t have access to the same suppliers that RockAuto does, and parts availability will be different. I have no listing for a washer reservoir on my stuff, and don’t see one on Canadian online sellers like Parts Avatar. Ordering from RockAuto is a poor business strategy in Canada, because shipping times can be unpredictable. Sometimes its 3 days from Florida, sometimes it’s 3 weeks from California. Fine for the individual, but I would never expect a business to rely on RockAuto if they wanted to make money every day.
My labor guide on that part says 0.6 hours. Including an oil change and coolant flush, and tax, your price is probably pretty close to what I would expect.
List price on 10L of Coolant (Dexcool) from Carquest the other day was $57.98 CAD. $20 oil changes don’t exist anymore. List price on 6L of synthetic oil was $87.69. $12.65 for an oil filter. Things are expensive as hell now.
Many shops do not spend time sourcing used parts unless the new parts are not available. Calling around to junkyards takes forever, and many times the parts are incorrect or damaged upon arrival. Big hassle for the shop, and it’s really not their responsibility to get you the cheapest option.
You’ll have to do more digging to truly find out if you’re being gouged, but I bet the guy running the shop saw the quote and swore under his breath before he gave you the call.
Just trying to provide some extra context.
You won’t have problems working on US vehicles. What you’ll encounter problems with is support from someone in North America. If you need warranty, you’ll have to deal with whoever runs the amazon or ebay listing you got it from, in another country, rather than calling up a rep who will likely just put a new tool in a box while you send yours back. I can’t afford to be down a scan tool for a day, let alone the weeks it would take to process an RMA claim in China. This matters a lot to people who use the tool professionally. The Automotive Scantool groups are mostly populated by professionals, not DIYers.
Think of it as insurance. I have a Topdon Phoenix Plus, and an Autel tool, that I have owned for less than a year. I have had to contact USA support once each for an issue I couldn’t solve on my end (software based).
I have a seized alternator on my bench that stopped a car from starting. It happens.