If you go here :

www.sinclairvolkswagen.co.uk/aftersales/fixed-pric.../

You'll see a main agent that offers the cambelt and tensioner change for £349, or cambelt/tensioner AND waterpump for £399. I'd use a site such as that to beat down your dealer on price, or else go to an independent.

Also, DO get the waterpump changed at the same time, and make sure the dealer price includes that. It is driven off the cambelt, so if it fails, then the cambelt fails. Not changing it is a false economy. The additional work in changing it while doing the cambelt is minimal.

That all depends on where you are, how local or far away Sinclair's are from you, and whether you feel it's worth the time/distance, etc.

Do try other dealers too - quite often you'll find a branch of a group might be cheaper than another branch of the same group.

For example, I'm in North Wales. Halliwell Jones BMW Llandudno are usually 10-15% cheaper for servicing, etc than Halliwell Jones BMW Chester. I can only assume that Chester has a lot more business customers locally, so don't need to try that hard to fill up the workshop. Llandudno doesn't have that same population base within a few miles, so they have to work harder.

Edited by RobJP on 16/02/2015 at 13:07

Thank you to all for your help. I can confirm i had the timing chain and water up all done by my local dealer in London. At one point i did consider driving to Wales as their offer was £399 all in and I would have saved £100 but considering the journey time, fuel ..etc did not go with this option.

Instead i found a very good local specialist who offers to do it for less (£499)than the dealers original price. Called the local dealer if they can match and they said yes.

In short beat the dealer price by fininding best local price and ask them to match, if they area a true business they should not refuse. Also noted when comparing both the local vw dealer and non dealer quotes, the vw dealer got the parts much cheaper then the other, but labour was £250 compared to £175 for say 2.5hrs task.

I was informed that the chain needs to be changed every 4 years and as i do not do very high milage..this is annoying as it feels like a scam by the car makers. Also read that this is only so in UK so all vw buyers be aware and factor in the costs of having your chains changed at least twice if you plan to keep the car for 8-10 years.

You are quite correct, it does seem to be a bit scam by VW UK.

This has been highlighted by 659 on this site in the past regarding VW's 1.9 PD engine.

I have the 2l CR engine from 2008 wich requires a cambelt change at 120k miles or 10 years.

I would have thought yours would have been the same.