Question about a Park Pin...

[Justy311]

The other day I went outside and noticed that my car magically moved half-way down our driveway, it is a slight incline, while it was in park. I brought it to a repair place to check the brakes and found that nothing was wrong with them. So, they checked the transmission and found that something known as a Park Pin or Park Pawl might be the issue. They said that the part itself is relatively cheap, but it is a labor intensive job, will run me $1300 to fix.

My question is, how needed is this part? If it is just for parking, couldn't I just use the e-brake to make sure it does not move anymore? I plan on waiting to get this done until the transmission goes, figure I will have to pay the labor here anyway... Anything else you guys think I should know would be great too...

thanks in advance,

justin