Diagnostic: £103 (+vat) !!!

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PhilL

Active Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2003
Messages
81
Location
Bristol
Car
2002 SL500; '54 E270 CDI Elegance Estate; 2001 C200K Coupe
Is this a record?

My E270 Estate has been telling me to "Visit Workshop", with a picture of my car with an arrow pointing upwards, since before Christmas. I had to go to the main dealers for some more bits for the car and thought I would have a quick word with the service department to find the likely cause. The team leader went out back to have a word with his technicians and told me it was probably a fault with the self levelling suspension. I had guessed this as it does not have the Airmatic suspension all round. I suggested it may be a level sensor and was told it would need to be put on Star to confirm and they would need to allow 1 hour for the diagnosis, costing £103 (+vat). I questioned the cost and was told that hopefully this would be long enough for them to diagnose the problem!

I was expecting about £40 for a quick plug in, so after a few cough's and splutters I excused myself saying I would think about it.

Is he trying to rip me off, or just preparing me for more bad news?

What should I expect to pay to diagnose the cause of the malfunction message?
 
Those are main dealer prices : you have to pay for the fancy glass palace showrooms somehow .

A reputable Indy will do the same job for more like the £40 you had in mind .
 
My main dealer charged £64.31 when they popped the vito on it , all it told them was there was a wiring fault some where!!
simon
 
I would think thats almost std hr rate at a dealer.

Its not really 'free' that coffee you know...
 
Is he trying to rip me off, or just preparing me for more bad news?

He's trying to generate work for the local independents. But he can't do that directly as it's a secret MB policy. So he has to use a special code involving £ signs and 3 or 4 digit numbers.

What should I expect to pay to diagnose the cause of the malfunction message?

Our dealer suggested it would be a minimum of half an hour for SWMBO's R170 to be diagnosed. So £50-£60 quid + VAT for starters.

I think it's fair to charge - but if I was running a dealership I'd be offering customers to offset the basic diagnostic cost against the work undertaken as a result.

Doing it for free risks a customer coming in - getting advice as to what's wrong - and driving off to do the job themselves or get an independent to do it.

OTOH our indy hasn't charged us for doing a diagnostic.:thumb:

I guess they perceive that doing it for free means their customers don't think twice about coming straight in if they suspect something or see the dreaded dashboard light come on - and they get first shot at getting the work.
 
Thats crazy.... My local MB dealer charges £58 incl VAT. That rate sounds like an hours labour.
 
I think it's fair to charge - but if I was running a dealership I'd be offering customers to offset the basic diagnostic cost against the work undertaken as a result.

Doing it for free risks a customer coming in - getting advice as to what's wrong - and driving off to do the job themselves or get an independent to do it.

OTOH our indy hasn't charged us for doing a diagnostic.:thumb:

I guess they perceive that doing it for free means their customers don't think twice about coming straight in if they suspect something or see the dreaded dashboard light come on - and they get first shot at getting the work.

I remember on another forum an inde asking the best way to deal with the situation of charging - people were coming in and diagnosing and then buggering off to get it repaired elsewhere.

I recommended charging a nominal fee and then deducting off the final bill as well - genuine customers wont mind that.

I think a lot depends on how long it takes to diagnose as well... you could end up making no money if you diagnosed many different issues but didn't charge.
 

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