I need to get my timing belt changed soon and have been phoning around for prices and Ford garages who are quoting between £430 and £470 (excluding water pump) which seems very high compared with the prices I have seen people quoting on here. I read that Ford garages are more likely to have all the right locking pins and tools to do this sort of job which an independent might not for every car manufacturer so would be more likely to botch it. I know there are a lot of good indys but I just don't know any of them well enough to be certain they would do a good job.

My question is seeing as the 1.6 TDCi is a PSA engine, are the tools needed all the same between the Ford TDCi and the PSA HDi engines and would a Peugot or Citroen garage have all the same tools and be just as capable as a Ford garage to do a Focus? I ask because there is a Citroen garage near me who might be worth asking - I know he will say yes he can do it because he won't want to turn away the work, but I want to know the chances that he has the right set up to do the job properly.

An other option is if anyone can recommend a good garage who could do this near Watford or Swansea (not exactly near eachother but I will be spending time in both places in the next few weeks).

pugeot could do it avoid citroen thwyre £90 an hour in labour charges the price is high given its without a water pump £350 max i would have expected as its not a hard job to do the diesel timing belt

It does seem high and I will phone a few other places to check. Both garages have said it is about 3 hours work, so if you factor in £100 for the parts then they are effectivey saying their labour is £110 to 120ph. One garage said that the water pump is robust and it would be a waste of money to change it, but I could at £100 extra. The other said I should change it as its run off the same belt, but quoted the price without. I willl try a few local independents as well and ask if they have all the tools for Fords.

I know its not a hard job to do but I don't have the time to spend all day under the car - my weekends are short enough as it is.