Brakes and ignition coils

The car was my father's so it is a second car. I drove it mostly to tow the trailer. Last time I drove it, it drove alright when I got up to speed but it struggled getting up to speed - it didn't have any power (eg going up a small incline towing the trailer and when I tried to speed up to merge into traffic). It reminded me of when I learnt to drive a manual car and I tried to speed up when in too low a gear. I didn't drive it for a while. I recently got a mobile mechanic to come and service the car so I can start using it again. He was a pleasant, chatty mechanic and from the stories he told appeared to be experienced but for the price I paid he didn't seem to do a lot which is making me question his advice. He spent more time talking to me, telling me he would look after me than he did looking at the car. So I want to test whether what he told me sounds like it is plausible. Although I didn't watch him at the beginning, all he seems to have done is change the oil and have a quick look around. He told me he was honest and would look after me but I didn't see much point in him changing the oil if I can't actually drive the car. He didn't drive it. His quote for the repairs is mostly for the parts - the labour cost doesn't seem to be much. I can't tell if you are in Australia? His quote is a text message with the cost of the parts and his labour. He wants me to pay for the parts upfront so he isn't stuck with them if I cancel after he has bought them which has happened to him before, he told me.

The car was in park with the hand brake on. He showed me that he had trouble turning the front right wheel. He said that was because the brakes had seized because I hadn't driven it and it needed new brake pads and rotors, and possibly callipers (not sure of the spelling). He quoted on replacing the pads and rotors and said he would clean the callipers 'for free' (I am dubious about that because the labour cost seems low). He didn't take the wheel off to look at the brakes. He didn't drive the car.

Is the wheel not turning when the hand brake was on a sign that the brakes need replacing?

Should he have tried the left wheel as well?

Can you tell the brakes need replacing without even looking at them?

Could the brakes sticking have caused the slow/poor response I noticed when I last drove it? I did brake to turn a corner before going up the incline and stopped before trying to merge into the traffic on the road.

If I drove the car, would that unstick the brakes if they are in fact stuck?

If the rotors have rusted through lack of use, would cleaning them be enough?

What if he buys the parts, and when he looks at the brakes they don't actually need replacing?

Would it have been reasonable to expect him to remove the tyres to look at the brakes during the service?

He said there is a crack in one of the coils (he tried to show me where it is but I couldn't see it). He said that is what is making the car idle rough and if it totally cracks that will be bad. He said the coils and leads seem to be the original ones which means they should be changed. He has quoted $1000 for two ignition coils and a set of ignition leads.

He said the small crack would be enough to make the spark plugs not perform and that is why the car struggled on the two occasions I mentioned above. He didn't look at the spark plugs. I would have thought that was part of the service. Does it sound like he has investigated this enough?

If I was fixing up the car to be in prime condition, I would just go ahead with it but I just want to get it going, and if it isn't strictly necessary and if it didn't cause the performance issue, then I could leave it for now.

He said there was just water in the radiator, no coolant which surprised me. He said it needed a coolant flush. When he sent the 'quote' he didn't include that. I asked about it, but he hasn't responded, probably because I said I needed a few days to think about the whole thing.

Finally, do you think it would be OK to drive the car towing the trailer a short distance? Would it be OK to drive it to a garage for a second opinion?

He also 'serviced' my car at the same time. The only thing he did that I couldn't do was change the oil and spin the front left tyre (without the hand brake on) to show me that is what the other car's wheel should do. It all seemed very superficial to me which is why I am hesitating with going ahead with the quote despite the low labour cost.

I know this is more than one question.