My mechanic quoted about $1200 for the job because the kit he found was $600. NAPA (what he uses) lists a kit w/water pump for $650 to me...NAPA's site it is a CRP product. I looked up CRP and found two kits listed for the 2003 Sorento (both w/pumps; one w/seals other w/out) that had very similar part numbers to NAPA. I found the CRP part number at Amazon for much less. Anybody have experience with Amazon's parts? Should I be concerned. I'd appreciate your help.

CRP part #PP323LK2 is a full kit with cam seals...sells over the counter here at work for $599.99 and actually supersedes the TB323lk2 that doesnt have seals and is the same price...however I'd never sell it at that price..Id give Joe Blow off the street same price as any shop which is $358.67 plus tax just because it is so expensive and they wouldnt pay that much money for it...Im sure this is about what he's paying for it as well,give or take...Most of the time when you take your car to a repair shop they do mark up the parts, some to over the counter retail but most mark it up to suggested list price...in this case suggested list would be $956.44,its basically always double jobber price but our CRP kits are discounted off of jobber for shops. Also Contitech (CRP) is a great product and they stand behind it...They warranty every part in their kits for factory suggested intervals,so if Kia suggests 60,000 or 100,000 t/b interval they warranty it for that specified mileage whatever it may be...As far as Amazon goes if its CRP, its CRP shouldnt matter where you get it however be sure the mechanic will allow you to bring your own parts, they'll usually charge additional hourly labor and not warranty work if they do...Good Luck

Thanks for your insight Lonnie.

I've worked with this one-man shop a long time; he's good and fair. He's okay with me getting the parts but reminded me that he can't back them. If he gets them locally, he can get replacements realtime. (If the waterpump fails in 9 months, he just makes a call.) If I get the parts via mail order, then it's on me to get a new part if one fails. (Also may get awkward if the Kia is in his way waiting for me to get another part.)

I haven't worked autos for a long while. Are these parts prone to fail these days? (I know starters, alternators, etc. can be bad out of the box, but I don't know about timing kit parts).

He looks at the Dealer price vs. vendors, and considers cost vs. quality. If Dealer cost is in the ballpark, he quotes it because its Kia's quality. He said everything else is from china, or from mexico if it's remanned. That doesn't mean they are bad, it just seems to raise the chance that they could be bad.

Thanks, your thoughts are appreciated.

not all reman parts are from mexico or china but a lot are yes...when it comes to water pumps I always suggest new,price is usually within $20 for a part with a better warranty...As far as timing belt kits I always recommend CRP, they use only OE quality parts and warranty all the way up to manufacturers recommended service interval which in some cases is as high as 100,000 miles...all the other brands we stock here are 12 month or 12,000 miles whichever comes first.

If he does allow you to supply your own parts,shop around locally in town for a crp (contitech)kit and see if you can get a better deal for one...if you call and sound like you know what you're doing you will almost always get a better deal than the guy who has no answers to the questions we ask...you can always ask for a good guy deal or tell them your on a tight budget shopping for the best deal,being honest goes a long way and they want your business,not to send you down the road to the cheaper parts house

be nice, be polite, be honest, and do your research about your car so you have it before you call...also dont call them by name unless your sure you heard it right, I get called anything from Monte all the way to Steve and Mike...just tells me theyre not paying attention and not a regular customer that gets a good deal lol.

Good luck <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Just had mine done about 2 months ago, they would've charged me $750 for belt, pump and labor (I ended up having additional work done at the same time).

Kit they used was made by Gates. The shop specializes in Subaru SCCA race cars, and they're all running these belts on their personal vehicles so they felt pretty strongly it was a quality part. Little sticker they put under the hood to show the work done says it doesn't need to be replaced for 100,000 miles.

not saying Gates and Dayco aren't good products, but not warrantied for those 100,000 miles, 12 month 12,000 miles and sometimes the components aren't near as good as what is in CRP. I sell em everyday and can only report what I hear from shops. We have shops that usually buy next to nothing from us but always by the kits here because they are CRP and Napa carries the gates kits