Timing belt and rear brakes

[Leif]

I have a 2018 Polo, 95 PS, 1 liter turbo engine, 80,000 miles on the clock, and the timing belt needs changing. The rear brake pads (whatever they are called) also need replacing. So a few questions:

1) Should I get the rear brake drums replaced as well? It’s still on the originals.
2) How much should I expect to pay for replacing the timing belt? I am in East Hampshire, my VW garage quoted £800, another quoted about £680, and an indie VW specialist quoted £575. Even that last one seems a lot. It’s impossible to get a quote from my favourite indie garage, too busy. Apparently it’s a three hour job to replace the belt.
3) I take it there is no need to replace the water pump as it’s not driven by the timing belt.

These cars are bloody expensive, not long since I had four new tyres and new front disks and pads.

[SRGTD]

A quick trawl of the internet;

Cam belt - VW dealer prices for cars with engine size up to 2.0 litres
- Group 1Auto VW; £690
- Marshall VW; from £669
- Johnsons VW; from £669

£800 at your local VW dealership sounds very expensive; based on the above, the £680 quoted by the other VW dealer looks to be the going rate for VW main dealer prices.

I’ve not had a car with rear drum brakes for many years but again, a quick trawl of the internet and the general consensus seems to be that with proper care and maintenance they can last up to around 150k miles.

As for the cost of replacing consumable items being expensive; items such as tyres and brakes will naturally need replacing periodically whatever the make and model of car. I appreciate everyone’s personal financial circumstances will be different but usually, the cost of replacing consumables is something that owners can budget for to avoid that ‘financial shock’ if a number of consumable items need replacing all at the same time.

Be aware that if your car’s still on its original battery, quite a few owners on various VW forums report of needing a new battery when the original’s 4-5 years old (sometimes sooner).

[Leif]

I guess I should have been clearer with my second question. I was wondering what the going rate is to change the timing belt at an indie garage in the south of England. I don’t go to VW for big ticket items, their hourly rate is absurd.

As regards cost, I consider the cost per year averaged out over the lifetime of the car, and it is a lot of money. I am a cautious driver, so tyres, brakes and clutches usually last longer than average.