Last time I had it done by Unit 18, great job, its been fine since whenever that was ! highly recommend.

They recently just did my rad too, after the common water leak, good job, good blokes.

 

Will do again, if I can, they are £100 cheaper, but this doesn't include travel.

Its not really a biggie (30 miles) but apparently seemed to be for my wife when she last followed me to them !! I've never heard somebody whinge so much !! Although she does owe me big time for secretly overspending herself really, so maybe she does owe me one.

 

If I do go back to Milton to save the harrasment of my wife, we are talking taking trains to Milton, at weekends only ?

(which I could do off peak and wouldn't cost that much, £20 I'd say but I'd be without my car a whole week too), so I'm wondering given such high award of respect given to them whether it would be worth the increased effort to return for the belt etc.

 

Alternative is would you trust Skoda main dealer? They have fixed pricing at £400 for belt and pump?

Are they theoretically liable if they service the belt and it snaps well within the interval, is what comes to mind. I've had this car for too long, working well as it was from the factory to let even just one idiot ruin it now.

I would always use a specialist over skoda.

At the same time remind your missus of all the things you have done for her!

Given the infrequency of having this work done, probably every 60,000 miles, I'd go with who you're most comfortable using.  Just tell the wife that no one else within 100 miles does that kind of work, and if it snaps unexpectedly then her shoe/handbag fund will have to be severely reduced.

I done mine myself. I'm no mechanic but fairly competent with a spanner or two. Would rather do a timing belt than a clutch again!

Ask her to follow you and tell her with spending £100 less you will buy her something nice? win win.

Sounds like a plan!! ^^

In all fairness though, my girlfriend is pretty good, 3 times she's picked me up from places now while my cars having work done and she even drove a 150 mile journey to pick me up after I sold my motorbike and dropped it off to the seller

Dude, a cambelt kit and water pump on a PD isn't rocket science, of course you can trust Skoda to do it, it's more about having the right tools and facilities than anything else, plus Skoda will use genuine parts which are vastly superior to pattern parts (particularly the tensioner pulley). What's not to like?

When I used Unit 18 for servicing and repairs the parts came from TPS so were genuine not pattern.

Unit18 will only use genuine parts.

 

Is there any reason you couldn't wait? Pop to the galleon for lunch and have a wander around the beautiful town that is Wolverton.

Any Paid work carried out by a Skoda Dealer, I believe carries a two year Guarantee

Guys, I'm not saying don't use Unit 18, the OP's question was "Can I trust Skoda" to which I replied "Absolutely", I was also just pointing out that pattern tensioners are generally greatly inferior to genuine ones, I wasn't suggesting that Unit 18 use inferior parts either.

Nope, I wouldn't trust them with anything. 

Dude, a cambelt kit and water pump on a PD isn't rocket science, of course you can trust Skoda to do it, it's more about having the right tools and facilities than anything else, plus Skoda will use genuine parts which are vastly superior to pattern parts (particularly the tensioner pulley). What's not to like?

I had mine done by my neighbour (with me watching over his shoulder), but then again he is a mechanic and does own his own garage !! But i know he used genuine Skoda parts because i got them myself from the main dealer, you do not have to use pattern parts if you don't want too, but you have to make sure the garage knows this. To be honest even by my rather basic knowledge of mechanics it lookd really easy to do and i managed to clean a lot of engine bits as they came out as well !!! Bonus.

I had mine done by my neighbour (with me watching over his shoulder), but then again he is a mechanic and does own his own garage !! But i know he used genuine Skoda parts because i got them myself from the main dealer, you do not have to use pattern parts if you don't want too, but you have to make sure the garage knows this. To be honest even by my rather basic knowledge of mechanics it lookd really easy to do and i managed to clean a lot of engine bits as they came out as well !!! Bonus.

 

It is an easy job as long as you have the tools and facilities, a lot of people struggle because they don't have access to a car lift and an engine support cradle, if you have these and the correct locking tools and tensioner adjuster then it's a piece of cake otherwise there's a lot of thrashing around on the floor with the car on axle stands and a jack under the sump, a 6mm drill bit tearing at your forearm while you try and adjust the tensioner with an allen key. Horrible.

Is there any reason you couldn't wait? Pop to the galleon for lunch and have a wander around the beautiful town that is Wolverton.

 

And, a little known fact, but incredibly Wolverton High Street is recognised for having the longest continuation of luxury brand designer shoe and handbag shops in western Europe.  You'll also be saving around £100.  If you furnish your wife with this information, then I'm sure she'll be far more accommodating.  You could be in a spot of trouble when you get home though, but the upside of this is that you'll have a super new cam belt!  Job done, you win.

Skoda mechanics IMO are just as capable if not more trained than so called skoda/ Vw specialists who may have served there time with vw/skoda and then moved on and opened their own garage, yes they charge slightly less( specialists) but Imo skoda mechanics have all the latest software and training possible but it all comes down to personal preference and what you are willing to pay as Skoda are quite expensive.

Personally I prefer to use a local mechanic(15yrs)  only reason is iv'e owned 15  cars now and he has worked on them all without fail and slightly cheaper than main stealers

nothing against specialists as I know a few are great at what they do, 

every one to their own...

Edited 22 July, 201411 yr by ifbravadoasks

Nope, I wouldn't trust them with anything. 

 

Would you trust me?

Unit18 will only use genuine parts.

 

Is there any reason you couldn't wait? Pop to the galleon for lunch and have a wander around the beautiful town that is Wolverton.

 

Exactly what I did last year when both of my Fabias needed their cambelts replacing - car dropped off with Unit18 and then off to the Galleon for lunch!   Was also up there in December to have a window regulator fitted and then in April for an annual service, all done while I waited. Despite a 100 mile round trip, for the last 7 years my cars have been getting their annual service and any other work that was required at Unit 18. To be honest, you don't need SWMBO to follow you there. I always go up in the car that's being worked on - get there early enough and I'm sure Ali and the boys will get the work done before lunch time. Just ask him before you book if he can get it done while you wait (in the pub - lol).

 

Personally, I don't trust the local dealers with my car - had bad experiences with 2 main dealers. HTH.

can anyone recommend someone like unit 18 in the teeside area

Thanks all, opinions noted

Exactly what I did last year when both of my Fabias needed their cambelts replacing - car dropped off with Unit18 and then off to the Galleon for lunch!   Was also up there in December to have a window regulator fitted and then in April for an annual service, all done while I waited. Despite a 100 mile round trip, for the last 7 years my cars have been getting their annual service and any other work that was required at Unit 18. To be honest, you don't need SWMBO to follow you there. I always go up in the car that's being worked on - get there early enough and I'm sure Ali and the boys will get the work done before lunch time. Just ask him before you book if he can get it done while you wait (in the pub - lol).

 

Personally, I don't trust the local dealers with my car - had bad experiences with 2 main dealers. HTH.

I had mine done at local stealer, but only after I'd shown them Ali' price. Made a difference, but I couldn't chance the distance with cam belt that was over mileage and oil that had been sitting in sump for a year. Had the clutch done at 18 and whilst Ali's bloke was doing that, I spotted Ali doing I don't know how many jobs.Heartily recommend unit 18 to any one for price etc.GnatG - know how you feel , I'd a fuel pipe spring a leak on mine a couple of years later, and thought I' see if they had a short length of flexible. No ,we want £160 for parts and two hours labour. Local TPS SAID "FLEXIBLE FUEL PIPE ,CUT TO LENGTH". Cost 50p at local motor factor.

Edited 24 July, 201411 yr by VWD

Thanks all, opinions noted

 

More a case of trusting a garage and people you know. If it has to be done away from Unit18, short of another well known indie, Skoda would be the safest bet to do the job properly.

can anyone recommend someone like unit 18 in the teeside area

 

still looking if anyone can help

Cheers, think I will get this in shortly. Not an awful lot in it but I'd prefer the Unit 18 if poss as I like to try and repeat business with somewhere I can trust

(not something I can say for a lot of garages to be honest!)

Well I did go the extra mile to get to U18 again....! Y/day

 

well worth it, nice day too so despite being a bit bored out my skull I did get in for a nice pint at 12pm which helped it go a lot lot quicker !

Also realised the canal ways are very interesting, that grand junction intersection is worth a walk if you are waiting

 

Really happy, also pointed out some other minor things (not so good in that I have to spend money I can't spend right now!), it does show how on the ball they are.

It was also reassuring to see the old pump and belt in decent condition....although this is in no part some credit to the last time they did the belt about 4 years ago

 

So my cars now all suited, belted and oiled and hopefully will get me through to next year - I'll be able to liberate some more money and have some plans with respect to probably doing the turbo, clutch+flywheel, (remap?) etc etc.