The exhaust pipe, the piece between the manifold and the catalytic converter, is rotted out.
Pep Boys said it would be between 11 or 12 hundred dollars,that sounds overly high. They suggested a muffler shop could possibly patch it.
Are they trying to take me for a ride?
Replacement of this piece called the flex pipe can be very expensive. I would get a second opinion from a muffler shop. In some cases it can be repaired or replaced at far less than the $1100 that was quoted to you.