Well it's done and you're on the road again with piece of mind. Could you have had it done cheaper? Sure thing. (See post # 18) Have I spent too much to get a car fixed? Sure thing. You live and learn.

EDIT

 

I see nothing wrong with what he paid. Wouldn't have gotten out of our shop that cheap.

 

$250 in parts for a new caliper, new wheel cylinder, new inner tie rod, new front pads and new shoes? That is a bloody good deal in my book, also $400 labour to install all of that plus align the van is a good deal as well, around here an alignment would run $150 on its own, plus you have to consider changing the caliper, wheel cylinder, inner tie rod, bleeding the brakes and all the other incidentals.

In my opinion $650 is a great price for that work, around here it would easily cost over $1000.

 

$650 is a pretty good price. Well, so they knock off $150 from original quote? but the same amount of work is done?

 

In the end when the guy came down from his original estimate I was quite happy, too. It's still 650$, though. Hurts a little but we're back on the road with safe brakes.
What is a transmission service and how often should I do that?

 

Change the Trans Fluid. Supposely done every 60k miles. 30k if you drive it like you stole it.

 

How much would that be? Do they just drain it out and replace what came out?

 

My bad. I can't add. I had his original $800 estimate on my mind. That and I'm just too use to doing my own work. Course rieol would have gotten out of my driveway cheaper than $650. I'm tasting the beer I missed already.

 

Prices can vary widely but expect around $100. Many shops run specials now and then so keep an eye on your newspaper. They will drain and refill what fluid they can, usually less than half of the total and replace the filter. Make sure they use only ATF+4 transmission fluid. If they insist on Dextron fluid with an additive, find another shop. They like to use Dextron because it's half the cost of ATF+4 fluid.