New to thread.

Hello, My name is Adam and I live in Florida. I recently purchased a 1998 Mark VIII with 31,000 miles from my parents and is all stock. They did not drive the car very much obviously and has been under a cover in the garage. I am not by any means a mechanic especially on a car like this. My question right now would be if I needed to have some mechanical work done should I go straight to the dealer, or a respectable mechanic would be fine? The evaporator core is leaking so the A/C is not blowing cold air and needs to be replaced. The dealer quoted me $1500 for parts/labor and I know I could have it done cheaper somewhere else but should I... I know this is labor intensive to replace and understand they need to take apart much of the dashboard to get to the part.