Fontain Audi timing belt quote...
 

...just been quoted £1400 by Fontain (including waterpump, thermostat etc.)

Sounds absolutely bonkers....makes me wonder if they've done one before...

Opinions... ? Need I ask ...!?:ROFL:

Will be asking Autopool for a price next.

Zip

Aren't Autopool in the old Fontain premises?

I've used Fontain a fair bit in the past, they're not cheap but less than Audi...
I'm sure they will have done that sort of job before though.

I'm now trying a smaller independent who have some staff that used to work at Fontain. They did my gearbox fluid/filter OK earlier this year.

Just use Audi, they aren't expensive if you're willing to haggle a bit. Make sure they do the pump/stat and all other ancillaries too.

I'll look up what mine cost at Camspec in Crawley - suspect the labour rate will be lower due to location, but from memory it's about 4.5 hrs labour, tops.

Most of the cost is parts (eg on my A6 I know it's £450 in bits from Audi and £150 to fit at mates rates) but I can breat that down tomorrow when I have access to my service file

It does sound crazy expensive Zip - Swindon Audi recently quoted me £860 to do everything and a local performance Audi specialist (Dialynx) quoted me about £650 all in, so £1400 may be the starting point for what people charge based on the proper cost of all parts and labour but its just not a realistic quote based on others prices out there +++

So.....

Watford Audi........£1562 for everything. And they want £555 for a standard Long Life service (no plugs or brake fluid change for that).

Amersham Audi.......£846 for everything. And they want £770 for a Long Life service (with plugs, although I don't need them).

This is getting ridiculous.

Where else do I go? (I'm near Hemel Hempstead).

Zip

First of all, supply your own oil. That'll save you a lot. Then haggle with them, I pay less at BMW then I would at independents. BMW dealers are actually quite good hence why I use them, I'm sure Audi have done a deal on pricing though too although I hardly ever use them. Most BMW/VW have price match policies, they will match the price with any local garage as long as they're using genuine parts. Check if Audi do too?

Porsche OPCs match local indies on price too...

Good. As that all bodes well for my 997 Turbo plan. ;)

Fontain took the **** when I was looking to get a cambelt done 3 years ago. IIRC they quoted somewhere around £960, when Audi M25 wanted £850. In the end I got it done for £660 at Audi Grimsby after a short haggle.

Why not choose a weekend away for yourself to somewhere pleasant with a local Audi dealer. Haggle on the price and use the money saved to pay for the travel & accommodation.

I remember reading an article where someone drove down to France to have the first service on their A6 as it was that much cheaper, still with an Audi main dealer and keeping the warranty, sort of like a free holiday it turned out.

I still use PCT on the A45 Amar, in fact it's in there tomorrow for a couple of bits and bobs, just use the OPC for routine servicing, nothing more

http://www.wheelbase.uk.com/

around the M25 and just up the A3

might be worth an Email to get a quote ?

early start and done in the day ?

agree 100% about take your own oil ...saves huge mark ups ; last time I forgot I got charged £13/litre for an oil I could have bought at half the price

incidentally audi/merc/BMW all use Fuchs oils ; I have had excellent service from


http://www.opieoils.co.uk/

even got the OE filters for my turbo diesel Fiat motorhome engine there

they allow clubs/forums to register and give all sorts of discounts [ application form on website ] ; have we got a mod/owner who could do that ?

Opie give forum discount whatever forum you list that appears on their site - AudiSRS gets you the discount and you don't need to be registered to actually get it lol

Ring Camspec in Crawley for a quote for cambelt - easy trains from Gatwick back into London and leave it with them a few days so it all gets done, assuming they're reasonable on price. Anywhere using genuine parts isn't going to vary much on that part of the bill, but labour can vary a lot.

maybe there is an A8 owner in crawley to offer free lodgings for a few days

LOL - only if they want to share a room with a 2 year old :tuttut:

I'm sure that The Laird wont mind me mentioning that the supply and fit of the cambelt was done on my 8 by A4Audi (Clydebank) for £740 in 2010. (mmm Grimsby or Clydebank in November +++ )

Neither!! I dearly love my home town and there are some lovely days out nearby but to be fair I wasn't saying go to Grimsby. But why not somewhere like York, Harrogate or Lincoln for example?

I like Amar's suggestion too, head to the continent and make it a proper weekend. I remember the story he was relating about the Audi owner from Kent going to have work done in Calais as it was far cheaper even with the cost of the ferry/tunnel.

Found the article, Reffro. +++

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/audi/a6/18986/audi-a6

[quote=Reffro;50551]Neither!! I dearly love my home town and there are some lovely days out nearby but to be fair I wasn't saying go to Grimsby. But why not somewhere like York, Harrogate or Lincoln for example?

I like Amar's suggestion too, head to the continent and make it a proper weekend. I remember the story he was relating about the Audi owner from Kent going to have work done in Calais as it was far cheaper even with the cost of the ferry/tunnel.[/Q UOTE]

well the exchange rate isn't the same any more , but the day return is still the same price

there are audi concessionaires in both calais and dover who offer fixed prices on work , would undoubtedly quote on a cam belt job ; got a feeling their workshops are open all day saturday

so take the mistress [ lover ? sorry amanda ] , stock up with booze , and a nice trip for nothing ..I think you can get cheap 3 day returns as well if you prefer that , you can get budget hotels like F1 for about £30 or less


http://www.snab.fr/nos-sites.php

don't quite understand their site as they seem to be the audi concesionaire in calais as well

I thought it was Quantum oils, well thats what TPS supply me @ around £24 for 5 liters. I'd quite happily supply anyone with TPS if you're local pick it up but couriering anywhere would be too expensive.

A8 Parts will also supply service kits and with the amount of sending they do would probably get a good price on delivery.

Afternoon chaps, hope nobody minds my joining up to reply to this but it seems there's been a little confusion over the quote mentioned at the beginning of this thread. If this has arisen from something we have said then I apologise.

The full quote was indeed for £1400 inclusive of VAT which broke down as (including vat for simplicity):

£700 parts (including all rollers, water pump and thermostat, all genuine Audi)
£585 labour (6.5 hours at £75/hour)
£240 oil & filter change (longlife)

I believe Sunny (our service manager) mentioned at the time that as it was a large/expensive job we would reduce our labour rate and do the whole job for £1400 inclusive.

As I say, if this wasn't made clear or we made a mistake then I am sorry. We're always interested to hear feedback if we've not been competitive and we will always try to match/better a like for like quotation.

Any questions I'll try and keep an eye on this thread; alternatively my direct number in the office is 01753 783 356 or my email alex@fontain.co.uk (I'm in sales but keep an eye on the online bits & pieces also).

Hi Alex - No objection at all, in fact your input is most welcomed, but I'll be honest, £700 seems somewhat steep for the parts element, given I've personally had the whole job, including water pump & VAT at a Main dealer for less than £700, as has someone else in the thread.

Taking the oil and filter change out of the equation, which is additional to the cambelt change really, that still puts the quote at £1285. Thats in the very top end of quotes ever seen for this type of job, which no doubt started this thread.

I will say Im a big fan of Fontain, and they have my utmost respect. My S4 was serviced there, and supplied from there and in my eyes thats as good, if not better than main dealer in terms of assurance.

The pricing on older motors though seems less competitive, albeit no doubt a very good job.

I said I'd post up the prices from the belt change on mine, but forgot all about it till the recent update

My cambelt change was billed at 3.9 hours labour @ £59 an hour +VAT

Cambelt itself was £41.75
Relay roller £49.50
Another relay roller type x2 £124.94
Tensioner £118.01
Tension damper £98.50
Ribbed belt (presumably the drive belt for alternator etc) £56.02

So in total the parts bill came to £586 incl VAT (was billed at 17.5% in 2010 but I've calculated it at 20% for fairness). Note that there's no mention of the water pump which I'm assuming was either inspected or supplied and fitted. Knowing this garage as I do they wouldn't have left it if it needed doing.

Labour element was £248.51 (note that as a 40k service was done at the same time they knocked 10% off the whole labour bill)

So total bill of £834.51

Camspec's web site here:
http://camspeconline.com/

With this bill being a couple of years old it'd be worth checking if their labour rate has changed much and what a water pump would cost to add to that

Interestingly I asked my local independent (owner is ex-Fontain I believe) the other day for a price on this for my FL S8 which has a lack of documentary evidence in this area.
It did NOT include an oil/filter change (which I think the Fontain quote did) and came to over £1000 - nearly £1100 IIRC.

That was using genuine Audi parts and doing all the ancillaries (water pump etc.) - they showed me the list of parts and it was quite long.
Labour was only about 25% of the job (their rates are a bit less than Fontain) so the figures above all seem fairly consistent.
The actual cam belt itself was quite cheap.

Fontain have done a fair bit on my old car over the years so I might go to them as well for a quote and try to haggle with Sunny - he "owes me one" as I'll remind him at the time. ;)

I'm thinking of having a gearbox fluid/filter change at the same time so it'll be a sizeable bill in the end wherever I go. :tuttut:

Swindon Audi quoted me £850 all in not that long ago for mine including all the ancillaries so quite a difference and at an Audi dealership. I was also quoted about £650 for the same from Dialynx near Swindon! barely covers the parts costs but they do them regularly so they know their V8's +++

Sounds like Amersham Audi should be my first call then ;)
Did that include VAT?

Four Rings
 

I had a quote from Four Rings in Dartford of £1000ish for the cambelt and an intermediate service. I think the Cam belt element was £850 including the pumps rollers and associated bits. I got the quote this week and the guy indicated there might be a bit more movement.

Speak to Stafford Audi guys, will be cheaper than Fontain IMO, don't quote me but I wouldn't be surprised at all.

Just wondering if the 240 for oil and filter change is for the gearbox?

Engine oil is under 50 quid inc vat for 10 litres giving you a bit for top ups that's genuine oil and the filter is around 15 and that'll include 2 crush washers for the drains and an o ring for the filter housing. 30 mins labour @ 32.50 is around £90.

If it is for engine oil change i've just started doing them for £150 all in using genuine parts and oils. Special offer at the moment car gets a free wash (with no sponges all mits and mf cloths)

I've just had the belt, wp, therm, tensioners etc changed by A for Audi in Glasgow.

c.£770 all in, and the job done properly!

So I called in there today to see what an 80K miles service costs and whether they would automatically change the water pump while doing the cam belt.
"The S8 doesn't have a cam belt, it's a chain system" :angry3:

So I clearly got their most experienced staff member. :-(

Anyway, after we overcame that he had to get on the phone to get details and costs.
I also asked what they recommended to do regarding the gearbox fluid - "sealed for life, no need to touch it".
At which point I left my contact details and am awaiting a call as to what the costs will be and what's actually included.

Might toddle off to Fontain later; I like to see the whites of their eyes when discussing prices. ;)

So is that most experienced member of staff willing to put that down in writing so when it snaps you can go back there and have all the damage repaired foc?
Or is it better just to chance the belt?

:ROFL:

Still waiting to hear back from them what the price for the "proper job" is. :(

Fontain have quoted me separate prices for a main/annual service and the cambelt/waterpump/etc/etc. which together are about £1200 (plus VAT) though they'll reduce that a bit (negotiable?) if it is all done at the same time.

However, the car to date has a full Audi service history on the "longlife" basis so I'm not sure whether to continue with that. Fontain say to do it annually whatever unless I do very low mileage.

I'd go annual - at this age much better for the oil to be changed more frequently

Banbury is less than 60 miles from Amersham, why not just go to MRC and have peace of mind. Probably be cheaper too, they only charge £68/hour compared to Audi's £100+

http://www.mrctuning.com/

or try Dialynx in Swindon they are Audi Specialists, especially tuned Audis and had quoted me £640 for the full Cam Belt and all parts before Swindon Audi gave me a "supported price" which couldn't be beaten.

They are at http://www.dialynx.co.uk/

Well after chasing them up 3 days later they finally came back to me; Amersham Audi must really want the business.......:rolleyes:
Major longlife service £800, plus £1300 to do the cambelt and water pump. (OK they actually quoted £799 and £1299, don't you just hate that!)

Assuming that includes VAT it's about 50% more than Fontain. :angry2:

When I went to Unit20, for not much more than the sum you are quoting, I got
2 new cam chain tensioners (around £425 each!)
2 new cam chanins
new timing belt and all rollers and tensioners (he put on RS4 rollers to boot!)
two crank case breather valves
engine oil & filter change
and a ton of other small bits.

Go to MRC or Unit20, then you know the job is a good one and you will pay less.

I specifically asked for the tensioners and crank breathers purely as preventative maintenance because I was going to keep the car forever.

I think what you pay depends on the individual dealer. Although Unit 20 are good, they're not always cheaper than the Audi main dealer. Stockport Audi did my cambelt, water pump and all the ancillaries for about £620 all in, and the service for around £440, which was significantly cheaper than what Unit 20 quoted me.

Shopping around is the thing to do, which I guess is the point of this thread....