Say that the same bolt needs to be removed from two cars. One one, it comes right out with no effort. On the other, it breaks requiring another hour of labor.

This sort of thing is a regular occurrence. If the shop eats the cost, they must raise all labor rates to account for this occurrence. That means that the car owner who's car comes right apart is subsidizing the owner with the rusted-out heap. Sound good? Not to me.

just received the quote. 10 hours labor at $85/hour = $850. the additional monies in case of broken bolts listed below.

If either exhaust manifold needs to be removed due to broken flange studs, it will be an additional charge of labor and bench time.
The left side will be 4.6 hours plus bench time to drill out the broken studs @ 85.00 dollars per hour.
The right side will be 3.1 hours plus bench time to drill out the broken studs @ 85.00 dollars per hour.

due to the possible increased cost, I called a shop just down the street. they quoted $900 FLAT RATE to install. however, they said they flush the cooler and cooler lines directly....they don't have an actual transmission flush machine (BG, hotflusher.com, etc.) Can they still flush the cooler and lines without a machine?