'Zactly.
Modern 2-unit HVACs are darn near irreparable, like modern washer / dryers, because you can buy an entire new unit for just 110% of the price of the one critical part most likely to have failed.
Update:
We got another HVAC company out this morning. They’d been highly recommended by neighbors in the past, and in fact we used them for the A/C unit itself 2 years or so ago, as their quote was a lot lower than the incumbent.
He also did not see any way it could have been deliberately sabotaged. He concurred that the price for the motor was reasonable, as we have a mid-range unit with some kind of variable motor. He concurred that it did look burnt inside (likely why we saw some smoke; there wasn’t a true fire, but some insulation melted or something).
He didn’t love the brand (Carrier); they do mostly Trane, and our A/C is Trane. Mainly because Carrier has been a pain in the neck for them to deal with from a contacting-the-company standpoint. He did suggest that with the furnace being only 8 years old, it was definitely worth repairing.
The incumbent HVAC guy came out in the afternoon, as the motor came in. Luckily we did not need a new control panel. We let ourselves get upsold into installing a surge protector, since that is likely what happened. Sigh.
All in all, the house is a LOT more comfortable now. What was interesting to me was that once the A/C was running, even though the inside thermostat still said 80 degrees, we felt OK. My office was a bit warm, but it always has been. If my son can tolerate a higher indoor temp, we may leave it set higher than we used to.
The entire basement smells a bit musty due to lack of air circulation - a friend rents it, and we just have 3 or 4 of those window-well windows down there, so she really had zero circulation. Hopefully that will improve.