£40 Diagnostic Fee?

[Pickled Piper]

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

[Pickled Piper]

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