Diagnostic Fee - Fair?

Flight3287462

KimJongUn88 said:

I’d rather not be visiting a garage where they rely on a £20 code reader for their diagnostics.

You'll be quite happy paying the £123 then

Basic testers will cover the basics and probably the OPs fault.

I have a couple of them but since we have 3 x VAG cars now I have upgraded to an OBD11 Pro (only VAG cars) module and phone app, which is just fantastic (and in a lot of cases a little too good in that it throws up codes for very minor things that don't affect the running of the car.  I have 8 inactive faults at the moment 2 being in the drivers seat!!(

motorguy

Grey_Critic said:

oscarward said:

£123 is cheap, my Jaguar main dealer charges £180 to look at it. 

They got a bit miffed when I refused their offer and instead went to an indie who diagnosed and fixed the problem for £50.

the indie did tell me the jag hourly charge was £230😳

Pity that the technicians hourly rate has not gone up the same way.

With everyone so focused these days on paying the minimum amount possible for their new cars its hardly a surprise franchised dealers are having to move more of their costs in to the service side of the business and raise the hourly rate accordingly.

The hourly rate charged doesnt just cover a markup on the technicians hourly rate, it pays towards all overheads.

motorguy

Bigwheels1111 said:

I needed a scan this week as light came on and said engine fault damage possible.
I called the AA and told them about light and power loss, they scanned the car.
Told me the fault and let me take a picture. Cleared the code.
If it comes back I need a Nox sensor.
Common fault these days on diesel cars, my brothers had one go, mates Vauxhall insignia and my Peugeot.

Cool story, but a hand scanner can only interrogate certain fault codes, and not all ECUs within the car.  

I'd a year old Golf that developed an intermittent fault.  The engine diagnostics were read and uploaded to VW themselves, who diagnosed the fault to being a cracked wire in the wiring loom and sent out a new 1/2 loom for the car.  

Scanning the code is only a part of the process - its understanding what the codes mean that takes the skill.  Sometimes its easy to correctly diagnose the straightforward ones, sometimes you think you have but it turns out that doesnt cure it.  Sometimes its a lot trickier and requires Franchise level diagnostics.

Not all faults are the same.

motorguy

KimJongUn88 said:

I’d rather not be visiting a garage where they rely on a £20 code reader for their diagnostics.

+1

I've a cheap reader that i use for the easy stuff, and i've a local indy who's very code with the Snap-On setup he uses.

If i've had to resort to going to a main dealer then i'll not be expecting them to use a £20 scanner.

motorguy

Ibrahim5 said:

I remember a few years ago talking to someone who said he knew a garage owner. The garage owner was saying diagnosis was the best money maker ever. Buy a £20 scanner and charge everyone £70 for plugging it in and press scan.

Not much of a garage if hes relying on a £20 "one size fits all" code scanner to find faults. 

pimento

Well, I said I was surprised that they would charge me the full £126 diagnostic fee seeing how I bought the car from them, had always had it serviced by them, the fault appeared very soon after it had been serviced by them, was having the fault fixed by them and that the likelihood was that I'd be buying my next car from them and it made no difference at all. I was told the diagnostic computer was a very expensive piece of equipment and the charge was therefore justified.
Looks like my next car won't be bought from there. Shame.

Ibrahim5

I would have thought that a £3.95 Bluetooth scanner would be adequate for diagnosing ABS faults. Your phone has got plenty of processing power and the data provided through OBD2 is relatively slow.

Stubod

.lesson learned, use an Indie next time...

Jenni_D

pimento said:

Well, I said I was surprised that they would charge me the full £126 diagnostic fee seeing how I bought the car from them, had always had it serviced by them, the fault appeared very soon after it had been serviced by them, was having the fault fixed by them and that the likelihood was that I'd be buying my next car from them and it made no difference at all. I was told the diagnostic computer was a very expensive piece of equipment and the charge was therefore justified.
Looks like my next car won't be bought from there. Shame.

Write to the Dealer Principal at the dealer to express your dismay at their intransigence, and advise him that they've now lost your future business in all respects. (Servicing, repairs and future vehicle purchases).

A rocket under the DP's backside can sometimes work wonders.

sheramber

My local dealer charge a £95 diagnostic fee.