Sewer line repair or replace?

I've read tons of info in this forum about main line problems - thanks!

My situation is this: I had a backup last week and had the line cleaned out and camera'd. There are two bad clay pipe breaks within 16' of connection to the city (manhole access on my yard) and also a separation of my house plastic line from the clay line just outside the foundation. They recommended replacing the whole line either using burst for $3300 or trench for $3100. I had a 2nd company come out to camera and quote and they said I had the option of replacing the damaged 16' with plastic and then hand-digging a smaller hole by the foundation to repair the separation since it isn't real deep. Price about $1850. They said the rest of the clay line looked pretty good and shouldn't cause problems, although they quoted the whole line replacement for $2600 if I wanted it. House built in 1975.

Other than the "peace of mind" issue, is there any reason not to just do the repair? I watched both camera jobs and saw what was there. Appeal of the repair is not having to tear some fence down and then replace it. Any opinons or something I'm missing? Thanks!

Clay pipe sucks. If you have the money, replace it.

I'd replace it as well...

The clay pipe that would remain after a patch job would eventually fail and you'd be right back where you are now. Replace the clay now and be done with it.

I am not sure how much is left after you dig at the house and 16' from the city connection, but if two sections of clay pipe have failed, the other joints should not be much better.

Thanks to all of you. The verdict seems to be for replace vs repair. Can I ask one more? I had a bid for 2600 to replace via trenching vs 3300 for a burst method replace. Other than the surface issues (lawn, etc), is there any reason to spend $700 more for burst? Is a trench replacement actually better?

bursting pulls a "flexible" pipe into the space where the old one was. IF there are any soft spots in the ground, or deflections in the pipe the new line will follow them. I would ONLY do a bursting when the cost of trenching was MORE than bursting and/or conditions made trenching too difficult, (such as going through a grove of trees or down a steep hill).

Thanks HJ for the info.