I'm seriously considering getting my cambelt changed  slightly early than it needs (car is registered March 2016, and on 64k miles) as I noticed that my  coolant tank looks discoloured (mit silkat issue perhaps but heating is ok on all sides at present) and see little point in changing the coolant to flush out old if its contaminated,  and then doing cambelt and water pump in March 2021 which requires it draining anyway. 

 

The only dealer locally that has cost on their website says its £649 for belt and water pump, which is odd as UK Skoda website quotes the maximum to be £549 for belt and water pump.  

 

I am waiting for a local Indy to come back with price next week and wondered :

 

What sort of cost people had from their Indy garages compared to Dealer prices for this work? 

 

Thanks

 

 

I had mine changed at an Indy who uses genuine parts and cost me £385 for timing belt and water pump.

12 hours ago, Ecomatt said:

I had mine changed at an Indy who uses genuine parts and cost me £385 for timing belt and water pump.

Wow, that is an epicly low price!!

13 hours ago, paulski said:

I'm seriously considering getting my cambelt changed  slightly early than it needs (car is registered March 2016, and on 64k miles) as I noticed that my  coolant tank looks discoloured (mit silkat issue perhaps but heating is ok on all sides at present) and see little point in changing the coolant to flush out old if its contaminated,  and then doing cambelt and water pump in March 2021 which requires it draining anyway. 

 

The only dealer locally that has cost on their website says its £649 for belt and water pump, which is odd as UK Skoda website quotes the maximum to be £549 for belt and water pump.  

 

I am waiting for a local Indy to come back with price next week and wondered :

 

What sort of cost people had from their Indy garages compared to Dealer prices for this work? 

 

Thanks

 

 

I'm pretty sure they don't drain the coolant to do the waterpump. 

 

Dealer was much cheaper (by about £200) for me to to the cambelt and waterpump, dsg fluid, service and mot than a local VAG specialist quoted. 

27 minutes ago, MeteorOcty said:

I'm pretty sure they don't drain the coolant to do the waterpump. 

 

Dealer was much cheaper (by about £200) for me to to the cambelt and waterpump, dsg fluid, service and mot than a local VAG specialist quoted. 

Thats interesting about the coolant. I'm aware the car has several systems to warm up efficiency but assumed removal of the pump would loose some if not all the coolant. 

 

How @Ecomattgot under £400 for this job is amazing. My old PD 1.9 was about that 10 years ago! 

4 hours ago, MeteorOcty said:

I'm pretty sure they don't drain the coolant to do the waterpump. 

 

Surely, they must do. It's contaminated, if they didn't that'd be like an oil change without a new filter.

 

My water pump and belt was £275 ex VAT last month. Mine's a 65plate just surpassed 60k.

18 minutes ago, courty said:

Surely, they must do. It's contaminated, if they didn't that'd be like an oil change without a new filter.

 

My water pump and belt was £275 ex VAT last month. Mine's a 65plate just surpassed 60k.

Indy I presume...prices are just too high down south (Sussex) 

42 minutes ago, courty said:

Surely, they must do. It's contaminated, if they didn't that'd be like an oil change without a new filter.

 

My water pump and belt was £275 ex VAT last month. Mine's a 65plate just surpassed 60k.

Whatever get lost gets replaced but I was told its not a complete renewal

Got an Indy price of £430 today, so that's good and they said they change all the coolant when they do it. Happy days. 

 

Thanks for replies all. 

3 hours ago, MeteorOcty said:

Whatever get lost gets replaced but I was told its not a complete renewal

 

Oh wow, honestly thought the whole thing got emptied and refilled. 

Had mine done at an indy in Worcestershire in May this year. £375 all in, cam belt, water pump and a coolant change. Noticed a huge change immediately and still going strong even after 10k miles (fortunately lockdown hasn’t interfered with my job)

4 hours ago, paulski said:

Indy I presume...prices are just too high down south (Sussex) 

Oh, yes I forgot to post that. Skoda wanted £540ish for the honour, went to some random place my uncle recommended as he had his pump and belt on his A7 done in August.

10 hours ago, paulski said:

Thats interesting about the coolant. I'm aware the car has several systems to warm up efficiency but assumed removal of the pump would loose some if not all the coolant. 

 

How @Ecomattgot under £400 for this job is amazing. My old PD 1.9 was about that 10 years ago! 

I had it done at a garage called VolkService in Blackpool. Excellent service and very professional. 

20 hours ago, Ecomatt said:

I had it done at a garage called VolkService in Blackpool. Excellent service and very professional. 

 

do they give you a loan car for the day, google tells me that garage is only 295 miles from my house 

21 hours ago, paulski said:

 

do they give you a loan car for the day, google tells me that garage is only 295 miles from my house 

They do yes. It is a Citigo.

So i got it booked in for £430 in a few weeks time and they provide me a courtesy car for nothing which is great. But I was gobsmacked when another local Indy got back to me with a price of £550 +Vat....more than the main dealer £549 fixed price. Granted the dealer makes more money on other jobs and costs arent easily comparable to smaller operation. Its quite a lottery for this job by all accounts. 

£550 now?

Was £490 when I was forced to do it in Oct 2017 due to leaking from waterpump. 1 year earlier than anticipated.

 

The fixed price risen by 12% over 3 years.

UK Rate of inflation was 2.29% in 2018, 1.74% in 2019, let's assume 2% in 2020. That only comes to £520.

 

Main dealer and VAG rip off, as usual!

On 09/11/2020 at 20:02, Nickj633 said:

Had mine done at an indy in Worcestershire in May this year. £375 all in, cam belt, water pump and a coolant change. Noticed a huge change immediately and still going strong even after 10k miles (fortunately lockdown hasn’t interfered with my job)

 

Noticed a huge change in what? 

The stability of the water temp, the running temp of the oil.