~~ Update at bottom! ~~

I went to the mall (which also has the local post office in the food court; don't ask...) to mail off a birthday card for a friend. There were no serious issues with my van on the way over to the mall, which is about a mile away.

I came back out and pulled out from my parking spot, and my brake pedal went to the floor. Not good. Kept pumping it and it didn't seem to be building up any pressure. Now, since the mall is surrounded by hills in any direction I needed to get home, it wasn't feasible for me to drive the vehicle out of the parking lot.

There are two auto service centers at the mall. One's Firestone. No thanks. The other's Sears, which I had never been to, but heard people warn me never to go to.

Took the van as far as I could safely drive it and parked, then walked in and explained the situation. I had bought a bottle of DOT 3 fluid and filled the line, but it was leaking like crazy from my front passenger brake. Brake line busted, most likely. Shouldn't be too expensive to replace.

Ask them to take a look. First they quote me $15 for doing an evaluation, but another team member at the auto center said that they were running a special where the evaluation would be free. Cool. Free estimate, always good.

So I'm waiting in the waiting room, which has a window looking in on the garage area of the center. No other vehicles in there being worked on. Just my van up on the hydraulic lift. They have the front passenger tire off and are inspecting it. Cool. Then they take off the rear passenger tire. Okay... Maybe the line snapped elsewhere? I don't know at this point.

They they have all four tires and rotors off. Three guys are inspecting every inch of the underneath of my vehicle with flashlights. It's taking over half an hour for what should have been a fifteen minute estimation job.

Finally, a little later after the guys have been typing things into a computer near my van, one of them comes out to let me know...

"Okay, we can just start the work now, or I can type up the estimate and let you see what we're going to do. But there's no way you can get out of here for less than $2500 to $3000."

Some perspective. My van is a '92 Chevy Astrovan with original engine and transmission, over 355,000 miles, and some desperate body and paint work. It isn't pretty, but it still runs. I bought it for $1 ten years ago, and I promised myself I wouldn't get a new vehicle until I ran this one into the ground. I guess the poor old van wants to outlive me at this point.

Back to the auto center . . .

I ask how a brake line replacement could cost $3000, when I just had a rear brake line replaced, including labor, at a place that isn't known for being kind on the labor, for $270 two years ago. Then the guy lists off what must be done . . .

I need new struts. New rotors. New calipers. Some extra parts I'd never heard of. Front and rear wheel alignment. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I said no, I just need the brake line fixed, and there's no way it should cost much more than $300. The guy insists there's no way the van can be roadworthy without all this work. After a few minutes of arguing, the manager comes out and tells the guy to re-run the estimate ONLY to fix the brake line.

Another half hour goes by. Why it takes half an hour to take stuff off an estimate, I don't know why. But finally he lets me know . . .

The best they can do is $1100, and that's only replacing two calipers, the line, the parts I'd never heard of, oil up the discs, etc.

Now note that at this second estimate, there were other customers in the waiting room. So I make sure to speak loudly . . .

"People told me you guys would gouge me, but I still came here. And you just tried to gouge me. Put it back together and put it in the parking lot. I'm taking it to a good place."

It takes another half hour for them to replace everything and get it out front. I never got a written estimate, just told what I would need done. I wish now I had a breakdown of all the parts they wanted to fix, because I wanted to price them out from the local auto parts store.

I called up an auto body shop that had just done work for my mother's van. She was in an accident with her '01 Pontiac Montana van. She crushed her passenger headlight enclosure, dented the hood so it no longer closed, dented in her fender, broke her bumper and bent the frame underneath, dislodged an arm in her engine compartment that the fuse holder was buckled to, broke the frame on which the battery sat, and bent the front frame in and up 2". This auto body shop fixed all of these, including replacing the missing arm and getting her a new battery, and undercoating all the areas she dented, for under $800.

So how can a brake line cost almost 1.5 times the pricetag for doing more than a day's worth of body work, plus replacing parts and painting?

When I explained the situation, the auto body shop said there's no way a brake line, even with replacing the parts I said, should get near $1100. So tonight I'm having my van towed to their mechanical shop and get an estimate in the morning.

But now I have a story to tell, about the $3000 brake line estimate.

~~ Update! ~~

Took it to a small mechanic. Originally the estimate would have been $440, which includes two rotors and brake pads. Still more than I could afford. But the mechanic did say that the calipers are fine for driving and that most of what the Sears Auto Center found were just things that could be replaced, but by looking at the van, would have been too much to put into the van (as far as costs go).

So he came back with a high of $150, depending on how much of the hose he needed to replace. It could be much lower, depending on the work.

$150 compared to $3000. Much, much better.