How much for a new cambelt on a Fabia 1.4 16v

[Little Jo]

Hi Guys - just been charged £600 for a cambelt change. That sounds excessive to me. Dealer claims labour is £120 + VAT and labour for the job is 3.5 hours + the cam belt is over £100.

[Ootohere]

Dealer does not only claim thats the hourly rate, it seems to be what they charged you.

Did you not ask the price & the details before getting them to do it?

Bl00dy expensive, you dont say where you are tho.

Someone will be able to confirm the Parts prices, or call or check the Parts price yourself if you had been buying across the counter.

george

[Little Jo]

I was quoted £420 was just the labour, excluding VAT. I am in Herts and we don't have many Skoda dealers in the area to provide any competition. The one dealer that was close to home closed last year and no one else took over the franchise.

The quality of the work isn't in doubt, it just seems very steep.

[dibujo]

I paid £299 last month and another local Skoda dealer quoted the same.

[Ootohere]

£420 including VAT was more than expensive enough.

Did they clearly say to you, £420 PLUS VAT making you clearly know it was going to be £420 plus £84 = £504

Quality of work needs to be OK.

its getting towards a Mechanics wages for a week paid from 3.5 hours on your car.

If they get 35 hours customers work @ £120 = £4200.

it covers wages & overheads quite well.

? Was there a Courtesy car, Valet & nice coffee?

george

[Tech1e]

Labour time is no where near 3.5 hours for a 16v cambelt.

[mannyo]

I'm guessing this was either Progress in Letchworth or the dealer in Watford who's name escapes me. I would have recommended my friendly ex. Skoda dealer in Stevenage, excellent work at very competitive labour rates. They stopped being a dealer after Skoda placed excessive demands on them, including moving to larger premises. The same staff are still onsite, and they have all the same dealer equipment and diagnostic tools.

[abarth_1200]

If the dealer is part of the fixed price scheme you should have only paid £299

Here is a link to the web page

http://www.skoda.co.uk/GBR/owners/national-pricing/Pages/Maintenance.aspx?gclid=CNqr_uHp9rECFaUmtAodYgYAZQ

[Little Jo]

If you must know, it was £420 + VAT for labour and £122 + VAT for the parts. That didn't include a new water pump either. It was Palmers of Watford. The total bill for that, a set of wiper blades and a service was £929. They wanted to do a big service even though the car had it on its last visit, so had haggled them and we got the service for £189. With such poor dealer coverage now, I doubt Skoda will be on my shortlist when my Fabia comes up for replacement. Sad because they make brilliant cars that do exactly what it says on the tin.

[Phil-E]

Are they a proper Skoda dealer? If so they have just ripped you off I'm afraid and as above it should have just been £299 for the belt change.

Phil

[Ootohere]

Are you saying it was

£504 for labour including VAT

£146.40 for parts including VAT

£189 for the Service including VAT

£89.60 For wipers and fitting including VAT

= £929

You were robbed. you need to go and get that checked out.

Contact SKODA UK if those were the charges.

george

[fabia55]

You don't have to take it to a Skoda Dealer, any VAG dealer/garage (or any decent VAT registered garage) can service without losing warranty as long as they use oem parts.

wiper blades cost no more than about £25 for expensive Bosch or Skoda ones, takes 10 seconds to fit so they're saying the labour fit wiper blades was about £40-£50?

Edited 20 August, 2012 by fabia55

[abarth_1200]

I would strongly suggest calling Skoda UK and complaining the garage has overcharged, Palmers Skoda appear to be part of the fixed pricing scheme according to Skoda and the work you have said you had carried out should have only cost you,

Cambelt £299

Minor service £129

And another generous £40 for the wipers

Comes to £469, half price!

Edited 20 August, 2012 by abarth_1200

[VWD]

Unless I've mad a mistake , I notice that Letchworth is only about approx 30 miles from Milton Keynes, where Unit 18 ( Tech1e's place) is .

[awfabia]

Littlejo, as you are in Herts and the local dealer has closed down, you could try independent VW / Skoda / Seat specialist Colin Gunning in Hertford

http://www.colingunning.co.uk/

Very experienced, knows VW group products, helpful, pleasant and inexpensive. Top bloke. Enjoy!

[awfabia]

Oh, by the way - don't desert Skoda because of dealer coverage in north London / south Herts because they are sure to appoint a new dealer soon. Darlingtons in Harlow closed recently giving them another 'open point' as well.

As you say Skoda are a great product and you will really need good dealer coverage if you change to some of the other less reliable makes.

[Tech1e]

Unless I've mad a mistake , I notice that Letchworth is only about approx 30 miles from Milton Keynes, where Unit 18 ( Tech1e's place) is .

Thanks for the heads up. Not with Unit18 anymore, however Alistair who runs it is a great chap who knows his onions and will quote you happy.

[curs]

Just had my daughters (2009) seat ibiza 14 16v done at my local garage two weeks ago £285.00 inc new water pump and vat, dealers price rip off.

Edited 22 August, 2012 by curs

[Hudson1]

Holy good god, that is a total rip off. £1000 for a cambelt and service.... watchdog is where you need to be.

[sharkrider]

My local dealer is currently doing an offer, cambelt change on any octy or fabia £250 all in