57 reg Amica
 

My wife has a 57 reg Amica which has only done 24000 miles. She has had it 2 years and only does about 2-3000 miles each year. She thought to get it serviced as it's 12 months since the last one She is being told that the service now required involves repacing the timing belt. At 24000 miles! The 5 year guarantee expires in September anyway, surely this is daft?

The timing belt needs changing every 60,000 miles or every 4 years. So even though it only have 24,000 miles, if it's 4 years old or older, it needs to be replaced. 2,000-3,000 miles a year means it's not used very much and lack of use can be just as hard (or harder) on a car than heavy usage.