Take the car in and have it scanned. If the coolant light is on, the ECU should have some error codes stored in it.
A 2.0 Beetle waterpump is around 60 dollars. It does not take 700 dollars worth of labor to replace.
If the car is leaking coolant, check the reservoir...the coolant could be low and would trigger the light.
Check www.vwvortex.com