TEntomologist

Thank you. This is super helpful. And I'm definitely not refuting your statement regarding replacing lifetime parts that do wear and malfunction. 🙂

The aforementioned garage, who stated it needed replacing, operated purely on sound. When I spoke to the other garages and Skoda UK, who took my car details, they confirmed it didn't need replacing on my car. But that little gem of a detail regarding 18JUN2011 is good to know.

Was recently told by one garage my timing chain needed replacing because it was noisey, despite it sounding how it did when I bought that car at two years old and 20000 miles (currently 10 years old, 70000 miles). I phoned the various [2] other Skoda garages and they said the chain is a lifetime part. They stated it would only need replacing if it snaps or significant wear has been physically identified by taking an actual look (not by sound). And for the former you would have the car recovered to a Skoda garage to repair. This was confirmed by Skoda UK.