Had the squealing noise over xmas and found out I need new aux belt and alternator pulley.

Decided to find parts myself as what i was quoted seemed a bit much.

I had a look around for the aux belt but decided to stick to genuine, imagine my surprise when i went to skoda shop and printed allover the belt next to the usual VW AG it said contitech 6pk1180, i checked back on eurocarparts that I had been on earlier and sure enough continental contitech 6pk1180.

Needless to say at only £10 i apologised to the skoda man and left for eurocarparts, just goes to show you pay extra to have VWAG stamped on something even though it is the same part from the same factory.

Yep i did that exact same thing month ago

Fitted myself in less than an hr. Belt only cost 12 quid. Dont even bother asking vw for a thermostat i was quoted £24 compared to ecp just under a fiver!! The vw man said you get what you pay for

Paid £8 for mine from euro when my aux belt snapped on Xmas day!

Don't mind making a saving!

Had it not said contitech on it at skoda, i would have never known. Makes you wonder how many other parts are available at other places. I always shop around for parts but assume oem is better quality.

I know the skoda oil is developed by castrol, and I have bought lucas brake callipers cheaper in the past because they dont have the vag symbol on them.

We should make a list of all the parts that are cheaper elsewhere that are manufactured by same companies as skoda use.

Skoda will happily charge £82 to supply and fit an aux belt on a vrs.

Its the same with oil filters genuine skoda £7.87 made by mann or same mann filter from ECP  3 pound odd.

Yep i did that exact same thing month ago

Fitted myself in less than an hr. Belt only cost 12 quid. Dont even bother asking vw for a thermostat i was quoted £24 compared to ecp just under a fiver!! The vw man said you get what you pay for

Thermostats are a funny thing

Some ecp stats are utter rubbish!

I bought a circoli one for my bmw from ecp (£25) it lasted a month until it failed...

Net result... Back to bmw for a genuine one at £60! And 15k miles on its still working

Buy ****e buy twice.

But aslong as you buy decent oem brands you should be okay

OEM is not made by vag/bmw/vaux etc.

All parts are manufactured by a certain company,some are made to manufacturers specs but others aren't.

Needed a heater blower fan for a 2008 vaux corsa last week,over £200 from vaux,pull the blower out to find it's made by Denso,search the part number in Google and hey presto brand new ones with matching part numbers on E-bay for under £50.