Diagnostic Fee - Fair?

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

A flat battery can cause lots of error codes. It's common practice to make a note of error codes and if it's not clear why they occurred to clear them and see if they return. Sometimes you need to clear a code to return function after a repair.

Clearing the codes will wipe any code history that could help with a diagnosis that a professional will make.  

As usual Fred awful half truth advice.

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

Well who exactly do you think are buying all the cheap OBD2 scanners on Amazon? It's just normal consumers with a preponderance of DIYers. They are either fixing problems themselves or the information is helping them get a better deal at a garage.

And have a go heroes who think following a youtube video makes them an expert.

Some of the time they will get away with it, some of the time they will make matters worse.

motorguy

Grey_Critic said:

Don't think people are trying to justify *massive garage charges* (your words) simply being realistic. Any business has to make a profit it is just the infrastructure that is not as lavish for the smaller garage.

Being able to ignore and just turn off a warning light does not come from reading forums such as this. Watching a *tradesman at work* often gives the impression it is money for old rope but in reality it takes training, knowledge and experience, something that most people do not have.

Yup.  When i take my car to my local indy up the road i'll drop the car in his yard, i'll speak to him likely outside in the cold for a few minutes and he'll ring me when the work is done and i'll go pick the car up, just as dirty as when i dropped it off.

What i wont get is a receptionist welcoming me to an air conditioned showroom, a service manager tapping my details in to their system whilst sit at the desk drinking their coffee and eat their pastries, i wont get a prestine loan car from him either and my car wont have been valeted when i pick it up.

More than happy NOT to have that and have extra money in my pocket, but i totally get why big garages charge more when i go there.

Ibrahim5

The whole idea of reviews is that people give feedback on their experiences. So if people read the codes and fix their cars they say how easy it was and how much they had saved. I can't see any of the reviews saying that it had cost them extra. Most sound very happy.

Ibrahim5

I occasionally visit a main dealer's near us to buy parts. When I walk in I am always surprised by how many people are working there. Most sat at computers. Not clear what they are doing. They certainly don't seem interested in customers. If I manage to get someone's attention they tell me to ding the bell on the parts department. Nobody comes. After dinging it a couple more times someone eventually appears. They then take ages finding the part. It has never really made me want to take my car there.

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

I occasionally visit a main dealer's near us to buy parts. When I walk in I am always surprised by how many people are working there. Most sat at computers. Not clear what they are doing. They certainly don't seem interested in customers. If I manage to get someone's attention they tell me to ding the bell on the parts department. Nobody comes. After dinging it a couple more times someone eventually appears. They then take ages finding the part. It has never really made me want to take my car there.

Probably not too many people take their car to the parts department, expecting it to be serviced.

Why would they have to make it clear to you what they're all doing at their computer screens?  They're not all there to be customer facing.

Did you count how many women there were?  You were saying not all women are able to use computers?  Just wondering if they'd been able to find any?

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

The whole idea of reviews is that people give feedback on their experiences. So if people read the codes and fix their cars they say how easy it was and how much they had saved. I can't see any of the reviews saying that it had cost them extra. Most sound very happy.

Maybe they have left the reviews before their mechanic breaks the news to them they've made a balls of it?  

  

dipsomaniac

I just hope this thread does not deter people from trying to save money by fixing their own cars. That is what MSE is all about.

Mechanics aren't super human and engines really haven't changed a lot in 120 yrs (just less room to work in). IMO people  have become a lot lazier when it comes to washing their cars and doing basic repairs.  That is why garages can get away with the exorbitant fees they charge.

Grey_Critic

*** That is why garages can get away with the exorbitant fees they charge. ***

No idea what you do/did for a living  but can you say that the claim of **charging exhorbitant fees** never applied to you?

Without knowing all the facts and figures behind the business such a claim may be well wide of the mark.

[Deleted User]

Interesting thread, thought I'd share my recent diagnostics story, especially as it cost £216 at a Ford dealer and was totally wrong. (£144 diagnostic + £72 hour labour trying but failed to fix anything and actually broke something)

1. Car had catastrophic electrical failure while at 70mph on the motorway in the dark, engine cut out and no external lights, had to get across 3 lanes to hard shoulder with no power, indicators or hazards. Car wouldn't restart, all warning lights on dash and dozens of messages about various things that had failed.

2. RAC came, plugged in diagnostic machine, 4 pages of faults codes, said he thought it was the BCM that had failed, towed me to Ford. I was going to get towed to my local independent that I have used for 20 years but when I phoned them and said BCM they said go straight to Ford instead which was honest and correct advice as only Ford can replace them.

3. Ford cleared the fault codes, the car started and ran normally. The £144 diagnostics reported brake lights stuck on, 1 fog light not working. No cause found for the catastrophic failure. Oil in the coolant, needed further investigation.

4. Told them to go ahead and repair it as it is under warranty, changed brake light switch but didn't fix the problem, tried fixing the fog light and broke the retaining clips yet reported it as a pre-existing fault. Then tried to tell me it needed front bumper removing due to "dead short" in the fog light wiring. Told me the oil in the coolant was a cracked head / failed head gasket and would cost thousands and that I should just return the car to dealer and get my money back. Charged a further £72 for that.

5. Took the car back off them at this point as didn't trust a word they were saying, returned it to the dealer who I had bought it off 3 days earlier. Independent garage then correctly diagnosed a failed gasket in the oil cooler as the cause of the oil in coolant rather than cracked head, replaced the whole oil cooler under warranty approx £400. Then also correctly diagnosed BCM failure as had the RAC man, taken to another Ford dealer and told to replace BCM which they did, approx £700 paid for by dealer I bought the car off which cured the brake light / fog light issue.

6. All faults now fixed except for broken fog light clip which I'm taking up with Ford as they broke it but have little hope so will probably end up fixing myself. I've got photos taken day before it went into Ford which prove the fog light clip wasn't broken.

Thankfully I didn't pay a penny for any of the above. Reminded me of why I use my family run independent garage for all my car work.

*BCM = Body control module - main computer for all non-engine components.