Am I being ripped off? 99' Camry LE neutral/park safety switch

[Epik]

My car is a 1999 Toyota Camry LE 4 cylinder.

I brought in a failed emissions report with a code on it to the auto shop. I looked up the code online and found out it had something to do with the park/neutral safety switch. I told them about it but they said it would cost $105 just for the diagnostic. Sure enough, about 4 hours later they call me and say it has something to do with the neutral/park safety switch and that it'll be $495 total to fix it.

The guy that called said it was because the part was rare and that it's only available from a Toyota dealer, said it was about $300. I really have no idea what these things go for, and I can't seem to find it anywhere online either. I found some other make neutral/park safety switches for a couple dollars, but I'm hoping that's something different.

Anyone know anything about these safety switches? Are they really this expensive to replace?

Thanks so much for any help guys.

[kmr16442]

There has to be a lot of these switches in the junkyards and should be a lot cheaper than $300.

[mr.pringles]

yea check out your local junkyard and see if they have, if not then go to another junkyard and if you can't get it, THEN go to dealership

[Mike Gerber]

Why not just call a Toyota dealership and get a price on the switch over the phone. Then you will know if the shop is being honest or not.

Mike

[toyomoho]

The part could be $300 if Toyota only. Do a TN history search as this very same switch issue has come up many times in Camry and other models. Some owners have managed to clean the switch contacts if this was the issue. If a local yard does not have a switch do a google search to see if a yard will pull one from a junker and ship it to you. Some yards will pull parts like this and ship.