Honda Repair: repairing a head gasket, head gasket, muffler shops

Question
i took my car to pep boys because it was overheating after checking the car my bill was over $1500 dollars. I feel like i am getting rip off. after talking to some people they all feel the same i live in staten island nyc. i was told i needed a new head gasket water pump timing belt tune up and oil change in your opinion is that a good price for that repair job. its a 2000 honda accord about 78.000 miles and needed a tune up

Answer
Yvette:
I would say for the work that was done that sounds like a good price... but I would question whether you needed all that work. It is true that when a car overheats that the head gasket may need to be replaced, not always. If you have been driving it for a while in an overheating condition, you may have blown the head gasket. You would have to let me know more about when it overheated if you drove it for a long time or whatever you did. What made them decide to replace the head gasket? Did they do a compression test? Was the car smoking from the tail pipe? Call them and ask what led to them replacing the head gasket. With that, Honda recommends replacing the timing belt at 105K miles and when you replace the timing belt you should replace the water pump. If they did in fact need to replace the head gasket, I would agree with replacing the timing belt and water pump too. Let me know any more info, I will be glad to answer. One last thing, I would find a mechanic that I am comfortable taking my car to. Ask around, avoid tire and muffler shops, go to a repair shop. Honda dealers are fine, but you will spend more money there, I avoid dealers for that reason.
Bill