Ok Another rant ...

My 4year old VW golf needs a service and MOT, when i bought it i thought it would come under long life servicing as my previous golf but because of low mileage i had to rivert back to 1 year servicing.

Anyway, last years bill was £207 with MOT, on the invoice it showed 4x £15 for the oil, £60 fecking quid for oil that gets changed every year, robbing c**ts.
So as its out of warranty now i decided to ring local garage, they want £165, so i thought sound, but the woman mentions a cambelt change according to her data, every 80k or 48 months, im not close to either, but she quotes me £343.80 as they always do the water pump.

Ive looked in my manual after speaking to them and it says 100k and no mention of time, so i ring VW, they quote me £169 for the minor service and MOT and £329 for the cambelt if i want it done.
I complain and mention the manual, " yeah we've changed the cambelt servicing now to a shorted time".

What? have cambelts suddenly got poor quality, or am i being synical and think that they pull in more work if they pop that in the servicing earlier?
Surely that is some kind of false wording or break of contract?

Ive ran a few VW's and only changed cambelts at 80k, so far touch wood, no problems.
My car has done less than 15k from new, am i right to refuse a cambelt change?

Also, the woman tells me the reason why they dont charge as much this year is my car is out of warranty so they dont need to check as much, confidence eh?


So in the end i booked it with VW as it was so close to the local garages price and they have been fine till now.

Rant over...

[timwilky]

Personally I do cambelts at 60-70,000. It just isn't worth the risk.

Where the water pump is driven off the cambelt I also change that at the same time. It is sod all extra labour and the potential for a water pump failure to take out the cambelt is such that I consider it foolish not to.


The last belt/pump I did was to a clio from memory the belt kit with new tensioners and a waterpump cost about £70. 3 hours of my time and back on the road.

I note you have a VW. The daughter had issues with her VW dealer who wanted to put new discs on. I had the previous history that showed the same dealer had fitted new discs 14,000 earlier. When he wanted to charge her 50% more than quickfit for a tyre time to give up on a main dealer history.

belts do degrade over time. but it is use that causes most damage. I wouldn't consider changing a 15,000 mile belt

cambelt etc due on my alfa .. £450 .. wish I could do it myself but need spesh cam adjusters.

cars are an expensive neccesity ...

Originally Posted by timwilky

Personally I do cambelts at 60-70,000. It just isn't worth the risk.

Where the water pump is driven off the cambelt I also change that at the same time. It is sod all extra labour and the potential for a water pump failure to take out the cambelt is such that I consider it foolish not to.


The last belt/pump I did was to a clio from memory the belt kit with new tensioners and a waterpump cost about £70. 3 hours of my time and back on the road.

I note you have a VW. The daughter had issues with her VW dealer who wanted to put new discs on. I had the previous history that showed the same dealer had fitted new discs 14,000 earlier. When he wanted to charge her 50% more than quickfit for a tyre time to give up on a main dealer history.

belts do degrade over time. but it is use that causes most dame. I wouldn't consider changing a 15,000 mile belt

Tim fullly agree about the water pump, changed them myself when doing cambelts.
My previous cars have said 80k on the service book so done it to them, out of the 20+ cars ive owned only a ford orion at 110k had a cambelt snap.

I defo think a cambelt at 15k is excessive.

Originally Posted by Quiff Wichard

cambelt etc due on my alfa .. £450 .. wish I could do it myself but need spesh cam adjusters.

cars are an expensive neccesity ...

Shop round though Dave, as i had my old passat done £150 cheaper by a VW specialist a few years ago.

Youre right though, this month £169 service and MOT, tax £115

[dizzyblonde]

Cars are expensive, then folk wonder why its taken so long for me to decide a car is a good idea......

two new landy tyres, an ABS speed sensor broke, need replacing, and possibly a Viscous coupling wotsit in 4000 miles time.

Alternative is buy a car that has chain driven cams.
Lyn's Polo has had one cam belt change in its 11 year life and still only has 52K on the clock. Six years on low mileage is average for a cam belt change and even then only to cover deterioration rather than wear

Originally Posted by Quiff Wichard

cars are an expensive neccesity ...

That's the problem - I only have the SV, but we absolutely NEED our lass' car to do shopping trips / carting stuff about / trips to the tip / picking friends up etc. Simply too much hassle to be without at least one car IMO, but they have a nasty habit of getting expensive from time to time!

" Then folk wonder why its taken so long for me to decide a car is a good idea"......quote


Not having a license to drive one might have been another factorsorry

All motorised modes of transport cost a fortune to keep in tip top condition-----try looking at commercial vehicle service cost if you want a shock

[dizzyblonde]

A bike is far cheaper to maintain in all senses IMO...and no, i don't want to know the running of a truck, I'll never have a license for one of those Mac

Having a license...why do you think I never bothered to get one up til now...cause cars are expensive!