Why not phone your local dealer and ask????He'll tell you cost and milage.

Why on earth would anyone want to do that. Its common knowledge that you can get all your problems diagnosed and sorted for free on a forum.

Everyone is free to post or reply to questions on this board, as is their want. I made a perfectly polite request and was polite in response to the one person who answered constructively, so I really fail to understand why you're taking issue. You may feel my questions are pointless or stupid, but as I said I didn't find a satisfactory answer to them after a fairly extensive search here and elsewhere. Any new and helpful info that turns up in this thread can therefore be of use to others with similar queries in the future.

Well I have always managed to look in the manual or service book to find out answers about maintenace intervals but looking on most forums it is clear no one bothers to read the manuals today.

Once I know when a job is due I either book it into my local dealer after asking how much but normally I ring round a couple to compare prices.

How hard can it be.

Scott,I do not think that your OP is unreasonable what it says in the handbook is not always correct as I have found out with a Peugeot on which I have just changed the cambelt.Most main agents have a fixed price for cambelt changes which includes the water pump and rollers if required,its long time since I had one changed in the UK by a main agent I think it was a Saab 1.9 diesel and was 300ukps including vat .On the Ka if its the "fire" engine its quite an easy job do to it yourself but if you do not feel confident at doing it ring a few garages up say a couple of Ford agents and a couple of independants and see how much the quote.

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated.