The volume control in my car is not moving smoothly for some reason so I went to the dealership this morning. Got a call back stating that there is liquid damage which is not true because I never spilled anything and they'e saying it'd cost 565 to fix. I declined but they're saying I owe 185 for the diagnostic. Is this normal? I don't think I should be paying for this. I had Hyundai and bmw and never had this kind of issue.

 

I know a BMW dealer near here does this. I suspect they had you initial something, but if they didn't disclose this, I'd would tell them what they can do with themselves, and make it clear you won't be back. But only if you mean it.

 

This is not normal, but they are legally allowed to do this. The only way to fight it back if they didn't disclose diagnostic fee to you prior to doing the work.

 

The fee is legal and is rarely charged, but protects the shop in cases where they need to spend time (which is money to a shop), but the the repairs are declined. A common term is "teardown estimate" and is the time to take apart until the full repair can be estimated, and put back together as-was if the repairs are not authorized.

 

I have had owned several other manufacturers cars and none of them charged a diagnosis fee but Jaguar dealerships do and Jaguar endorses it.

My dealership charges $135.00 but typically does not charge it if they find an issue that is covered under the warranty.

If they didn't disclose this to you beforehand though they will have a hard time charging you for it.

 

Thanks everyone. I spoke to the manager and ended up paying half of the charge.

 

In my neck o' the woods diagnostic fees are routine at both dealers and indies. The basic idea is perfectly justifiable, IMO. The actual amount charged.....not always justifiable.

Cheers
DD

 

So how does a business pay overheads and staff without charging for a diagnostic not resulting in repair work ? Would you rather they load the cost onto everybody who gets work done. This sounds like something that took more than just five minutes. Are you the only owner or could a previous owner have caused the “spill” ?

Most shops waive the diagnostic if work is completed because they already have the bits out anyway.

 

a diagnostic fee makes sense. think about if it was your shop and 20 people came in, you spent at least 1 hour per vehicle diagnosing the issues....so you've spent 20 hours and received zero business out of it.

however, if your vehicle is covered under warranty, you shouldnt have to pay this

 

Although the OP doesn't recall it happening, if there is indeed fluids or bits of food in the controller, that is obviously NOT a "warranty" issue. The service charge to uncover the problem is justified and in recognition of that the OP paid a discounted fee for the analysis. Why would anyone argue needlessly otherwise?