Dealership Before Repair Charge

Mabeldog

Hello

Sorry for the very long post but I'm just wondering where this "Charge for Quote" from main dealerships came from ??? I'm hearing this from many other people - is it actually legal or just dubious !

My 3 1/2 year old car out of warrenty has developed a leaky rear washer pipe - I asked our local dealership for a quote for repair and got this back…..

We would not be able to provide a quote before a diagnostic. A
diagnostic will provide an idea of how big of a job this is.
In regards to your investigation the first 60 minutes will be
charged at £144 inclusive of VAT. If any further
investigation, parts are required or it's not covered by
warranty, we will contact you to advise the cost and gain
authorisation before carrying out the additional work.

So as I'd actually told them what was wrong I replied

Thank you for your email

I'm a little surprised that as a main Dealer you can't actually just do the repairs without "investigation"

I rather had the impression that your mechanics are trained on all aspects repairs of the vehicles so I think £ 144 just "to take a look" is a bit steep

Got this back

Good afternoon,
I'm sorry about that. We charge this to pay our technicians for
their time as some faults can be harder than others to diagnose.

So my reply was…..

Thank you for explaining that

However even if your Technicians get half that an hour my my simplistic calculations does that mean they are are on over £ 100K a year ??

Perhaps I've misunderstood but unless you take the cost of this investigation off the final bill I really don't get it ..... I understand if it was a home visit or something but it's not.

I'm sure something as straightforward as this where I've actually told you what's wrong ( water leaking from washer pipe in tailgate which I can narrow done to one place within a few inches )

Could you get your Manager to call me Monday please

No phone call !!! I wish I'd sent the link to how to take the rear spoiler off ( 3 mins long) that shows this to reveal the pipe where leak is but obvously by then I've already made my mind up to go to a local garage that looks after my Wifes car who are all too willing to take a look for free and then do it

daveyjp

Every hour of a main dealer's technician time has to be accounted for. Your vehicle's issue is one of what could be a dozen similar issues, at just 30 minutes each that is almost a full day of a technicians time earning zero income.

Once out of warranty there are two better options. For simple issues look on youtube and DIY, for others, as you have done find a local garage.

Third way is to find a small family owned main dealer. Mine is brilliant. A few weeks ago my car developed a rattle on the exhaust. It is well documented and is due to some rivets around a heat shield rusting, the shield then becomes loose and rattles. Called the dealer, spoke to my contact there who asked me to take the car in. I did so, waited and within half an hour the car had new fasteners and was back with me.

Took my phone out to pay and was told no charge. That's why I keep going back to them for vehicles.

Nobbie1967

If you want a quote that you can then hold them to, then they are going to want to make sure they know exactly what work they will need to do by investigating the issue. Therefore they must charge you for this as you could go elsewhere once they give you the quote. For all they know it could be a dislodged pipe or a leaking pump until,they investigate.

If you’d just said fix it, they would still need to do the investigation, but they wouldn’t have to stop once they have taken the car apart to find out if you want them to repair it.

Mildly_Miffed

"Leaky rear washer pipe" - is the location of the leak obvious, or is dismantling going to be required to track it down? Is there anything that's caused the leak that will need sorting? Has the leak damaged anything? What parts will be needed?

That's all going to take time, in order to produce anything that justifies the Q word rather than just an estimate. And, yes, somebody has to pay for that time…

They've told you what they charge for labour. £120/hr + vat is far from unusual for a main dealer - if it was a "prestige" brand in a nice bit of the SE, then it could well be a lot more. And, no, that's not what they actually pay the mechanic… Unless you think the building and all the employment overheads are free.

And while your local garage will be happy to use generic washer hose and connectors, main dealers can't do that - they can only use manufacturer-supplied OE parts.

Frozen_up_north

I had this nonsense from a Seat main dealer. The hinge pin on my glove box fell out, the car was only a few months old and I had the hinge pin. Took it to the dealer and they wanted around £400 to fit a new glove box. Someone is milking the system.

I said the issue was a warranty job, they said it must be malicious damage (what?). In the end the mechanic said they would order a new glove box and fit it for free. So Seat UK are paying over the odds for pushing a pin into a hinge and maybe a drop of Loctite… The service receptionist did not seem impressed with the mechanic.

There was nothing wrong with the glove box, except a design error where the hinge pins are not secured properly.

Bottom line, main dealers are a huge rip-off. Take your car to a local family garage and get the job done for a sensible price.

Lorian

Find the right forum for the car and likely someone already knows the common place it leaks and how to fix.

jimjames

However even if your Technicians get half that an hour my my simplistic calculations does that mean they are are on over £ 100K a year ??

I get the frustration with the quote charge but suggesting the tech is on £100k just because the charge is £144 doesn't stack up. You're not paying only for the 30-60 mins that they spend on your car, you're forgetting all the other overheads that are incurred whether that's electricity, business rates or tools.

caprikid1

"you're forgetting all the other overheads that are incurred whether that's electricity, business rates or tools."

Cost of the building, back office staff etc etc, lets not forget VAT at 20% , corporation tax !

Unfortunately the hourly rate of those chargeable in a business needs to pay for the rest of the business, I appreciate dealers sell cars as well but the workshop is the more stable income and a lot of expenses rest on its shoulders.