Does this sound right?

[Stevemr]

Father in law has just changed his old renault scenic for a 5 year old renault scenic. He is 85 this year. He has had the car for 5 weeks and they have written to him to say as its 5 years old the cam belt now needs changing. So he has taken it in, had it done and been charged £500 for the privilage.
The car has only done 30 odd thousand miles, so I am guessing he never thought it might need changing yet.
Does this sound reasonable, or is it taking the mick!

[ChemicalChaos]

And if they hadnt written to him, and it had snapped and written off the engine?

Rubber cambelts deteriorate with age as well as mileage, which is why the changing intervals always have a year and a mileage figure. #500 is a lot, but pocket money compared the the cost of new pistons, valves, rods, cams etc......

[Layacable]

'Bout right I would say, Ive heard Alfas are 36k and every 3 years (model dependent).

Shame he bought a Renault and not a K series honda engined banger.

[rallycross]

Bought from a Renault main dealer? If so get on the phone to the dealer principal and kick up a fuss about why it was sold without having been done pre sale and if not why was this not made clear at time of sale?

[E30M3SE]

Hmmm, need more info on the car VRM or at least which engine his car has and month & year of registration, but some of them are 72K miles/72 months, not 60 months.

Definitely agree with the above if it came from a main dealer.

Edited by E30M3SE on Saturday 10th May 20:15

[Stevemr]

Sorry, should have made it clearer, I am sure changing it was the right thing to do.

What I think is wrong is that it was sold to him weeks away from needing doing, which seems like very sharp practice!

It is a Renault main dealer.

I agree, re should not have bought a renault, but he likes the car.

[BFG TERRANO]

If you did a bit if research beforehand, then studied the service history you may have seen this coming. You could have used this as a tool doing the deal?

I just bought a used Audi. I even rang the last dealer that serviced it to verify the history.

[Stevemr]

Yeah, 84 year old man, been going to the same main dealer for years and years!