get three quotes and pick the middle one
I'm glad to hear credible confirmation of this strategy. It's something that occurred to me years ago and seemed reasonable enough that I've been doing it ever since (or, at least, intending to).
It holds for products as well as services. Absent specific information, the cheapest option is likely to be garbage, while the most expensive probably has a bunch of features you don't need, so choose the middle.
Getting more than one quote is a way of negotiating without negotiating
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