£850 for cam belt change and service..what would you do?

ILW

£30.00 per hour wouldn't cover the overhead of anywhere decent.

fivetide

KTF wrote: »

What garage is that quote from? I haven't seen one that charges £30 an hour for labour for years...

Yes I'd say you are looking at £45 for a decent VAT registered place.

The rest of my first post stands too though. If it is a good car and does what you need it to - better the devil you know I think.

gas4you

I would have thought that even a local independent garage would have to charge at least £60/ hour these days.

Johnmcl7

I'm maybe missing this but what engine is in the car? It sounds like it's a V6 or something rather than a straight four as £850 is expensive even for a VW dealer.

John

rev_henry

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

I'm maybe missing this but what engine is in the car? It sounds like it's a V6 or something rather than a straight four as £850 is expensive even for a VW dealer.

John

Yeah if it is a fancy R32 or something then probably £850 about right. If its just a bog standard 1.6 golf then anywhere will be able to do it.

Erm, pretty sure 2 of my local grubby (but trustworthy) indy places charge £30-35 an hour.

Trebor16

SCUD wrote: »

hello guys...
what would you do if you were in my place?

VW Golf car, 2002 model.
It is driven for 70k miles.

I wanted to have it serviced and change the cam/time belt.

I spoke to a servicing company specialised is servicing VW and Audi and they told me that they will change the cam belt along with the motor pump plus 60k miles service for £850.

this prices is much lower than what VW itself charge.

But how feasible is it to have this car serviced with that cost?

I got the car almost 3 years ago for around £3200, and I have spent like £1500 through these years on changing parts and servicing it.

Should I just continue on this course or there is some other alternatives?

Depending on what model it is a VW dealer would charge £419 for a cambelt change on a VW that is 3 to 10 years old and a full service is about £280. The indy is charging a heck of a lot in my opinion.

As a comparison take a look at this indy in Marlow in Buckinghamshire and what they charge.

http://www.marlowvw.co.uk/vw-services.html

SCUD

Trebor16 wrote: »

Depending on what model it is a VW dealer would charge £419 for a cambelt change on a VW that is 3 to 10 years old and a full service is about £280. The indy is charging a heck of a lot in my opinion.

As a comparison take a look at this indy in Marlow in Buckinghamshire and what they charge.

http://www.marlowvw.co.uk/vw-services.html

This company is charging £266.40 for Cambelt & Tensioner + £92.40 for water pump = 358.5 let us say £360.

so £360 + £219 major service = £579.

That is £271 cheaper than the offer I've got.

But I did search for reviews about this company and i found someone was complaining about SEAT cam belt job he had with them:
http://good-garage-guide.honestjohn.co.uk/garages/m/marlow-vw-high-wycombe/

I am still not sure where to go, sometimes they say you get what you pay. Sometimes paying less is considered as saving money and sometimes means cheap finishing or less experience.

is there any website help finding independent garages in London?

SCUD

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Some makes are designed to be manufactured not serviced, buying into these makes costs you more in the long run.

that is an interesting sentence.
What makes are requiring less servicing?

I always wanted to buy Mercedes B series car but i was told that i will paying for the badge and the servicing cost is so high.

gilbert_and_sullivan

SCUD wrote: »

that is an interesting sentence.
What makes are requiring less servicing?

I always wanted to buy Mercedes B series car but i was told that i will paying for the badge and the servicing cost is so high.

I'm thinking in modern FWD cars of Toyota/Honda mainly, if chosen well are excellent long term prospects.
Toyota in particular i found so reasonably priced service care wise as to be well worth staying within the dealer network for well into the vehicles life, customer after care in a completely different league to the German makers too.
Hondas in my family and others i know of simply go on giving sterling service for years too.

Merc B class i know little about, ever since the first A Class which could prove eye wateringly expensive...engine/subframe removal to fit a starter motor and Diesel injectors that seize in so tight as to effectively write the engine off, i've vowed never to go near a Merc FWD, my indie doesn't rate them highly and his opinion is good enough for me.

My old Merc serviced mainly by my indie (and lots of jobs DIY'd by me) has proved over time to be ridiculously cheap to maintain, couple of electrical probs as you would expect, engine gearbox and final drive have never been touched apart from oil servicing (chain driven camshaft), its 17 years old and runs as sweet as the day it left the factory.

Merc man dealer servcing is ridiclously expensive, and no reason to go there, same with BMW, there are so many very competent indies about that you never need visit a main dealer...so you can keep your pants pulled up...;)

londonTiger

timing bely should be no more than £350 at an indeoendant garage (including pump).

I don't know what the long service involves - only been driving for a year, I presume all the ususal service stuff cabin filter, engine (oil & air) filters, engine oil, gear oil, power steering fluid, brake system bleeding, replacement of brake disks & pads.. have I missed anything?

No way should that come to 800+ quid.