1991 Buick Park Avenue Camshaft Sensor

Recently, I was driving my car up a street, and stopped at a stop light. After I stopped, I went to accelerate and the engine stalled. I attempted to restart, but it wouldn't work.

After hours, it started back up. A couple days later, I drove it to a local garage and they said after running the diagnostic test that the wires running from my camshaft sensor had burned and melted to my water pump. He said he could repair the wires and make it drive. After he repaired the wires, he ran the test again and found that the camshaft sensor itself had gone bad. He also mentioned something about a magnet that works along with the sensor.

He said for parts and labor, we'd be looking at $635 to repair, (plus the cost of repairing the wires $271). So assuming I may have a little time to attempt to save money needed to replace the sensor, I paid him for the wire repair and went home. The car stopped again on me.

The sensor appears to be the major problem and that's fine. But the biggest issue is that I've found this sensor online for less than $40. Why is it $600 to install it?