Diagnostic Fee

[dave.partridge]

Is the practice of charging £58 or so for a main dealer to even look at the car now business as usual?

That's sad if so. Almost as worrying as the description of the DC1103 training course on the MBUK web site which has the following amongst its objectives

- To develop a "sell not serve" culture
- Delegates will use strong sales processes to maximise performance

 

[Diesel Benz]

Is the practice of charging £58 or so for a main dealer to even look at the car now business as usual?

That's sad if so. Almost as worrying as the description of the DC1103 training course on the MBUK web site which has the following amongst its objectives

- To develop a "sell not serve" culture
- Delegates will use strong sales processes to maximise performance

UK may be different but I would consider £58 reasonable. You may assume that it takes a few seconds to read codes but even a proper quick test quite some time and the tool could be needed for other work at the workshop, so it is not free time even if the tool was working on its own for a while.

The tools are also expensive, including yearly update fees. If you really feel one can make a fortune with quick diagnosis only, why not buy a tool for yourself?

 

[Vlad]

Its like a lot of things.....if you are a well known face at the dealership or garage they will often waive the fee, but if they don't know you from Adam, then you are likely to get charged and as has been said above, it can take time to get the codes and then to determine whats going on.

 

[ian11]

- To develop a "sell not serve" culture
- Delegates will use strong sales processes to maximise performance

Dealers should conduct diagnosis for free.

At worst nothing will be necessary.... unlikely given the customer brought the car in for a reason. Yes...you won't earn for the 12 mins it costs to plug in.

At best they have a potential minor maintenance repair with a customer they have shown courtesy to.

It's just SO easy to get right and it makes me wince when they dictate corporate strategies like "sell not serve" actually reducing the leeway for the dealer operatives.

 

[BlackC55]

Dealers should conduct diagnosis for free.

At worst nothing will be necessary.... unlikely given the customer brought the car in for a reason. Yes...you won't earn for the 12 mins it costs to plug in.

At best they have a potential minor maintenance repair with a customer they have shown courtesy to.

It's just SO easy to get right and it makes me wince when they dictate corporate strategies like "sell not serve" actually reducing the leeway for the dealer operatives.

Why?

Some diagnostics take weeks. Plus the Star has to be paid for and it is expensive.

 

[lil.smartie]

And you don't always get the sale of parts & repair work!

Kate

 

[LTD]

Dealers should conduct diagnosis for free.

At worst nothing will be necessary.... unlikely given the customer brought the car in for a reason. Yes...you won't earn for the 12 mins it costs to plug in.

At best they have a potential minor maintenance repair with a customer they have shown courtesy to.

It's just SO easy to get right and it makes me wince when they dictate corporate strategies like "sell not serve" actually reducing the leeway for the dealer operatives.

The only way it would ever work is that the dealer charges you for the diagnosis and then offers a reduction of that fee (say 50%) if the work required is carried out within a fixed time scale by the same dealer.

'my car's broken something, can you tell me what it is frre-of-charge so I can fix it myself or tell a mechanic what the problem is ?'

Don't think you'd get many positive replies

 

[grober]

While I have to agree that as things stand at the moment a charge has to be made for fault codes to be read to cover labour and diagnostic/software/equipment costs this is part of the "income generation "strategy of manufacturers to make fault finding into some kind of "black art"
Car diagnostic systems don't demand a Cray Supercomputer to run on -a fairly basic laptop seems to be sufficient- together with the correct software/data base for a particular model. Many cars already have computerised systems onboard the provision of one more doesn't seem too onerous. How about a DIAGNOSTIC option for Command? You buy the relevant DVD for your model and instead of cryptic instructions to drive your car to the dealer it actually tells you in some detail what the problem is??

 

[Diesel Benz]

While I have to agree that as things stand at the moment a charge has to be made for fault codes to be read to cover labour and diagnostic/software/equipment costs this is part of the "income generation "strategy of manufacturers to make fault finding into some kind of "black art"
Car diagnostic systems don't demand a Cray Supercomputer to run on -a fairly basic laptop seems to be sufficient- together with the correct software/data base for a particular model. Many cars already have computerised systems onboard the provision of one more doesn't seem too onerous. How about a DIAGNOSTIC option for Command? You buy the relevant DVD for your model and instead of cryptic instructions to drive your car to the dealer it actually tells you in some detail what the problem is??

It does not take a supercomputer to run Windows XP or Windows7 or what ever it is, even complex image processing or video processing can be performed on a laptop. Why shouldn't that SW be free because a simple laptop can run it?

 

[markmifsud]

Its not just STAR that does the diagnosis, its the skilled mechanic time in interpreting the results

 

[st4]

Its not just STAR that does the diagnosis, its the skilled mechanic time in interpreting the results

Very true, IIRC at Gaydon GTG we all had a similar discussion where althought STAR would through up a code say linked to the gearbox, it could be coming from an engine malfunction triggering that fault.

The diagnostic fee covers that expertise. However, perhaps a reduction in fee as a good will gesture if no fault shown.

 

[grober]

It does not take a supercomputer to run Windows XP or Windows7 or what ever it is, even complex image processing or video processing can be performed on a laptop. Why shouldn't that SW be free because a simple laptop can run it?

I don't think I said it should be free but perhaps a reasonably priced option? It would make little difference to dealers/specialists since they would still in all probability get to supply the part/perform the repair. I don't like this "dependency" situation artificially created by the manufacturers because its inherently inefficient. The warning signs were there when they removed the dipstick - what's next--- a warning sign on the bonnet NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE- breaking the seal will invalidate your warranty.

 

[br0ke]

Its not just STAR that does the diagnosis, its the skilled mechanic time in interpreting the results

If I was paying £58 I would expect a skilled mechanic to not only interpret the results but also listen to my explanation of the symptons and correlate the two.

Unfortunately I think they are too dependant on the computer and too focused on making money (not the mechanics fault as they probably don't see the money) that all you get is a printout that may or not be what the problem is.
How many times have we read here that STAR said such and such and the garage followed it - to the cost of the owner - only to find that it wasn't the problem at all but the owner is the one out of pocket.

"Sorry...computer said NO!!!!"

 

[davidjpowell]

When I first bought the W211 it had a fault, which was saying steering condole module (or something similar) was faulty. First guy I used decided it was the module, that is was an MB job, but did not charge me for the work. He's more of an old school mechanic and was clearly not that comfortable with the computer.

Second guy charged me £45 for ten minutes interrogation and suspected the slipring. A further £80 to diagnose and then more money to change the ring. Given that most of the work was done by his apprentice, all this added up to more than I would expect for an indie. I think labour was about £175.

I may be being harsh - it would be interesting to hear an opinion from Black55 actually.

What would be nice (and it would never happen) is for the manufacturers to come up with a common system. I suppose OBDBII was that originally.

 

[Rory]

I bet Mercedes's ServicePlus organisation won't pay diagnostic fees to dealers, and I doubt leasing companies pay them either.

 

[rees_A]

I think its a total rip off. Mercedes make the cars easy to fix by providing loads of sensors, they create software that can interpret the result of plugging a plug into someones car. They then pinpoint the problem, swap the part and get you on your way. Surely the whole thing is supposed to be an aid to the mechanic it's there to help him do his job...Why should we have to pay!!!! It's like them saying..Well, we need a toolkit to undo a bolt to replace the part that needs changing, that'll be 100 quid labour and 50 quid for use of the tools..... F***ing liberty if you ask me!!!!

 

[lil.smartie]

I'll be open & honest about this. We are a Smart indie. We have a genuine, MB networked STAR and we charge £47.50 inc vat for diagnostics. This is broken down as 1/2hr labour @ £27.50 (so a simple fix or code clear is included) and £20 for the diagnostic so if a job takes 1hr and needs diagnostics then the charge is 1hr (£55) & £20. The use of diagnostic kit simply points the mechanic in the right direction, where sensors are concerned this can be quicker than trial & error!

Kate

 

[LTD]

Sensor detection can save a HUGE bill.

Lesser of two evils IMO

 

[rees_A]

I'll be open & honest about this. We are a Smart indie. We have a genuine, MB networked STAR and we charge £47.50 inc vat for diagnostics. This is broken down as 1/2hr labour @ £27.50 (so a simple fix or code clear is included) and £20 for the diagnostic so if a job takes 1hr and needs diagnostics then the charge is 1hr (£55) & £20. The use of diagnostic kit simply points the mechanic in the right direction, where sensors are concerned this can be quicker than trial & error!

Kate

So the diagnostic device is used as part of your repair process... Why charge extra to use it....

When a window cleaner comes round he doesn't charge £3 for use of the ladder and £3 for cleaning the windows so why do garages charge for a tool they NEED to use to repair a car!!!!!

 

[LTD]

rees

You will find that EVERY tradesperson factors in tool costs into their bill.

Some are more transparent than others