£500 diagnostic charge

banwa

Hello

Our car broke down on 19th Feb. We got it towed to the dealer for diagnosis. Initially they werent sure what was wrong with the car but were guessing the High PRessure Fuel Pump. Because a replacement is more than £2k, they told us they were keeping down costs by doing the invstigation between other jobs so they didnt need to charge time.

On Wednesday they told us the fuel pump was fine and it could just be the fuel delivery unit, and today they have confirmed this is correct.

The part is £18.66 but they want to charge us £581 to include the time for investigation

I have asked for a call from the service manager because I am not happy. It contradicts what they told us last week, and also I dont feel like we should be charged for them basically being wrong for the week. But I may be being unreasonable, after all they have put a lot of time into finding the fault.

I wont name the car or the dealer just yet in case they come back to us with something more reasonable.

I just wondered what our rights are, and if this is standard practice across the industry

Marktheshark

Are you a member of any motoring organisation like the AA or RAC.
They are seriously ripping you off.

kaya

So they are charging you more than £500 for the time they spent learning about your car because they dont know what they are doing

colino

You really need a breakdown of costs before you go any further. They may well have, "guessed" the high pressure pump was at fault. How did they rule it out? Big difference from backing their hunch and fitting something else and getting it going, than perhaps, they removed the high pressure pump, had it checked over by a specialist and refitted it. Could well be a lot of labour went into finding and fixing the fault, but you have to see it in black and white before you know it is fair or not.

Clive_Woody

You could post the make and model of your car and I am sure someone on here could tell how quickly a decent mechanic should have been able to figure out the problem, but £500 for diagnostic charges seems to be taking the mickey.

banwa

Hi all

Thanks for the replies

Yes I really do believe they have genuinely put a lot of time and effort into finding the fault. Its a 7 year old car and they had to find another HPFP to replace it to rule it out.

But they were wrong and I dont want to pay for their lack of expertise, thats not why we took it to the main dealer.

They have now revised their cost to £346 which, although going in the right direction, still seems very steep, considering it was a £20 part and they have had the car for 10 days.

I will ask for a breakdown of costs because I am still confused about how they arrived at that number.

Its a Honda Civic 2.2 cdti 57 plate