Car Dealer attempting to charge for diagnostics on almost new car

Pat38493

WellKnownSid said:

Pat38493 said:

This hasn't happened yet but another person with the same car told me that Volvo dealers will try to do this to you even if it's a new car.

Pretty much all dealers will do this.  This is to stop the tide of people making silly claims in order to waste time.  Just this week my son had to deal with:

1. Customer complaint: seats are too hot and uncomfortable in warm weather.  Fix: turn off heated seats.

2. Customer complaint: warning light appearing on dash.  No faults found, after contacting supplying dealer for any background, service advisor was informed that "this particular customer likes to make up faults prior to a long journey so that he was supplied with a free courtesy car and free fuel".

3. Customer complaint: Noise from front corner of car.  Fix: tyre has absolutely no tread, down to cords in several places, dangerous to drive.  Customer response: "I have a 500 mile journey this afternoon, I don't have time to wait for a tyre".

4. Customer complaint: completely out of the blue warning lights have appeared on dash, bonnet will not shut.  Fix: customer has crashed the car causing significant front-end damage and pedestrian airbag deployment.

You cannot make this stuff up...

Pretty shocking, but in some cases I am sure that the report is real - as mentioned, in my case I don't have a particularly long journey in the next days, and I am a bit hesitant to even report this because as the fault is intermittend, I am not even sure that anything will come up on the diagnostics, and then someone at the dealer will assume (point 2 above) that I have some nefarious motive.  To avoid this I would simply take a photo of the warning, and tell them to start and stop the car several times in several different settings.

I would also argue that the warning message itself is the proof of a problem - just because the diagnostics said "no issue", if the customer can prove that this s happening it's an issue.  Space Shuttle Challenger management said "diagnostics looks good" before pressing launch button.....

We have all heard about issues where cars (or other technology) has various errors or warnings coming up intermittently but the supplier keeps saying they cannot find a problem and it works fine for them - working in IT I know that on the other side of this issue it's very difficult to solve those kind of issues if you cannot repeat them.

I am also not too sure how the dealer would know that the customer is making up reasons to get a courtesy car - they might guess or suspect it but not sure how they could know for sure.

Pat38493

chrisw said:

In my experience of Volvo dealers, they charge a diagnostic fee which is then refunded if a fault is found covered by warranty. Volvo do seem to be pretty good at covering faults through warranty and good will so I've never had a problem getting the diagnostic fee back, annoying as it is.

Thanks - that helps a bit, but in my view they should only charge you if no fault is found, or at the least they should only make a reservation against your card like a hotel, but only take the money if no warranty fault is found.

Herzlos

When I've dealt with stuff like that it's usually a case of the diagnostic fee being waived if an issue is found and the manufacturer approves the warranty repair, otherwise the diagnostic fee is charged after the work has been done just like any other service. So I don't think you'll even need to hand over the money and get it refunded later.

Stubod

..as above, I had a similar problem on a new car after a few months. Dealer charged for diagnostic, but it was a warranty fault so i never actually paid anything....

WellKnownSid

Pat38493 said:

WellKnownSid said:

Pat38493 said:

This hasn't happened yet but another person with the same car told me that Volvo dealers will try to do this to you even if it's a new car.

Pretty much all dealers will do this.  This is to stop the tide of people making silly claims in order to waste time.  Just this week my son had to deal with:

1. Customer complaint: seats are too hot and uncomfortable in warm weather.  Fix: turn off heated seats.

2. Customer complaint: warning light appearing on dash.  No faults found, after contacting supplying dealer for any background, service advisor was informed that "this particular customer likes to make up faults prior to a long journey so that he was supplied with a free courtesy car and free fuel".

3. Customer complaint: Noise from front corner of car.  Fix: tyre has absolutely no tread, down to cords in several places, dangerous to drive.  Customer response: "I have a 500 mile journey this afternoon, I don't have time to wait for a tyre".

4. Customer complaint: completely out of the blue warning lights have appeared on dash, bonnet will not shut.  Fix: customer has crashed the car causing significant front-end damage and pedestrian airbag deployment.

You cannot make this stuff up...

I am also not too sure how the dealer would know that the customer is making up reasons to get a courtesy car - they might guess or suspect it but not sure how they could know for sure.

The customer was a repeat offender, apparently.  So well known to that dealer that they refused to help him out and were suddenly very busy every time the customer attempted to book in, which was why he was now travelling to a dealer much further away.

Even intermittent warning lights should be stored.  I had this on a Peugeot about 10 years ago and the dealer could see the log in the ECU and they ended up stripping the engine down because of it.  Modern cars record FAR more data...

If you are concerned - just move your dash cam to your side window to become an 'instrument cluster cam'.  Record the issue then you have proof.

Ibrahim5

Just say no. I told them that I had bought a car with a warranty and I wasn't interested in petty, stupid squabbling between the dealers and the manufacturers and I wasn't paying an idiotic 'diagnostic fee' and they just said "OK, bring it in".

chrisw

Herzlos said:

When I've dealt with stuff like that it's usually a case of the diagnostic fee being waived if an issue is found and the manufacturer approves the warranty repair, otherwise the diagnostic fee is charged after the work has been done just like any other service. So I don't think you'll even need to hand over the money and get it refunded later.

Yes, that was my experience now you mention it. I had to agree to the diagnostic charge upfront but would only be actually charged it if the fault wasn't covered by the warranty.

Arunmor

Ibrahim5 said:

Just say no. I told them that I had bought a car with a warranty and I wasn't interested in petty, stupid squabbling between the dealers and the manufacturers and I wasn't paying an idiotic 'diagnostic fee' and they just said "OK, bring it in".

Did I see you on YouTube arguing about the cost of a tyre at the side of the motorway in the last year or so?

Arunmor

OP have you plugged in an OBD reader?  Might be worth a look and take it from there.  Hopefully it shows something if not it could be a bit trickier.  A wee video might help.

Barkin

Arunmor said:

OP have you plugged in an OBD reader?  

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this is all hypothetical "what if" at the moment. 

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Pat38493 said:

This hasn't happened yet but another person with the same car told me that Volvo dealers will try to do this to you even if it's a new car.
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