Nissan diagnostic costs £156 - before any repairs

ibntyne

The local Nissan dealer can do a diagnostic test to check my Nissan Note's electrical problems - for £156. That's before any repairs are even done. Is this standard practice? Also, due to the nature of the car's tech they seem to have a monopoly on your custom as other electricians can't fix it. You have to get it done at Nissan. Is that right?

Archie_Duke

It’s reasonably common. That’s on the high end of the scale though. Definitely just a diagnostic check, not investigating a fault? Did they say why so high. Just go elsewhere if you don’t like what they’re offering to do.
Last time I had something like this where a fault needed investigating separately with a Skoda main dealer they waived a chunk of the bill for the fitting of the replacement pump.

Orville

Try something like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174287117377?epid=719152769&hash=item2894525c41:g:lsEAAOSwiz9h2Cbh

Download an app called Torque OBD reader to your phone. It won't be as accurate as the nissan one but it might point you in the right direction (if it covers your car)

Browntoa

My small local independent garage charges £30 for diagnostic on most cars . He just charges customers that plus repairs and labour costs .The £30 is what he's charged by his 3rd party diagnostic supplier 

Jenni_D

Cheap eBay specials and Torque won't cover everything - only the basic things. And even then you'd need be able to interpret the results to understand what needs to be fixed. (No repair place worth their salt will simply accept client-advised fault codes at face value - those that do are probably the very places you should avoid).

The dealer network plus some specialist places have the expensive test kit, and the training and experience to understand what the diagnostic test is saying - this all needs paying for.

There's a long, recent thread in Motoring on this very topic.

TELLIT01

Our local Nissan dealership has a diagnostics charge of about £135 although part of that will go towards the repair cost assuming a fault is actually diagnosed.

Robbo66

is your car a normal petrol, hybrid or electric. If its a normal petrol then any decent auto electrician should be able to do a diagnostic and repair. If one of the other then yes probably dealer only and hence the price as those systems are very complex.

Flight3287462

This post would have been better suited to the Motoring section!

molerat

As mentioned above the diagnostic equipment for modern cars is pretty expensive.  Some cars can not be 100% diagnosed with stand alone equipment but have to be linked to the manufacturer system.  This is available to independent garages but at a cost.

Alderbank

ibntyne said:

The local Nissan dealer can do a diagnostic test to check my Nissan Note's electrical problems - for £156. That's before any repairs are even done. Is this standard practice? Also, due to the nature of the car's tech they seem to have a monopoly on your custom as other electricians can't fix it. You have to get it done at Nissan. Is that right?

When the orange engine management light came on in my Nissan Note I took it to my local Halfords Autocentre. They are not a Nissan dealer and could not fix the fault but they gave me the printout and made no charge.