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I recently had my car serviced. The mechanic advised that I should get the cambelt replaced at a cost of $800.00. I have had the car for 6 years and have not had the cambelt replaced. Should I have this done and is $800.00 reasonable?

It is a fairly standard service requirement for a car of this age to have the cambelt replaced every 5 years or 100,000km’s whichever comes first so on a time basis alone, it sounds like the belt is overdue for replacement.

Ask the garage if the estimated cost includes a water pump replacement. The cambelt drives the water pump on your engine and we support the belt/water pump combo replacement policy.

If it does, the costs are certainly driven upwards however $800 does sound a little on the high side to me.

Ask the garage to provide a breakdown of costs (parts and labour) and to justify these charges.

As they have probably all ready told you, if the belt was to break it could result in considerable internal engine damage and you get no warnings of a pending failure.

If you plan to keep the car then the belt should be replaced sooner rather than later. But keep the repairer honest by asking for that breakdown in costs.