How much to pay for a cambelt change?

[Nessy]

As the cambelt change on my AFN TDi is due in 8k miles I've began comparing prices to get the job done.
First stop was a local independent VW/Audi garage who quoted approx £350 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked2.gif, saying the whole front end of the A4 has to come off to do the belt change....
Next stop was a general car care centre (not that I would take the car there , just wanted a quick quote you understand /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif ), which was approx £150 labour plus the cambelt kit (£110) which they reckoned would include the belt, tensioner and idler pulley.
Lastly I visited my local Audi Centre who said that until Dec 31st they had an offer on cambelt changes and would do it at £270 instead of their usual £360.
The only thing that concerned me was when I was discussing exactly what would be changed the Audi Centre said they don't change the idler pulley?
On being challenged about this the answer was that it wasn't deemed necessary?
How do these prices compare to what is normally charged?
At the moment I'm inclined to let the Audi Centre do the job, but would appreciate any comments.

Thanks

Paul

 

[evomaster3000]

I paid £195 on an a6 AFN (still envolves front end off) But it was only changed cos i didn't know if it had been done so i changed it at 145 000 miles when i got it.
They didn't do the pulleys tho which reduced cost.
That was just a local (expensive!) garage £42.50/hour.

Try some places in bristol as ur in cardiff thats where i get work done, pc motors on glouster road are good £30/hour.

on the other hand just go thru the yellow pages and ring around.

 

[MikeA3]

Just had mine done on my A3 TDI, set me back £220 from a VW / seat garage in dover,

as evomaster said, probably best to phone around and quote figures at people.

 

[Nessy]

Thanks for the replies, the Audi dealer quote now seems rather expensive....
Time to shop around more methinks....

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MikeA3]

Dunno if this will be any help but i was originally going to use a small local garage to do the job (family friend), I know he was having problems getting the right tools to do the cambelt as VAG supply them to dealers but don't generally sell them to independant garages.

Have you thought about going to a VW / Seat / Skoda dealers? - it's all the same engine at the end of the day.

Mike

 

[chrisb]

I had a local independent garage do my A3 TDi belt. Although the front has to come of an A4, this makes access easier than the A3- this guy had done a Passat which is very similar to the A4.

He charged £150, and the parts cost about £120 IIRC for a belt, tensioner, and idler from an Audi dealer- I bought and supplied them.

 

[Griffter]

Germania in Newport are doing mine ('97 A4) for £300 + vat. It wasn't the cheapest quote, but they gave me the best impression of knowing what was invloved. Job includes belt, tensioner and water pump.

 

[Nessy]

[ QUOTE ]
Germania in Newport are doing mine ('97 A4) for £300 + vat. It wasn't the cheapest quote, but they gave me the best impression of knowing what was invloved. Job includes belt, tensioner and water pump.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the info, working in Newport I've often passed that place!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Jason]

Hi Nessy

Our A6 cambelts need to be changed soon and I certainly wont be saving any pennies on bits!New belts,water pump and tensioners.

Which was all changed last time.The water pump was approx £50, prevention better then cure as if it seizes it can rupture your belt (Same for the tensioners) or has a fault engine over heating and you have to take it all in bits again!

So much easier to change all at the same time.

Ever priced a new engine?

Jason

 

[S4_dan]

Audi Quoted me £440 for my A6 2.5tdi belt changed but included everything (tensioners etc)

when my belt snapped, they qouted me over £3000 to repair!!!!!

in the end i got a full rebuild for £1900. I bought the parts through a firend who worked at VW and got a small discount of 10% of all parts.

Local independant garages (i think) can be risky, as a lot of them just want your money so they can keep their business open. If audi is qouting about £100- £150 more, then i'd defo go with Audi stealers.