Be glad it wasn't a Mystique.
I didn't go for the cheapest parts (put Kevlar pads on) but 4 rotors,
2 rear calipers and a set of pads (all 4 wheels) set me back just over
750 clams at TRADE PRICE. Did all the work myself.

Yes, I could have put cheapy parts on for about 300 or less-(without
replacing the questionable calipers) and likely done it again in 2
years.
I spent the extra, and the braking is now EXCELLENT - and should last
3-5 years with the driving it gets. Big thing is the rotors should
stay straight and smooth.

Check it again.  Twice he said it was the *rear* brakes.  The price
sounds a bit high to me, more like a dealer price.  I'd like to see a
list of parts replaced to see if it included the calipers.  And as
previously stated, no way it should include both rotors and drums.
Since he said pads (and based on research), I'm presuming the rear
were disc brakes.

I always do my own brakes - and it's really cheap to do them.  I also
don't really trust someone else to do them properly.  Of course, that
is an attitude carried over from riding my motorcycle - which I do all
my own work on.  If you screw up a brake job on a car, your likely not
going to crash, or if you do, your likely not going to die.  If you screw
up a brake job on a motorcycle your almost certainly going to crash
and likely die.

Ted

I always do my own brakes - and it's really cheap to do them.  I also
don't really trust someone else to do them properly.  Of course, that
is an attitude carried over from riding my motorcycle - which I do all
my own work on.  If you screw up a brake job on a car, your likely not
going to crash, or if you do, your likely not going to die.  If you screw
up a brake job on a motorcycle your almost certainly going to crash
and likely die.

Ted

I have done brakes on my vehicles for years.  I am not convinced of the idea
that more expensive pads and rotors are automatically better.  My experience
has shown otherwise for my vehicles.  Sometimes the more expensive ones
are better, but sometimes the cheap ones are made just as good.  And there
are times that the more expensive part is more poorly made, although that is
not as common.

The problem is that price on a part is set by a large number of variables,
many
of which don't directly relate to the material and labor cost of the part.
For
example, a manufacturer that makes a large quantity can often get better
prices
on materials and due to economies of scale they spend less money on labor.
Shipping also increasingly matters as the further they have to ship a
finished
part, the more expensive.  Also, the fewer middlemen that a part goes
through
the cheaper it will be - the overhead required to vend a part through a
brick
and mortar store is far higher than the overhead required to vend the same
part through an online website.

And these are just parts costs.  Labor costs also have uncontrolled
variables.
A shop that is in the city likely has higher overhead than a shop out in the
tulaberries.  A shop with a large waiting room with a TV and such has higher
overhead than a shop that has no waiting room.  A shop that gets business
through a lot of advertising has higher overhead than a shop that gets it's
business through word of mouth & the yellow pages.  A shop that is on
land that the owner of the shop owns outright has less overhead than a shop
in a leased building.  A shop in a crummy old leased building has lower
overhead
than a shop in a brand-new tilt-up.

In most markets, shops have to stay within sight of each other in hourly
labor
costs due to competition.  And they have to adhere to book time in most
cases.
So a shop with higher overhead is going to have to make up the difference
by either paying less, or pushing the techs to work faster to complete the
job
faster than book time, neither of these environments is optimal for a
repair.

So, the fact of the matter is that yes, calling around may get you a cheaper
price - but it is not always the case that a cheaper price is a lower
quality
job.

Ted