Received an email (reproduced in full below)from my dealership today.

Car is 2020 1.5 TSI that has done only 24k miles (as they know from a recent service):

"Vehicle Reminder

According to our records your Skoda Kamiq (*******) is due for the below.

No Cambelt Change Req (Due Date 25 September 2025)

Please let us know if this is not the case or call ------ or ------- Service Department to book your vehicle in to our workshop.

J**** K*****

Aftersales Manager"

Before I contact them, so I don't appear totally dumb, any thoughts from those with knowledge of the subject?

If the message is to be taken literally - no change needed - why send it to me?

I haven't looked it up, but I was under the impression that the TSI had a ridiculously long cambelt interval - 100k miles or something like that.

Yes, change interval was standardised across Europe, previously UK had a 5 year change recommendation (and would have been 5 years when service record started), this changed July 2023 from memory. Think of pointless email as dealers pathetic efforts of a 5 year old birthday card, it is of no use other than reminding you it will hit 5th birthday.

Now something like 12-15 years or about 130k miles.

But it is now supposed to be checked for wear at the larger service intervals, and if visually appears to be splitting, worn, or glazed should be flagged for change.

.

Edited 11 August, 202511 Aug by SurreyJohn

SurreyJohn

Thanks a lot. I understand now. It does beg the question, did the service dept bother to check the belt, as you suggest, when they had it there a couple of weeks back.

Almost certainly not, but at that mileage there's very, very little chance any degradation has occurred.

As a minimum have the belt inspected. Changing a belt will feel cheap compared to the alternative.

Thanks, all. I'll give them a bell now I have a notion about the background.

Well ours is 4 years old and has just turned 10,000km so when should we change ours as we on 12 month services

Right, an update to tidy up my original post.

Finally spoke to the service manager today. He confirms what SurreyJohn had previously said. So, effectively the cambelt should last the life of the engine.

He cannot understand why the email message was sent to me. There had been an update put on their internal system that was specifically not intended to generate an email to the customer.

Incidentally, checking the invoice for the recent service, there is an item for visual check of cambelt (I know you can't see much of it) that is ticked off in green. So, I can again sleep soundly at night!

7 hours ago, Exkiwi said:

Well ours is 4 years old and has just turned 10,000km so when should we change ours as we on 12 month services

About 10 years time.

The belts are now reinforced with a Kevlar like material, should last comfortably 12-15 years, and 200,000km. Possibly even longer

Changing a 1.5 TSI ACT is far from a cheap alternative @ £800 to £1,200 plus at a main dealers.

The Service Manager is right. The Cam belt can last the life of an engine.

Belt fails and engine is dead. Maybe at 60,000 miles maybe 160,000 miles.

How much is a new engine exactly?

There is no such thing as "for life" this applies equally to oils and things like cambelts. The manufacturer cannot possibly test every single operating condition.

I always regard" for life" to mean just past the period of any extended warrantee you might be able to get on the vehicle. In the UK that means 100,000 miles as an example.

You need to understand your own use case for the vehicle and act accordingly. Long motorway drives one up with the cruise on v 4 up with a caravan on the back in the Scottish highlands. (hypothetical examples folks!)

I'd far rather have the cambelt inspected annually and be told at 80,000 miles I need a new one than to plough on and have it fail at 100,001 miles. But this is just my opinion and others may see things differently.

37 minutes ago, Aldfort said:

How much is a new engine exactly?

It varies, but the last one I bought was £290 delivered, with just 16k miles on it.

Most will probably cost a bit more. 😁

Ha ha that wasnt last week I bet Punters should work it out The little mechatronics bit that works your gears is a bit over $4000 so guess how much the whole engine is.. Have seen figures in AUS of $13,000+ for a factory one.

I will be changing belt at 7 years if car and I last that long.

In our hot steamy climate things deteriorate just sitting around so is not worth the risk IMHO. Even leaving tyres exposed to the sun here brings on early cracking as the ozone levels are high and it is that which attacks rubber Eg its mid winter here and this week temp during the day is in the mid 20,s and very sunny.

No, it was in early 2021.

@Aldfort having a cambelt inspected annually is Simply Clever. Maybe 'you' can do that yourself on a 1.5 TSI ACT. No technician required . The time to change the cambelt is 6.5 hours. But that is because of the dismantling required to get it off, set up the new etc. getting to see the belt is only maybe 90 mins to 2 hours. Maybe get a quote from a main dealer on checking the belt. £250 a year might give you peace of mind.

Edited 16 August, 202516 Aug by Ootohere

@Ootohere Don't quite understand the point you are making? You seem to be speculating on how long it would take to check the cambelt?

On the Evo 2 engine there is a top cover held on by two bolts and a couple of clips. Looks very removable without too much fuss.

@Aldfort Great stuff, you will be checking your cambelt very easily then as you put miles on the car.

@Ootohere - No , I'll be paying the dealer to do it every 3 years.😁