Dude, fix it yourself....  If it is nything but aluminum or plastic, buy a $10 propane torch and just use solder to repair it yourself....  LOL, I have done that so many times....  If it is aluminum, take it out, get it very clean and take it to a machine shop and have someone TIG it back to shape...  If it is plastic....  Well, it shouldn't have cost $800...

Dude, I had a Subaru like 8 years ago that was such a POS, it would overheat and pop holes in the radiator like every few months, I braised that fucker back together like 5 times...  The last few times I said fuck'it and braised it while it was still in the car....  Blistering paint and all....

I guess what I'm trying to say is $800 is retarded, most radiator repair places won't charge more than $200 to COMPLETELY rebuild and pressure test a radiator if you bring it to them....  I did that twice with my Baja Bronco....  Just ask Poohbah about that fucker...

Silly is the boy who pays 800 to have the radiator replaced.

well I can't really do anything about it.  I don't have a shop/garage or tools at my disposal save for one of those little basic tool kits.  Nor do I have the expertise.  Granted I could probably figure it out just by poking around and using some logic, but I don't want to risk messing something else up inadvertantly.  and I had no idea what was wrong with it when I took it into the shop, it just stopped putting out heat through the heater.  Based on symptoms I had ruled out heater core and thermostat, but I hadn't noticed any fluids leaking under the car, which there evidently was since my radiator was nearly empty.

So basically, I would obviously rather fix it myself.  I know 800 is assenine but I didn't know what else to do about it and I was worried about fixing it improperly and the thing blowing out.  They said the crack was between where the aluminum and plastic meet.  If it were a little hole I just would have put in some stop leak.

I told my stepdad about it and he was like jesus christ I just put a new heavy duty radiator in my sister's car and it was only 300.  Evidently he called my shop and talked to them about the price.  I'm sometimes worried about shops I don't know too well and haggling them because I worry they'll do a half-ass job or sabotage my car if I piss them off too much.  and I haven't found a shop around here that I trust even halfway of a little bit.  I just have a coupon for 20% off to this shop so I'm going there.  at least it'll take off 150 or so.

Really. I can swap mine out in about 10 minutes. It takes longer to drain it.....

Live and learn, next time do it different....

yeah, listen to x-over...i had the same problem and i just assumed a bad hose or radiator...completely different story...my intake manifold cracked where there was a coolant crossover...they made the fucking thing out of plastic!  well 280 bucks later and a good 4 hours of work, my car runs again and now the tranny is slipping...whoo hoo

but for the price you are paying, they better fix it real good

Yes.  Pressure test are generally thought about two ways.  One, it will show you where you have issues.  Two, it will break a part that could have lasted, but was  a little weak.