Well the big question is, did the car have its head gaskets replaced before or not? If so, and one has failed, the necessary repairs should be less costly.
If not, and this is the repair that should have occurred thirty thousand miles ago, something around fifteen hundred bucks would probably be a bargain.
I still think finding the right technician is a good beginning.
When someone has an idea of the bill ...
We could, for example, order parts and have them sent to Anoreth or her mechanic of choice.
The head gaskets haven’t failed so if they have been replaced before (not sure) I won’t bother replacing them and I’ll do shocks and struts instead.