You took your car to the shop to see about an auto ac repair. After you paid them to check out your auto ac, the service manager begins to explains in order to fix car ac problems such as yours its gonna be pretty expensive. He goes on about how to fix car ac sensors, freon, auto ac pressures and ac recharge. Now what do you do? You are in a good position at this point for two great reasons. One, your auto ac repair can wait till you decide to fix it and it won't leave you stranded. The Second reason is you now have the ability to get a quality auto air conditioning repair cost estimate from this site to help you compare.
As a shop owner, the rule of thumb was to take a look at what the problem was with the air conditioning system and work up a cost of repair. Most customers want a worst case price. Since this is a luxury item on a car, not everyone needs to get it fixed. That in mind my shop would offer the customer a choice if what was found was a small leak in the system. Fix the leak at the price it would cost and warranty the parts and labor. Or, we could top off the freon and see if it would last the summer. The seasons where our shop was located would only be hot for 4 months. Reason behind the options was simple. The repair would be between $800 and $1300. But to refill the freon would cost under $100. So if it would last the summer, it would take 8 seasons to be cost effective for the entire cost of the repair.
Now of course if the leak was so big it wouldn't last a couple of weeks being cool, then the repair had to be made for the Air Conditioning to be of any use.
9 out of 10 Air Conditioning System Failures that came into the shop was do to no freon. The freon had leaked out from the Air Conditioning Compressor and Required the Compressor to be replaced. The Manufacturer, however, requires that the Accumulator and orifice tube be replaced at the same time along with flushing the entire system. Without doing so would void any warranty on the compressor. Yes, that means the price of the repair goes up.
If you are planning on keeping the car for a long time to come then by all means have the repair done. The repair is only as good as the warranty. So make sure it is stated clearly in writing before you give the OK to perform the repairs. This will save you from a huge hassle later if you should need to go back the following season for the same issue.
FreeAutoMechanic offers FREE Labor Time Estimates should you need to know how long it is going to take for the repair. On the other hand if you are planning on taking this job into the shop you might want to know the labor time and cost of the parts also. If that is what you need your in luck. Use this Auto Repair Manual Look Up Tool. From there you will be able to gain access(for a small fee of course, but well worth it in my opinion) to Auto repair Parts and labor estimator along with the auto repair manunal that includes wiring diagrams and much, much more.