Was the quote from a main dealer?

How long have had the car and how old is it?

It's normal for a/c systems to lose a little of their gas over time, IIRC 10% a year's quite normal, so yours may only need re-charging, depending on the circumstances.

A re-charge would normally include a dye so any leak could be detected, for around fifty quid. I see ATS do it for £33 with Amazon local: local.amazon.co.uk/Milton-Keynes/B00K2RCJQE

Edited by bathtub tom on 10/05/2014 at 13:22

Aye, more info would be helpful.

If the compressor has failed then that could be around £300 for the part alone, then you have the labour involved to flush the system to remove any contamination (if you're going to do the job correctly), also there's the receiver/drier and the TXV needed so the price quoted would, in this instance, be about right.

I'd be getting a second opinion from a aircon specialist to confirm what the fault is before spending that much. It may well be the system just needs recharging but without a full diagnostic test, it just guesswork at the moment.