I just posted this on the Fabia forum as I own both a Fabia and a Karoq. My Karoq is due its service in a few weeks so I wanted to share this for other folk. I'm in a bit of a quandry on what to do really (not whether to change the belt or not but more whether this should be reported to VAG, Skoda UK or even the trading standards:

I would ask the Dealer Principal in writing if this is their policy.

It was only in the UK which is not a Dust Rich Country up to 2023 that Main Dealers / SKODA / VW UK were advising, giving recommendations, or saying the schedule was at 5 years / 50,000 miles. Taking the p!th as it turned out.

Daughter's 1 litre Ateca was red flagged "urgent" for cambelt change at 5yrs.

Had a discussion with the dealer and they said SEAT UK (I don't know to what extent they exist separately from the other brands) told them to still recommend the change as they won't cover failure even if there's a warranty in place (car has All In).

I chatted to SEAT UK (which I think is actually a third party call centre) on Twitter and then also said it wouldn't be covered. They were vague about consequential damage. Looking at the All In warranty terms I don't see any reason why the belt, and therefore consequential damage, wouldn't be covered.

The Skoda All T&C says this but not sure about damage to rest of engine if it snaps?!?!1

Edited 16 July, 202516 Jul by smipx

@smipx we also a Fabia and Karoq. The Fabia is 2015 1.2 TSI 110bhp, it’s serviced by local independent garage who I’ve used for 20 years. His recommendation was to continue to replace the cambelt every 5 years, because the Fabia only does 2,000 miles a year all short journeys so a very high (20) cold starts per 100 miles. The cambelt is going through a high number of heat cycles which he says is what does the damage. We bought the Fabia in 2016 and will keep it at least another 10 years, so it will have one more cambelt change. Small price to pay for peace of mind.

5 hours ago, smipx said:

The Skoda All T&C says this but not sure about damage to rest of engine if it snaps?!?!1

I can't recall exactly without digging it up, but the SEAT one (at the time, they may have changed it - I'd be surprised if the various brands have different T's & C's) but SEAT referred to belts not being covers, and the terms did refer to un-encased belts. I'd regard the cambelt as encased, although SEAT might argue that it's got a cover on, rather than being encased.

In the Skoda term above it's clearly covered so it would be therefore be ridiculous if consequential loss wasn't covered - a new cambelt isn't going to be much use if the engine is destroyed internally!

5 hours ago, thamestrader said:

Small price to pay for peace of mind.

How small is the price?

On the 1.0 and, espeically , the 1.5 petrols, it's quite an involved job. I've heard of dealers asking £1200 although I have started to see much lower prices now and again.

It does seem to be generally suggested that it's worth getting the diesels done every 5yrs but that's an easier job.

2 hours ago, Rory said:

How small is the price?

On the 1.0 and, espeically , the 1.5 petrols, it's quite an involved job. I've heard of dealers asking £1200 although I have started to see much lower prices now and again.

It does seem to be generally suggested that it's worth getting the diesels done every 5yrs but that's an easier job.

The Fabia cost £340 inc parts and VAT done once so far, my 2.0 diesel cost around £600 inc parts and VAT done 3 times (every 36K). Not had the Karoq long enough to need it doing yet, there seem to be suggestions that the 2.0 TSI has a chain rather than a belt I suppose 'small price' is a relative - it might be argued that the £1800 I spent on cambelt replacements goes some way to paying for the repairs if the cambelts were never changed.