On the diesel the water pump is driven by the same cambelt but on the petrol it's a separate belt.

 

Iam keen to keep up to date with servicing my vehicles.
My yeti is a 2016 1.2 Dsg model and I've been advised that there is a 10yr (150k miles) service limit on cam belts.
My car is 9 yrs old and only 30k, so it's coming up to needing replacement next year. So I went along to my local Skoda main dealer in Letchworth to get a quote, I was shocked when they quoted me £960 for cam belt replacement.
I was expecting £400/500 ?
Can people tell me if they have had a cam belt changed recently and what the cost should be? This quote seems really expensive to me ?

Hi, I'm not surprised your shocked, you went to a main dealer for a quote.

A decent garage I would think around £350-£380 including a water pump.

 

The price from an independent wouldn't be as cheap as Finbar suggests and there is no need to change the water pump with a cambelt change on a petrol, like there is an a diesel. Your original guess was more on the mark I'd say, maybe a bit low depending on where in the UK you are.

Any information on the belt already being changed in the 9 years? The life of belts when the Yeti was new was 5 years so a responsible owner would have had it changed then. The "new " life of belts as 140K or 10 years was introduced by Skoda in 2023 when your car was 7 years old.

 

I had my 1.2 petrol engine semi rebuilt and the vehicle had been sitting for a very long time.

My thinking was, sod it, it's costing enough, replace the belt and pump and be done with.

My friend has a diesel Yeti at a 138k and he is having the belt and pump replaced.

I think he said £425 but includes a couple of filters, they live in Yorkshire.

But I don't know, I was surmising off what they told me.

 

It's three years since I had mine changed and my record shows £387 with oil and filter change at same time and that was a one man, but very experienced and trusted, set up. I would imagine prices have only increased since then and bigger garages with bigger overheads would have been more at the time. From what I remember it is not a straightforward job due to access limits so labour cost racks up.

 

That's an interesting point, I remember being shown where the pump was situated and it was recommended I replace the pump at the same time as the belt as pump was as difficult to get to, it was deep inside the engine compartment.

As far as position is concerned is the pump more or less situated the same for a diesel and petrol?

 

I had mine done locally by a trusted mechanic and he changed the water pump, but mine is a Diesel and I have always been told to change that at the same time, don'tknow if its the same for a Petrol. Cost me £445.00 inc VAT. Glad we did as it had been 5 years since the last change and small cracks had just started to appear in the belt.

 

Thanks for the replies, I know going to a main dealer is always going the a bit more costly, but it was an interesting exercise!
I think I will have to shop around some local independent garages and see what they quote?
For info about belt service intervals, I have contacted both Skoda UK and main dealers and they both quoted a 10 yr or 150k lifespan for cam belts, on my vehicle year and make.
I know there's a lot of opinions about the topic, especially as it seems that the VW vehicles with similar engines have different advice on cam belt lifespan, but maybe that's just a way for them to make a bit of money in their service department?

 

Mine is a diesel rather than petrol so it has a belt and pump change, the last time it was in the £600 pound range and was done at a Dealer as they were almost the same price as an independent. They got the job as I assumed they would be more familiar with a Yeti. I think the dealer you tried didn't want the job and priced it to discourage you.

 

I was discussing prices in general with a friend who owns a garage and he said quite a few independents have now been pushed into charging VAT due to the considerable increase in the cost of spares. You did of course always indirectly pay for the VAT on parts, but it's now also on the labour element. The addition costs of VAT book keeping/accounting also has to be covered.

 

And the additional costs of gas and electricity to heat and run workshop equipment.