My father has an Audi A2. It’s 5 years old but has only done 20k miles. It’s due an MOT soon, and the local Audi dealer (who are doing the MOT for free) have called up recommending he replace the timing belt (about £300) because they ‘rev it up’ during the MOT. When he told them it’s only done 20k miles they said it’s done on time now, not mileage, and the belt should be replaced after 5 years.

He’s a bit concerned as obviously a timing belt failure could be nasty. He’s done a bit of research but can’t find any official guidelines on timing belt replacement, not even from Audi themselves.

Question: Are the dealers chancing it or should he buy a new belt?

no, it is down to time as well as milage i’m afraid, though that is very low milage for the year. £300 for an Audi is reasonable btw.

He should buy a new belt. I’d say anything from Audi that costs 300 quid is a bargain. Replacing the adjuster cable in one of the seats cost us 80 quid!

And yes, if it snaps and it’s an interference engine, it’ll cost a hell of a lot more than 300 quid.

Age does affect it. You should also check what other items may need changing at the same time. At the very least, guides need to be changed, but there may be other bits e.g. water pump which should also be replaced at the same time.

And as per swisstony, £300 doesn’t sound too expensive.

I paid £220 for an Alfa at an independant garage, so £300 from the main dealer sounds good

approx 4000 miles per year is very low for your main car. This would suggest a lot of very short journeys, which infact would accelerate the belt wear more so than a car that had done 60,000 miles!

I’d get it done, Police and Fleet cars have their intervals halved fwiw, as bent valves and holed pistons are no use to anyone,

Make sure that cost also includes the timing belt tensioner, if it doesn’t then they are taking him for a ride.

definately done on time and mileage – I know Skoda recomend 4 year interval now (used to be 60 or 70k miles), so I would assume Audi (and VW) would eb the same. As ziggy said, get tensioners done, and waterpump too – but £300 isnt too bad really (esp for main dealer) – parts are about £80 (belt & tensioners for VAG TDis)

VW (imagine same as audi for servicing) reccomend that you change the cam belt every 40,000 miles or 4 years. Better to spend £300 now than a lot more later.

My local independant garage charge £200 inc VAT.

Price and time/miles depends entirely on the car in question, too many variables. Some cars are a nightmare to work on, some are easy. £300 on an audi isnt bad, as mentioned, I’d not be complaining. I’m fairly lax on timing belt changes and have not, as yet, been stung. But I tend to keep a close eye on its condition, and the one I risk it on is a non-interference with no cambelt covers so I can keep very regular view.

Just checked Autodata and for the A2 petrol engine it is check at 56,000 miles and change if needed and then check every 18,000 there after with a labour time of 2.5 hrs. For the diesel it recommends replace after 60,000 and you must change tensioner aswell with a labour time of 3 hrs.