£45 to charge a battery. ... seriously
Discussion
My dad's not so well at the moment, and therefore is not driving - I've been picking his car up every couple of weeks or so and giving it a decent run.
A week or so back it started - but came up with an immobiliser fault, and engine light (+ reduced power message). Turn it off, tried to start - nothing, just an immobiliser fault.
10 - 15 attempts later over 30 or so mins it started perfectly fine, no errors shown.
Drove it back to my parents (50 miles, so a good run) and called the 'manufactures' assistance guys, who came out, took one look and said they couldn't touch it as it was under warranty (2 years old, about 8K miles) - kinda defeats the point of a breakdown service. They did however come back and pick it up and took it to the manufacturers dealer.
They looked at it today, apparently a battery fault - fair enough, they can do some very odd things when the batter is low, although when it did start, it turned over fine, at least I didn't notice any sluggishness.
I spoke to the dealer today, in order to claim a new battery under warranty, then need to charge it overnight and reassess it again tomorrow and they state this is chargeable and not covered under warranty - £45.
I am being unreasonable in thinking this is somewhat taking the .....
A week or so back it started - but came up with an immobiliser fault, and engine light (+ reduced power message). Turn it off, tried to start - nothing, just an immobiliser fault.
10 - 15 attempts later over 30 or so mins it started perfectly fine, no errors shown.
Drove it back to my parents (50 miles, so a good run) and called the 'manufactures' assistance guys, who came out, took one look and said they couldn't touch it as it was under warranty (2 years old, about 8K miles) - kinda defeats the point of a breakdown service. They did however come back and pick it up and took it to the manufacturers dealer.
They looked at it today, apparently a battery fault - fair enough, they can do some very odd things when the batter is low, although when it did start, it turned over fine, at least I didn't notice any sluggishness.
I spoke to the dealer today, in order to claim a new battery under warranty, then need to charge it overnight and reassess it again tomorrow and they state this is chargeable and not covered under warranty - £45.
I am being unreasonable in thinking this is somewhat taking the .....
Cheers guys, not just me then ....
I'm certainly surprised the if the battery has failed, they usually last years, and although it's not been out daily I've made sure it was run at least every couple of weeks by bringing it back home with me.
It's not the end of the world by any means, just the principle of it ... I'll argue it later as it's part of the diagnostics of the issue, or at least see if they will compromise and do it for 1/2 of that.
I'm certainly surprised the if the battery has failed, they usually last years, and although it's not been out daily I've made sure it was run at least every couple of weeks by bringing it back home with me.
It's not the end of the world by any means, just the principle of it ... I'll argue it later as it's part of the diagnostics of the issue, or at least see if they will compromise and do it for 1/2 of that.
It's a bit like a diagnostic charge.
My Mrs had a Suzuki under warranty and AC wasn't cold. Basically no gas in the system. So I called Suzuki and they said I need to pay £60 odd to recharge.
I argued its an 18 month old car and shouldn't require charge.
Anyways they said more or less the same to OP. We're going to charge you £60 and if found to be a manufacturing defect will not charge you.
Went back the next day, dealer handed the keys back and no charge... I asked what the issue was and they said there was a small system leak.
Bit of a PITA, but I bet the majority of people wouldn't even quibble over the 'charge'!
Just make it clear you don't get charged if manufacturing defect.
My Mrs had a Suzuki under warranty and AC wasn't cold. Basically no gas in the system. So I called Suzuki and they said I need to pay £60 odd to recharge.
I argued its an 18 month old car and shouldn't require charge.
Anyways they said more or less the same to OP. We're going to charge you £60 and if found to be a manufacturing defect will not charge you.
Went back the next day, dealer handed the keys back and no charge... I asked what the issue was and they said there was a small system leak.
Bit of a PITA, but I bet the majority of people wouldn't even quibble over the 'charge'!
Just make it clear you don't get charged if manufacturing defect.
Reminds me when I took a battery back to Halfords under warranty they wanted to try to charge it before changing the battery. The guy asked one of his colleagues if they had a battery charger, no came the reply. This was in a superstore, but I suppose they can just use a charger that is for sale to the public.
The rockin rule-book says that any issue whatosever with a battery that's over 2 years old - just go and buy a new one.
Sure, they're not cheap. But it can save hours of faffing about and additional costs. I don't buy chargers or tenders. I buy batteries.
Something to remember with modern cars is that, electrically, they bear very little resemblance to cars from a few decades ago. Most particularly they are full of computers and computers need a minimum voltage to work. You can have a situation where the battery still delivers enough current to start the car but during the cranking cycle the weak battery drops its voltage so far that the computers won't run properly - and hence the error messages.
Sure, they're not cheap. But it can save hours of faffing about and additional costs. I don't buy chargers or tenders. I buy batteries.
Something to remember with modern cars is that, electrically, they bear very little resemblance to cars from a few decades ago. Most particularly they are full of computers and computers need a minimum voltage to work. You can have a situation where the battery still delivers enough current to start the car but during the cranking cycle the weak battery drops its voltage so far that the computers won't run properly - and hence the error messages.
Dealership, almost every minute of a techs time is accountable... so a bit half hour getting the car in, battery connected up, job card written up followed by disconnecting once done plus maybe a bit time with the laptop, write up the job card again, park it outside.
Somebody is paying for that and if it ain't the warranty department, who may stipulate an iffy battery must be fully charger and tested before any claim is even considered, more so with many cars getting next to no use... and if it ain't the sales department picking up the tab as a goodwill gesture then that leaves you to cover diagnostic time and there's no issue being upfront, after all if warranty say no (you're aware, that's not a dealer level decision?) for whatever reason, who's covering the time spent on it?
Somebody is paying for that and if it ain't the warranty department, who may stipulate an iffy battery must be fully charger and tested before any claim is even considered, more so with many cars getting next to no use... and if it ain't the sales department picking up the tab as a goodwill gesture then that leaves you to cover diagnostic time and there's no issue being upfront, after all if warranty say no (you're aware, that's not a dealer level decision?) for whatever reason, who's covering the time spent on it?
Andeh1 said:
Seems daft that! Battery should arrive with around 50% charge, you'd have thought that's sufficient for the car & I a warning to drive for a minimum amount of time on the way home to charge it in the car!
Doing that causes the alternator to work overtime charging it plus its better to slow charge a battery at 6 to 10 amps rather than pumping the full output of an alternator into it which could be anything from 75 to 150amps in some cases.. Davie said:
Dealership, almost every minute of a techs time is accountable... so a bit half hour getting the car in, battery connected up, job card written up followed by disconnecting once done plus maybe a bit time with the laptop, write up the job card again, park it outside.
Somebody is paying for that and if it ain't the warranty department, who may stipulate an iffy battery must be fully charger and tested before any claim is even considered, more so with many cars getting next to no use... and if it ain't the sales department picking up the tab as a goodwill gesture then that leaves you to cover diagnostic time and there's no issue being upfront, after all if warranty say no (you're aware, that's not a dealer level decision?) for whatever reason, who's covering the time spent on it?
Sadly, if you costed it properly, £45 is nothing like enough. The dealer would probably like to charge an hour’s diagnostic at £140 or more, but realises that would be ridiculous.Somebody is paying for that and if it ain't the warranty department, who may stipulate an iffy battery must be fully charger and tested before any claim is even considered, more so with many cars getting next to no use... and if it ain't the sales department picking up the tab as a goodwill gesture then that leaves you to cover diagnostic time and there's no issue being upfront, after all if warranty say no (you're aware, that's not a dealer level decision?) for whatever reason, who's covering the time spent on it?
A1VDY said:
Andeh1 said:
Seems daft that! Battery should arrive with around 50% charge, you'd have thought that's sufficient for the car & I a warning to drive for a minimum amount of time on the way home to charge it in the car!
Doing that causes the alternator to work overtime charging it plus its better to slow charge a battery at 6 to 10 amps rather than pumping the full output of an alternator into it which could be anything from 75 to 150amps in some cases.. Anyway Andeh1 has misunderstood - the dealer wants to charge the existing battery, not the new one.
Sheepshanks said:
A1VDY said:
Andeh1 said:
Seems daft that! Battery should arrive with around 50% charge, you'd have thought that's sufficient for the car & I a warning to drive for a minimum amount of time on the way home to charge it in the car!
Doing that causes the alternator to work overtime charging it plus its better to slow charge a battery at 6 to 10 amps rather than pumping the full output of an alternator into it which could be anything from 75 to 150amps in some cases.. Anyway Andeh1 has misunderstood - the dealer wants to charge the existing battery, not the new one.
lyonspride said:
That effectively the cost of a new battery...........
Batteries for cars with stop start can be expensive. Extra if it needs coded to the car. I've had a couple of batteries replaced under warranty. The first attempt to fix the issue was charging the battery. I was never charged and neither time did it solve the issue.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff