£1,000 for a service, MOT and changing the timing belt on a Fiesta. Am I being ripped off?

JadeHighland

A garage initially quoted me £200 for a full service and £320 for a the timing belt and water pump for a 2012 Fiesta. 

I've been chasing to get this booked in and now the price has come back different (I think he's forgotten he has already sent me a price) at £1,000, but this time it's with a MOT (he didn't mention that last time) but no mention of the water pump.

Sound about right? I'm in London and it's a 1.25 engine. 

facade

Try getting another quote for comparison.

An MOT is worth £25 so £545-£550 would have been the original price, £1000 seems very steep, unless he is quoting for a load of work he knows it needs to get it through the MOT- like 4 tyres, shock absorbers, brake discs & pads.....

Slinky

My OH's 10 year old BMW is in for a service at the moment. Having front brake pads and discs replaced, that's £860.

chrisw

Have they assumed it's the 1.0 Ecoboost engine for the second quote? The timing belt change for that would push the cost up significantly.

JGB1955

My 2015 Fiesta is having the timing belt, service and MOT done on Monday.  The timing belt replacement, alone, is around £1,000.  I'm expecting a final bill in the region of £1,200 to £1,300.  That's at an independent garage, not a main dealer, in Gloucestershire.

daveyjp

JGB1955 said:

My 2015 Fiesta is having the timing belt, service and MOT done on Monday.  The timing belt replacement, alone, is around £1,000.  I'm expecting a final bill in the region of £1,200 to £1,300.  That's at an independent garage, not a main dealer, in Gloucestershire.

You do need to state which engine to enable the OP to know if it is comparable. 

MCT56

The timing belt and routine service is something any garage could quote on with reasonable accuracy. They generally know how long it takes and the cost of the service items. Phone around local garages to compare their costs. However it is impossible to quote for how much it will cost to PASS an mot because it depends on whether the car FAILS or not. The only way a garage could quote is if they had done a pre-mot inspection, otherwise it is just a guesstimate. If it was me I'd get the MOT test done first ( standard cost of the test is about £60) but some do it for less to attract business as they make their money from the repair side of any failures. You will then be able to decide on whether to get the car repaired at the same place or when and where to get the service and timing belt sorted out. Obviously handy if you can get it all done in one go.  Ask friends and neighbours for garage recommendations.

Baldytyke88

JGB1955 said:

My 2015 Fiesta is having the timing belt, service and MOT done on Monday.  The timing belt replacement, alone, is around £1,000.  I'm expecting a final bill in the region of £1,200 to £1,300.  That's at an independent garage, not a main dealer, in Gloucestershire.

I think I paid £300 for a timing belt change(Zafira) a few years ago, so I would think £400 or more.

I have seen £6/700 mentioned to replace the timing chain on my present vehicle.

GrumpyDil

But without knowing the specific engine hard to say. Wet belts systems seem to cost a whole lot more to get changed than dry belts. 

Goudy

chrisw said:

Have they assumed it's the 1.0 Ecoboost engine for the second quote? The timing belt change for that would push the cost up significantly.

I would imagine this has happened.

The original quote was probably correct or close to it at the time for the 1.25 engine, dry cam belt in your car.

The second, £1000 quote is likely a rough, off the cuff quote for a 1.0 Ecoboost engine in some other Fiesta's, as this has a notoriously iffy and tricky to change cam belt which is wet (it runs in the engine oil).

You can always ask them to confirm the quote on your particular engine or just shop around.
The 1.25 isn't particularly difficult to do and the parts are generally cheap.

Confusedlad

I have a 1.5l Bluemotion Golf, 6 years old with just under 30k miles.  My local indy garage would not change the cambelt as special tooling was required which he didn't have ( & which cost c£800 I was told & specific to this vehicle).  

I called the local VW dealership and was told 10 years or 140k miles was now suggested as the interval for a belt for this vehicle. If I wanted them to do it the cost was over £1200.

Blatant profiteering I think. I'd planned to keep the car but do I risk taking  the advice (which is contrary to my experience) & delay the work?

My wife's car a 2012 polo had a belt change about 4 years ago at a cost of c£400 (local indy not vw).

Crazy!