Garage charge for estimate

vakgta2018

Hello all,

Just looking to find out if this is reasonable or not.
My OH took the car to our usual garage as the fuel gauge was being erratic. They called with an estimate to replace (£458) so we declined the work as not urgent. When OH went to pick up, she was charged £54 for 'investigations'.
They have never charged us for an estimate before, nor has any other garage. No mention was made when we dropped it off or on the phone. Also, as we knew the problem when we arrived we're not sure what was investigated.
My OH isn't experienced with cars so panicked and paid. 
I realise this may not be illegal as such, but seems really bad spirited and unreasonable to me, but is it common practice? I have probably only declined work once or twice before and not been charged. Feels like they are quiet (they called and asked if I wanted to take it a day early) and are taking advantage.
I won't go back - but £54 is a lot of money to us, unfortunately!

williamgriffin

What did they do to diagnose the problem? If they've done work then they should be paid for it, not their fault you don't want the problem fixed. 

vakgta2018

williamgriffin said:

What did they do to diagnose the problem? If they've done work then they should be paid for it, not their fault you don't want the problem fixed. 

We don't know - all they said was "investigations" - but as I said we had told them the problem, and their website says they are happy to give estimates. No mention of charging for this at any stage. I'd understand if they'd gone through diagnostic tests or taken the car apart etc.

AdrianC

You've taken the car there and said "Can you fix this?"
They've spent time - and, yes, probably dismantled various parts - to find the issue.
The bill to fix is going to be large, so they've phoned and told you.
You've said "Nah, we'll leave it".

Yes, I think being paid for their time in diagnosing the fault is perfectly reasonable.
To put £58 into context, what's their hourly labour charge?

dipsomaniac

I have never been charged without prior notice. You need to find out exactly what you have been charged for and what part is at fault

vakgta2018

AdrianC said:

You've taken the car there and said "Can you fix this?"
They've spent time - and, yes, probably dismantled various parts - to find the issue.
The bill to fix is going to be large, so they've phoned and told you.
You've said "Nah, we'll leave it".

Yes, I think being paid for their time in diagnosing the fault is perfectly reasonable.
To put £58 into context, what's their hourly labour charge?

You've made a lot of assumptions here.
We asked them to quote what was the cost.
They took no part of the car apart - it was available to pick up immediately after their call.
And as I have said repeatedly, we knew the fault, so there was no diagnosis.

AdrianC

vakgta2018 said:

AdrianC said:

You've taken the car there and said "Can you fix this?"
They've spent time - and, yes, probably dismantled various parts - to find the issue.
The bill to fix is going to be large, so they've phoned and told you.
You've said "Nah, we'll leave it".

Yes, I think being paid for their time in diagnosing the fault is perfectly reasonable.
To put £58 into context, what's their hourly labour charge?

You've made a lot of assumptions here.
We asked them to quote what was the cost.
They took no part of the car apart - it was available to pick up immediately after their call.
And as I have said repeatedly, we knew the fault, so there was no diagnosis.

If they haven't done work to diagnose it, how do they know whether it's the sender, the gauge, the wiring?
How can they give you a price without knowing that?

peter_the_piper

I can just imagine the fun there would have been if they just changed the gauge, charged the £458 and fault was still there.

macman

An erratic gauge can have many causes other than the gauge itself. What you completely fail to understand is that the diagnostic work is often a major part of the job, especially with electronics. From that point, it's just the parts and time cost to change them: there is rarely an actual repair to an existing part.

If you are so knowledgeable as to know that it was solely the gauge that was fault, why did you not just take it in and say 'change the gauge'?

Had you proceeded with the job, then most likely the £54 would have been included in the repair fee you were quoted.

AdrianC

vakgta2018 said:

AdrianC said:

vakgta2018 said:

AdrianC said:

You've taken the car there and said "Can you fix this?"
They've spent time - and, yes, probably dismantled various parts - to find the issue.
The bill to fix is going to be large, so they've phoned and told you.
You've said "Nah, we'll leave it".

Yes, I think being paid for their time in diagnosing the fault is perfectly reasonable.
To put £58 into context, what's their hourly labour charge?

You've made a lot of assumptions here.
We asked them to quote what was the cost.
They took no part of the car apart - it was available to pick up immediately after their call.
And as I have said repeatedly, we knew the fault, so there was no diagnosis.

If they haven't done work to diagnose it, how do they know whether it's the sender, the gauge, the wiring?
How can they give you a price without knowing that?

Because we know it's the gauge, and we told them it was the gauge, and we asked for an estimate of cost to replace the gauge.
Do you think that gave them a clue?

So if you definitely knew it was the gauge (in practice, probably the complete instrument cluster), and you just wanted a quote to replace the gauge, why did the car even need to go to them for the estimate? Couldn't they just have quoted over the phone...?

Hasbeen

Any thing that requires diagnostics will be charged. If the car is hooked up to the machine.

The fee might have been waived if they did the work.