Eldest son decided he wanted to get another car,he's had his mk3 Astra 1.6 16v since passing his test 5 years ago and it's served him well but it was getting tired. Saw a Mk1 Octavia VRS (Y reg) in a local garage and went to have a look, Seemed tidy enough and last 2 owners have been women. Service booklet was well stamped up until last entry in October 2009 and no receipts for anything after that which was a concern but as it had only covered 10,000 since then I wasn't overly troubled. There was also the lack of any details of a cambelt kit/water pump change ever being done.

Chap said he'd get it freshly MOT'd, serviced and get the cambelt and waterpump done. Agreed on the deal and on Tuesday we went and picked it up. He said the cambelt was knackered but that it had been changed at some point in it's life as it was a Gates kit on there and not a skoda (VAG) part. Looked in the service booklet and it was stamped up and written that cambelt kit/water pump had been done and on the yes/no sections it had been ticked as having a new air filter and an oil change.

On the way back home (less than 10 miles) I decided with the boy that whatever they hadn't done we would go to ECP and get/do everything else ourselves (plugs,coil packs,fuel filter,pollen filter and brake fluid). Lifted the bonnet as I wanted to see what coil packs I needed as a look on google seemed to show pictures of 2 different types for the 1.8. Straight away I saw that the oil filter was grubby so knew that that hadn't been changed, checked the oil and there was no way that had only been in the car 10 miles so that hadn't been done either. Alarm bells ringing now I undid the air filter lid and ***** me that wasn't new either. So now I'm there thinking has the bloody belt been done. Well we added oil/filter and air filter to the ECP shopping list and got it all done yesterday evening (bar the fuel filter and brake fluid).

Boy rang the garage this morning,he forgot to mention about the oil but apparently the bloke said some crap along the lines of they probably thought the air filter wasn't bad so just blew it out. WTF!!!. Boy says well if it's like that how do we know the the cambelt's been done but he insists it has and that he has an invoice to prove it that we can have a copy of (going up there Saturday after I have finished milking at one of the dairies to get that and walk into the garage to ask what they are playing at). I've told the boy to get to Halfords and get an anitfreeze tester (if they took out the waterpump the coolant will have come out so they should have replaced that with fresh) and if it's **** weak then chances are that hasn't been done or they've filled it up with just water. Then I shall tell them that I'll be getting a good friend of mine that works for himself in a shared garage in Bridport to check if it's a new kit/pump (I agreed to pay a £100 'contribution' on top of the cars asking price for this to be done) and if it isn't I'm going to be reporting them to local trading standards. Bloody outrageous to have stamped the book as having done the oil and air filter and it hasn't been. Oh and I checked the last (local again) garage that stamped the book and they use unipart filters. Sure enough the oil filter,air filter and fuel filter were all unipart. Pollen filter I don't know what make that was but it had a manufacturing date of 2006 and it looked like it too when we took it out. Car runs sweet as a nut with the new bits, just got this understandable doubt over the belt being done to get sorted. Bloody garages wind you up. 

Pop the cambelt cover off yourself, if its only done 10 miles the belt should look pretty fresh or vice versa if its done 100k

Had the same on a Focus we bought at work. Air filter was so clogged up the engine had tried to suck it in. The Focus was never right...

 

Chances are they haven't done the cam belt. I'd take it straight back and get a refund asap.

I'd have returned the car straight away once it was obvious they have lied about the work done.
There's no way they'll have done the cam belt and missed the easy stuff like filters.

Went and tested the coolant this evening and that is at full strength so it looks like they have been 'true' on the belt side of things. I'm still going in there Saturday to get a copy of the invoice for our records and to get him to put it in writing that they've done it,plus ask why they have ticked the book as having had the oil changed and air filter too when it clearly hadn't been. It failed the MOT on three things. Rear coil spring broke, knackered bush in front roll bar and bulb gone in the rear plate. Guess what,the bulb hadn't been replaced  . Checked underneath and at least they have done the bush and spring.

Nowt wrong with Unipart parts are there? :think:

 

Grim story all the same.

If it were me then I'd have done exactly as I did with my current car. Negotiate a discount on the price to take into account the belt and service and get it done myself at a trusted garage, its the only way you can be sure its been done.

Nowt wrong with Unipart parts are there? :think:

 

Grim story all the same.

No,my point is the filters are obviously old and the last garage recorded in the service book only use Unipart filters,according to their website. I didn't even know Unipart still existed I haven't seen a unipart van round this way for years. It's all Euro Car Parts or Dorset Auto Spares. When I go into the garage tomorrow I'll ask them what filters they use before showing them the old ones I took off. If they say anything else than Unipart I have them by the short and curlies. Not that I don't know the filters aren't years old already.

If it were me then I'd have done exactly as I did with my current car. Negotiate a discount on the price to take into account the belt and service and get it done myself at a trusted garage, its the only way you can be sure its been done.

 

I think from now on this is way I'll go. I've heard of garages giving the oil filter a wipe to make it look fresh but never actually been a victim of such a disgusting practise.