£40 Diagnostic Fee?
Discussion
I visited a local BMW maindealer the other day after being bombarded with mail shots telling me that they would price match any local garage and informing me of lower labour rates for older vehicles. Well I was enticed. I made a booking to have the suspension clonk looked at in order that they could offer me a quote for the repair. Imagine my surprise when they asked me for a £40 fee in order to inspect my vehicle. Needless to say i didn't pay and left. It's a shame really as they have done a lot of good work for me in previous years.
I knew that dealers did this back in the day when they had customers falling over themselves, but I thought that they were now actively trying to entice customers of older vehicle in. However, I draw the line at paying someone for the privilege of quoting for a job. Is this inspection and diagnostic fee still the norm or is my local dealer unusual?
cheers
pp
I knew that dealers did this back in the day when they had customers falling over themselves, but I thought that they were now actively trying to entice customers of older vehicle in. However, I draw the line at paying someone for the privilege of quoting for a job. Is this inspection and diagnostic fee still the norm or is my local dealer unusual?
cheers
pp
mmm-five said:
How did they know you were not just going to take their diagnosis and go to your local, cheap mechanic to get it done?
They don't and it's entirely their prerogative to charge such a fee. It just seams at odds with their attempts to entice people in and convince them that they are as good value as any independent garage. I don't pay for quotes for any other services. So I chose not to in this case.Contrary to what Shakespeare wrote even an unfeed lawyer will tell you something. A divorce lawyer will give you 30 minutes of their time up front for free as this is part of the cost of doing business.
pp
I don't mind them making a living, let's be honest - that's never in doubt but i wouldn't want to pay £40 to be told there's nothing wrong with the car and the only way to find a problem is to start throwing different parts at it until something fixes the issue.
If they find a problem for my £40 i will be more then happy to go for it.
I've just spoken to a local specialist who charges £27.50 to put it on their Diagnostic machine but if it comes back with no fault codes and no issues they won't charge me.
That is fair!
If they find a problem for my £40 i will be more then happy to go for it.
I've just spoken to a local specialist who charges £27.50 to put it on their Diagnostic machine but if it comes back with no fault codes and no issues they won't charge me.
That is fair!
BMW like to run a "front of house/back of house" garage for rich idiots who don't like the smell of oil.
They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
Our place charges between £40 and £70 initial diagnosis, this is taken in to account if the work is completed at the dealership.
This came about after a lot of local indies were telling people to bring their car to us to diagnose it then they took it away to have the work done there. Imagine that usually for diagnosis that half hour usually gets you an hour of the technicians time on the car, if a few of them done a day free of charge for someone to go else where would cripple a company eventually.
That charge is often quoted up front when a car is still in warranty, so that customers realise if the fault is not warranty it is chargeable.
[examples]
Rattle under seat a couple of shotgun cartridges rolling around the airvent under the carpet.
Battery going flat, non BMW phone kit incorrectly wired in to constantly drain.
Vibration at 60mph, non BMW wheel set fitted that look more like a 50 pence piece when spun round.
Dealerships are audited by BMW and if an unfair charge or overcharge has been made to a customer, they will reimburse the customer and debit the dealership for the complete job not just the overcharge, and vice versa if they feel a warranty job is fraudulent to appease a customer then the whole job is debited this is on top of lost bonuses to the dealer for not doing it correct the first time so it is not in a Dealerships interest to be unfair to customers.
This came about after a lot of local indies were telling people to bring their car to us to diagnose it then they took it away to have the work done there. Imagine that usually for diagnosis that half hour usually gets you an hour of the technicians time on the car, if a few of them done a day free of charge for someone to go else where would cripple a company eventually.
That charge is often quoted up front when a car is still in warranty, so that customers realise if the fault is not warranty it is chargeable.
[examples]
Rattle under seat a couple of shotgun cartridges rolling around the airvent under the carpet.
Battery going flat, non BMW phone kit incorrectly wired in to constantly drain.
Vibration at 60mph, non BMW wheel set fitted that look more like a 50 pence piece when spun round.
Dealerships are audited by BMW and if an unfair charge or overcharge has been made to a customer, they will reimburse the customer and debit the dealership for the complete job not just the overcharge, and vice versa if they feel a warranty job is fraudulent to appease a customer then the whole job is debited this is on top of lost bonuses to the dealer for not doing it correct the first time so it is not in a Dealerships interest to be unfair to customers.
scothall Winchester wanted £45 for non returnable Diagnostic check.
I went to my local garage who had a machine who did the check for free.
They could not do the work as it would need a complete remap , standard procedure I have now found out from BMW.
Took the car to Woods in Odiham did the same check FOC and found identical fault to the local garage ?
They did the work, and got 50% labour goodwill and a free part from BMW.
I discussed the re proramming with Woods and they confirmed that if any major part , that was any way involved with the computer systems then they had to do a complete re install of the software.
This begs the question , what happens if an Indy does the work?
Up to now I have used an Indy and will continue to do so as the car gets a little older and there is no chance of ' goodwill' from BMW.
As an aside I had the car chipped by Simon Coe of CCCteech and the difference was very marked.
Because of the component failure ( 10 days later) and the re programming the re mapping was lost. However it was true to say that the the car was significantly different to when I got it prior to the remap. This indicates to me that there had been some changes to the BMW software. The car had all the upgrades done prior to the failure.
Simon came back and remapped the car again and it is better than ever , so hopefully this will be the end of the matter.
mmm-five said:
How did they know you were not just going to take their diagnosis and go to your local, cheap mechanic to get it done?
Because...OP said:
they would price match any local garage
Why would he go elsewhere if they'll price match?My local dealer offers the same thing - they will price match local indys but they require a written quote, you trying getting one of those from an Indy..
TheEnd said:
BMW like to run a "front of house/back of house" garage for rich idiots who don't like the smell of oil.
They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
Oh dear, you sound like a "clone" of myself! For God's sake don't get tarred with the same brush as me or you will have a torrent of abuse rained down. Be VERY careful what you say on this forum as it is inhabited by some peculiar "experts". - As are most automotive forums, in fairness. Everybody seems to know more than the last poster... You have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Best of luck, but I think that you are now yet another target for the idiots.........They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
mikez328 said:
TheEnd said:
BMW like to run a "front of house/back of house" garage for rich idiots who don't like the smell of oil.
They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
Oh dear, you sound like a "clone" of myself! For God's sake don't get tarred with the same brush as me or you will have a torrent of abuse rained down. Be VERY careful what you say on this forum as it is inhabited by some peculiar "experts". - As are most automotive forums, in fairness. Everybody seems to know more than the last poster... You have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Best of luck, but I think that you are now yet another target for the idiots.........They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
My wife's Mini would stall rather than pull away when it was cold (3C or less). The only way to get it moving would be to let it sit running for 5 or 6 minutes or rev it to 4k and slip the clutch.
Neither were a particularly good idea and it should happen anyway. It was lethal to pull out into our road as it would almost certainly just stop on you.
My glorious local dealer charged me £75 IIRC to keep it for a week and tell me there was nothing wrong with it as there computer said so.
I even went over to them first thing one frosty morning and showed them what happened but they still insisted nothing was wrong even though it stalled every time.
Now I accept to a certain extent paying for them to check things out, but to still charge me when nothing had been fixed and it was still wrong is one hell of a rip off. I now go to an indie for my BMW and Mini servicing (it was a dirty throttle bypass valve) and wouldn't buy a car from the dealer again.
They rang me on a customer service check a while later and I very politely told them what I thought of their service and I didn't even get an apology.
Neither were a particularly good idea and it should happen anyway. It was lethal to pull out into our road as it would almost certainly just stop on you.
My glorious local dealer charged me £75 IIRC to keep it for a week and tell me there was nothing wrong with it as there computer said so.
I even went over to them first thing one frosty morning and showed them what happened but they still insisted nothing was wrong even though it stalled every time.
Now I accept to a certain extent paying for them to check things out, but to still charge me when nothing had been fixed and it was still wrong is one hell of a rip off. I now go to an indie for my BMW and Mini servicing (it was a dirty throttle bypass valve) and wouldn't buy a car from the dealer again.
They rang me on a customer service check a while later and I very politely told them what I thought of their service and I didn't even get an apology.
HRG said:
mikez328 said:
TheEnd said:
BMW like to run a "front of house/back of house" garage for rich idiots who don't like the smell of oil.
They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
Oh dear, you sound like a "clone" of myself! For God's sake don't get tarred with the same brush as me or you will have a torrent of abuse rained down. Be VERY careful what you say on this forum as it is inhabited by some peculiar "experts". - As are most automotive forums, in fairness. Everybody seems to know more than the last poster... You have to sort the wheat from the chaff. Best of luck, but I think that you are now yet another target for the idiots.........They'd do everything in their power to keep you from laying eyes on the mechanics, and just have a woman on reception who will do no more than book a car in.
As a result, you're unlikely to get a mech to walk round, take a quick look and let you know what is wrong, which is what you'd get in most other non sales/ car repair places.
If you went to almost any independent garage, you get to chat with some guy, he'd probably say how he had one in last week with something similar, bring it in on Tues and they'll get it sorted.
At BMW, they'd flip through a chart, give you a day to drop it off, then send you on your way.
pattyg said:
Just been skinned £80 for a diagnostic check.
Sorry to hear that but not exactly surprised. Welcome to the DIY club - but beware the idiots on here who have more cash than sense. There are many of them who don't have anything better than to sit on their employers computer on this forum all day long.mikez328 said:
pattyg said:
Just been skinned £80 for a diagnostic check.
Sorry to hear that but not exactly surprised. Welcome to the DIY club - but beware the idiots on here who have more cash than sense. There are many of them who don't have anything better than to sit on their employers computer on this forum all day long.
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