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Author: Subject: Alhambra service and cambelt - £520 ???
craig1410

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:05 PM Reply With Quote
Alhambra service and cambelt - £520 ???

Hi,
Am I alone in thinking that £520 is quite a lot of money to be expected to pay to give a Seat Alhambra 1.9tdi PD SE a 40k mile service including a cambelt and tensioner? This breaks down as £210 for the service and £310 for the cambelt change.

I may be over-reacting but this is the first time I have had to pay for a timing belt to be done as I have always done them myself. However, one look inside the Alhambra engine bay and suddenly I don't fancy it... I'm also keen to stick with my local Seat dealer (Bickets) since they are very well regarded. Do you think there may be some room for negotiation here or do dealers tend to stick to their guns?

Cheers,
Craig.

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steve_gus

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:09 PM Reply With Quote
in 1998 mazda quoted the service for a 323 v6 inc cam belt as 520 quid.

my dad had a cam belt done on a s reg mondeo and that was 220 quid.

atb

steve





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Jon Ison

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:13 PM Reply With Quote
It still only takes around 2 mins too change a cam belt, unfortunately these days its the hours spent getting too it in the first place that rack up the cost, and main dealer labour rates aren't cheap, somewhere under the bonnet of my vw transporter van is an engine, cant see it though, if i had too service it regular i think id'e change jobs.






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Mark Allanson

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:16 PM Reply With Quote
Try a VAG dealership for a comparason





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steve_gus

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:17 PM Reply With Quote
i have a laguna that has a very capacious bonnet area. however, i too have never seen the engine. its buried under lots of bits of plastic trim!

atb

steve





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Jon Ison

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:19 PM Reply With Quote
I here what your saying Steve, but this is well hidden, i know its there cos i can here it running but apart from oil change and top up it looks grim, good job there reliable.






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dave1888

posted on 21/9/05 at 09:43 PM Reply With Quote
I phoned a Daihatsu dealer for a price for new brake pads £47 + vat new discs £77 + vat each. there tiny pads and discs I wonder where they get there prices from.
I ended up getting pads for £7 and discs for £15 each from maccess. Bloody rip off

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colibriman

posted on 21/9/05 at 11:46 PM Reply With Quote
Craig,
I know someone who works in the office at Bickets, you want me to have a word to see if one of the lads will do it in their own time?

cheers
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Ben_Copeland

posted on 22/9/05 at 04:48 AM Reply With Quote
I had a fully service on my nissan navara done recently. Included all belts and tensioner, and the usual extras.

Just shy of £300, thats replacing everything they could ever possibly replace covered by the service.

Usually i'd service it myself, but i want the nissan service history.





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James

posted on 22/9/05 at 07:21 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Allanson
Try a VAG dealership for a comparason


My Dad's Golf MK4 TDI estate (115PD version) is £400 for a cambelt every 40,000 miles.

That's a penny a mile!!!

Cheers,
James





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ditchlewis

posted on 22/9/05 at 08:07 AM Reply With Quote
It cost me £675 for a service and cam belt change on my Golf GtTdiPD 150. this has to be done every 60K.

Audi and even more expensive! VAG cars use the same parts but you pay more because of your cars badge.

I read some where that Audi has varying scale of labour charges for the model of car say A3= £40/hour, A4= £50/hour etc,etc.

A rip off but we all keep paying.

Ditch






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splitrivet

posted on 22/9/05 at 08:41 AM Reply With Quote
I'd try to barter the price down a bit,everyone does it with me.
It does normally work if your hard faced enough.
Cheers,
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craig1410

posted on 22/9/05 at 11:46 AM Reply With Quote
Thanks for the replies everyone, it looks like this sort of price isn't entirely out of the ordinary.

So, I've bitten the bullet and booked the car in for next week to get it done - I'm fed up fretting about it!

Colin, thanks for offering to speak to Bickets but I had already booked it in before I read your posting and I would hate to get anyone into trouble at the dealership as they seem to be a nice bunch. I'm getting a courtesy car for the day as well which is essential for me to avoid having to take time off work. Maybe I should have tried them for a discount or maybe even an attractive trade-in...

Anyway, thanks again everyone for the advice.
Craig.

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britishtrident

posted on 22/9/05 at 11:49 AM Reply With Quote
Sounds OK
Even the cheapest back street cowboys will charge £125 for an Escort or Rover belt job.
Main dealers have a massive investment in training and diagnostic equipment trouble is most manufacturers use this as an excuse to keep close control of the electronic diagnostic codes. However VAG cars are much better provided for by cheaper OBD diagnostic tools than any other manufacturer, if I owned a recent VAG car I would invest in a copy of VAG-COM and a suitable interface. It wll do almost everything the dealer electronic diagnostic machine will do.


see http://www.onboarddiagnostics.co.uk/

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serendipity123

posted on 22/9/05 at 12:02 PM Reply With Quote
i've just had a bearing replaced on my 3 year old vectra and that was £300 at main dealers rant rant rant
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iank

posted on 22/9/05 at 12:21 PM Reply With Quote
quote:
Originally posted by serendipity123
i've just had a bearing replaced on my 3 year old vectra and that was £300 at main dealers rant rant rant


Yeah, I dinged a front wheel bearing on a Yreg Astra a couple of years ago (slid into a kerb on black ice at lowish speed). Was rumbling a bit so I took it in - £150 (they don't change the bearing they exchange the whole hub! bearings being a non-servicable item!)

Not buying another Vauxhall, so long term they lose.

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Lotusmark2

posted on 22/9/05 at 03:51 PM Reply With Quote
My most shocking quote £242 for a spark plug change on my Merc C240 Twinspark

[Edited on 22/9/05 by Lotusmark2]

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Guinness

posted on 22/9/05 at 07:21 PM Reply With Quote
A mate put off getting the cam belt done on his Puma, finally booked it in and guess what, it went on the way to the garage. Cost him best part of a grand to get the engine rebuilt.

My worst service so far has been on my company Audi A4 TDi at 60,000 miles.

New brake discs and pads all round, 4 new tyres, cam belt change, fluid change, brakes bled, service and a few minor faults £1,200!!!!

Stick with the Seat mate.

Mike

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Danozeman

posted on 22/9/05 at 07:51 PM Reply With Quote
Servicing is expensive especially when cambelts are involved. I used to take my fiesta to the dealers to keep my warranty and stamp up even though im a mechanic. They stung me 250 quid for a 30k service which had no faults. It never went back... The time before that they wrang me and said it needed a rear wiper and a tyre and they wanted 120 quid just for that. They didnt do it.

520 is quite reasonable for one of them. Im sure galaxies and sharans would be more at there respective dealers.





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Dale

posted on 22/9/05 at 09:20 PM Reply With Quote
Ah makes me miss my old f150 with 300k miles on it. Engine never cracked open original everything other an a carb service . Only problem was ripping driveshaft bearing out a couple of times. 300ci straight six absouloutly bullit proof. I hate newer cars but they are a nessessity.
Dale





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steve_gus

posted on 22/9/05 at 10:28 PM Reply With Quote
i dont understand why cars dont use good old fashioned chain drive. might be a bit noisier, but gernrally they made more noise as they got older, and seemed a lot less likely to snap without warning.

atb

steve





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mackie

posted on 23/9/05 at 07:52 AM Reply With Quote
I payed around £600 for my last major service for my puma. This included all fluids and filters, rear bushes (poly), cambelt and aux belt change, gearbox oil seal, brake fluid system vac and new fluid and bleed. So no I'd say £520 is not too bad, cambelt services are just expensive I'm affraid!
Quite a few people at work have VAG cars (mostly Audis) and every time they take them in to a dealer they seem to want to changed the disks and pads. I've checked them before and they've been fine. They charge £400 for the job too! Obviously trying to make a quick and easy buck.

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craig1410

posted on 23/9/05 at 08:34 AM Reply With Quote
Mackie,
On the subject of changing brake pads/discs, my car needed rear brake pads shortly after its last service. The guy who did the service did an advisory that they would only last about 5000 miles after the service and sure enough the onboard computer started to warn me after 6000 miles that they needed done. I fully expected their quote to be too high and expected to be doing the work myself but to my surprise they only charged something like £45 which seemed pretty fair.

Overall I am very impressed with Bickets and compared with my experience of Arnold Clark they are much much more friendly and helpful (and competent). Very much "of the old school" when it comes to customer care. I also think that Seat cars in general seem to be much better value for money than the competition without sacrificing quality.

Cheers,
Craig.

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Gav

posted on 23/9/05 at 08:39 AM Reply With Quote
quote:
I also think that Seat cars in general seem to be much better value for money than the competition without sacrificing quality.



Indeed ive had my Leon Cupra(1.8T) for two years now and am very very pleased with it,
However my only problem with it is they didnt use the "Proper" suspension on the rear as per the Golf/A3 but then again i didnt pay as much for the leon as i would of for an equvilent Golf/A3.

only problem now is 80k is on the clock and the cam belt is due a change!

[Edited on 23/9/05 by Gav]

[Edited on 23/9/05 by Gav]

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britishtrident

posted on 23/9/05 at 10:03 AM Reply With Quote
Seat and Skoda bodywork and interiors don't stand up to years of use the way VW and Audis do -- as a direct result they have much lower residuals than VW or Audi. Before buying a new car it is worth visiting a couple of car auctions to see how vehicles age and what dealers think of them. VW, Audi, Honda, Toyota, Mazda 323 , Volvo are liked by the dealers because they stand up to wear and tear, Fiat, Seat, Skoda Vauxhall, Renualt are at the bottom of the pile because dealers know they will generally cost money to prepare for resale. While Nissan Almerias are cheap at auctionbecause they have taken over the market niche that used to be held by the Montego -- not that bad but the image is dreadful dull boring.
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