My wife’s VW TDI beetle needs a clutch master cylinder replacement and the repair shop has quoted $600+ which seems extremely high to me. Is this way out of line? What should I expect to pay?
I’m seeing $160 for the part and 1.3 hours labor. So $600+ seems a little more than I’d expect. However the prior pricing doesn’t include bleeding, so the bottom line fee depends on how long that takes as well. Still, I wouldn’t expect the wholejob to run much over $450. Are you sure they aren’t doing something else besides just a R&R job on the clutch MC? (Clutch hydraulic bleeding seems to take a little over 1/2 hour from what I see.)
Maybe look on the bright side. If it was the slave cylinder (i.e. release bearing) you 'd be looking at 7 hours labor.
This is routine work that any shop should be able do. Not a VW or turbo-diesel-engine specific thing.
Probably not out of line. Your location is unknown and some shops charge more than others because of location . If you don’t like a quoted price then you get other quotes .
Repair Pal says under $400 with $141 part. In my opinion, the slave cylinder has the same wear and shares the same fluid with the master. Therefore, you can reasonably expect it to fail. If it fails, I would have the whole clutch done.