diagnostic test???

pcthrees · 11-26-2007, 01:15 PM

ok so there was oil leaking from under my car so i took it into the dealership since my car is under warranty. the guy calls me back and tells me that the whoever changed my oil didn't use the genuine subaru filter. so i was like ok ill just pick up the filter and change it myself...no biggie. then he tells me that i have to pay him 100 dollars for a diagnostic test. 1. what is a diagnostic test? 2. why would it cost me a 100 dollars they didn't even do anything.

pcthrees · 11-26-2007, 01:29 PM

bump for answer

Hitman83 · 11-26-2007, 03:10 PM

Unfortunately some dealerships do charge for diagnostic tests. Try and reason with the service manager and get the bill reduced to something a little more reasonable. Heck if it took them more than 10 min to figure that one out they need new help.

V8Huntr · 11-27-2007, 04:27 AM

That's the base price to even look at your car. The stealership near my house charges $90. Their "diagnostic fee" means that they charge you the shop labor rate of an hour even if it only takes them 5 min to figure out the problem.

Blackfang · 11-28-2007, 06:04 PM

He should have told you this BEFORE you left and signed the repair. I think $100 is kind of high imo.

A diagnosis is a technician finding the cause of a customers concern. This can be anywhere in price ranging 1/2 to 1 hours worth of their hourly rate. Usually if it is internal engine or trans, customer pays a tear down.

CGMDan · 11-28-2007, 06:41 PM

After reading all this it makes me think. Who the F cares if it's not a Genuine Subaru Oil Filter. IT DOESN'T MATTER. So not only are they screwing you with the fee, but they didn't diagnose anything. Tell them when they actually diagnose something then, you'll pay a diagnostic fee.

Blackfang · 11-29-2007, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CGMDan

After reading all this it makes me think. Who the F cares if it's not a Genuine Subaru Oil Filter. IT DOESN'T MATTER. So not only are they screwing you with the fee, but they didn't diagnose anything. Tell them when they actually diagnose something then, you'll pay a diagnostic fee.

I have seen plenty of leaking oil filter's that were wrong. Sure they did. They told him what was leaking.

So then why bring it in for an oil leak then? The guy couldn't figure it out for himself, so he had them do it. Yes it is unfortunate that dealers do not do charity work that is free for those that can't do it. They have bills and family to support as well. Granted I think the price was high, but I am sure you don't work for free either.

houdni · 12-19-2007, 12:05 PM

our shop charges 1.5 hours of flate rate pay if any time the scan tool is used...

not sure how subaru's scan tool is ...but ours retails for around 10K. so basically the charge is for the shop to make back its pay for the diagnostic equipment and the technicians time....even if it took only 5 minutes to diagnose...hope that helps...

what can the scan tool do? ours can pretty much do everything...relative compression tests...injector flow tests....fuel pump ...power balance...blah blah blah...but thats just some of the basics of what the ford diagnostic tool can do...

its funny...because everything is starting to use the scanner...from small modules which require you to download the old information and upload to the new module...to basic electrical like instrument clusters and even fuse boxs which ford calls smart junction boxes...

houdni · 12-19-2007, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackfang

I have seen plenty of leaking oil filter's that were wrong. Sure they did. They told him what was leaking.

So then why bring it in for an oil leak then? The guy couldn't figure it out for himself, so he had them do it. Yes it is unfortunate that dealers do not do charity work that is free for those that can't do it. They have bills and family to support as well. Granted I think the price was high, but I am sure you don't work for free either.

its funny when i have customers who just think they can drive their car into the shop and expect me to work on their car....hey...if it has no RO (repair order) i aint letting you borrow a single tool....i open my hand for cash if you want me to work on your vehicle...i didnt scrafice my hard earned money for tools to make my life easier....

its funny how the automotive field is one of the lowest paid laborer....but yet its one of the most technical....you have to really love what you do in this field. i love what i do...but i dont work for free...of course unless its my own cars....rofl

Blackfang · 12-21-2007, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by houdni

its funny when i have customers who just think they can drive their car into the shop and expect me to work on their car....hey...if it has no RO (repair order) i aint letting you borrow a single tool....i open my hand for cash if you want me to work on your vehicle...i didnt scrafice my hard earned money for tools to make my life easier....

its funny how the automotive field is one of the lowest paid laborer....but yet its one of the most technical....you have to really love what you do in this field. i love what i do...but i dont work for free...of course unless its my own cars....rofl

Half the people don't realize that the dealer has to buy special tools that they must have by Subaru and that is a heavy penny. Then they wonder why we charge a diagnosis. Not to mention the techs who have anywhere from 20-50k in tools. it costs a lot of money to run a service dept and you are constantly buying things to run it

flytojungho · 12-23-2007, 09:27 PM

yep.. diagnostic test fee is the devil. This is why if you notice a leak from somewhere, try to diagnose it yourself FIRST then take it to someone else to fix it or whatnot. If you decide to let the dealer perform this diagnostic test for you, they usually waive the fee if you let them fix the problem. Most of the service business require you to pay diagnostic fee of some sort.

haroman311 · 12-23-2007, 09:29 PM

at our dealer we set different rates for differnt types of problems. i believe airbag type situations charge most, then next is eletrical problems.

***jnprn2003*** · 12-24-2007, 03:38 AM

Free money for the service department...
Funny story (not for me though):
I am a boat owner and when I first bought my boat (still under warranty) I was told to have the maria perform the service because if something went wrong it was on them. Well my second season on the water I had them look over the drive bellows to make sure they were ok...I was charged 1hour $100.00 to "look" at bellows...Basically the tech had to bend over, open his eyes and look for approximately 1 min....Not cheap and since then I do all my own work.

**elirentz** · 12-24-2007, 03:43 AM

Usually at my work (subie dealership) if you have something done on your car we will do the diagnosis on the car. Like if the OP had gotten an oil change we wouldn't have charged him, if he didn't we only charge .5 of an hour for something small like this. It helps create return customers and more possible upsales. But you can't expect to just go to a garage and have them tell you what's wrong for free and then go fix it yourself.

Blackfang · 12-26-2007, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flytojungho

yep.. diagnostic test fee is the devil. This is why if you notice a leak from somewhere, try to diagnose it yourself FIRST then take it to someone else to fix it or whatnot.

The downfall, If you tell them to just fix what you tell them and it doesn't work, expect to pay more to fix it right. Don't complain, get upset or anything. I have seen too many customers tell us what is wrong with their car and they were wrong and luckily they were smart enough to have us diagnose the problem. It did save them a few hundred bucks. At the same time, I had a customer that told us to put in a part. He paid for it and we put it in. $500 bucks and guess what? The AC still didn't work. I guess Firestone wasn't that accurate. Another $700 bucks dropped in what we told him was wrong and the AC worked.

11-26-2007, 01:15 PM	#1
pcthrees Amateur STI Driver Car: 05 sti Fav Mod: tbe Posts: 45 Join Date: Jan 2007 Trader Rating: (0)	diagnostic test??? ok so there was oil leaking from under my car so i took it into the dealership since my car is under warranty. the guy calls me back and tells me that the whoever changed my oil didn't use the genuine subaru filter. so i was like ok ill just pick up the filter and change it myself...no biggie. then he tells me that i have to pay him 100 dollars for a diagnostic test. 1. what is a diagnostic test? 2. why would it cost me a 100 dollars they didn't even do anything. This ad is not endorsed by this member. Please register or login to hide this ad.

11-26-2007, 01:29 PM	#2
pcthrees Amateur STI Driver Car: 05 sti Fav Mod: tbe Posts: 45 Join Date: Jan 2007 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? bump for answer

11-26-2007, 03:10 PM	#3
Hitman83 Spec C Club Car: 06 STI, 08 GSXR 750 Fav Mod: 8cm 20g Posts: 1,278 Join Date: Jun 2007 Trader Rating: (2)	Re: diagnostic test??? Unfortunately some dealerships do charge for diagnostic tests. Try and reason with the service manager and get the bill reduced to something a little more reasonable. Heck if it took them more than 10 min to figure that one out they need new help.

11-27-2007, 04:27 AM	#4
V8Huntr Spec C Club Car: 04' WRB STi Fav Mod: TBE Location: Allentown, PA Posts: 1,643 Join Date: Sep 2006 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? That's the base price to even look at your car. The stealership near my house charges $90. Their "diagnostic fee" means that they charge you the shop labor rate of an hour even if it only takes them 5 min to figure out the problem.

11-28-2007, 06:04 PM	#5
Blackfang Senior STI Driver Car: Silver 07 Legacy Location: Somewhere in the universe Posts: 349 Join Date: Mar 2007 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? He should have told you this BEFORE you left and signed the repair. I think $100 is kind of high imo. A diagnosis is a technician finding the cause of a customers concern. This can be anywhere in price ranging 1/2 to 1 hours worth of their hourly rate. Usually if it is internal engine or trans, customer pays a tear down.

11-28-2007, 06:41 PM	#6
CGMDan Spec C Club Car: '05 CGM STi Fav Mod: What's RCE made lately? Location: Beaverton, Or Posts: 1,463 Join Date: Nov 2004 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? After reading all this it makes me think. Who the F cares if it's not a Genuine Subaru Oil Filter. IT DOESN'T MATTER. So not only are they screwing you with the fee, but they didn't diagnose anything. Tell them when they actually diagnose something then, you'll pay a diagnostic fee.

12-19-2007, 12:05 PM	#8
houdni Junior STI Driver Car: 06 Subaru WRX STi Fav Mod: leaving it stock Location: H@w@ii Posts: 63 Join Date: Apr 2007 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? our shop charges 1.5 hours of flate rate pay if any time the scan tool is used... not sure how subaru's scan tool is ...but ours retails for around 10K. so basically the charge is for the shop to make back its pay for the diagnostic equipment and the technicians time....even if it took only 5 minutes to diagnose...hope that helps... what can the scan tool do? ours can pretty much do everything...relative compression tests...injector flow tests....fuel pump ...power balance...blah blah blah...but thats just some of the basics of what the ford diagnostic tool can do... its funny...because everything is starting to use the scanner...from small modules which require you to download the old information and upload to the new module...to basic electrical like instrument clusters and even fuse boxs which ford calls smart junction boxes...

12-23-2007, 09:27 PM	#11
flytojungho Spec C Club Car: 06 STI Fav Mod: Prodrive oval tip Location: carmel indiana Posts: 1,277 Join Date: Mar 2005 Trader Rating: (0)	Re: diagnostic test??? yep.. diagnostic test fee is the devil. This is why if you notice a leak from somewhere, try to diagnose it yourself FIRST then take it to someone else to fix it or whatnot. If you decide to let the dealer perform this diagnostic test for you, they usually waive the fee if you let them fix the problem. Most of the service business require you to pay diagnostic fee of some sort.

12-23-2007, 09:29 PM	#12
haroman311 Professional STI Racer Car: 2006 Subaru WRX STI Fav Mod: Maddad DP and P&L Catback, stage 2!!! Location: Omaha, Nebraska Posts: 603 Join Date: Oct 2006 Trader Rating: (9)	Re: diagnostic test??? at our dealer we set different rates for differnt types of problems. i believe airbag type situations charge most, then next is eletrical problems.

12-24-2007, 03:38 AM	#13
*jnprn2003* The Stig II Car: 07 STi, 07 Speed 3.. Fav Mod: EFI Logics tune Location: The Ocean State Posts: 2,131 Join Date: Feb 2007 Trader Rating: (10)	Re: diagnostic test??? Free money for the service department... Funny story (not for me though): I am a boat owner and when I first bought my boat (still under warranty) I was told to have the maria perform the service because if something went wrong it was on them. Well my second season on the water I had them look over the drive bellows to make sure they were ok...I was charged 1hour $100.00 to "look" at bellows...Basically the tech had to bend over, open his eyes and look for approximately 1 min....Not cheap and since then I do all my own work.

12-24-2007, 03:43 AM	#14
elirentz Gold Member Car: 05 STi, 87 325e Fav Mod: ohlins w/RCE springs, sz55 Location: charleston Posts: 562 Join Date: Nov 2005 Trader Rating: (1)	Re: diagnostic test??? Usually at my work (subie dealership) if you have something done on your car we will do the diagnosis on the car. Like if the OP had gotten an oil change we wouldn't have charged him, if he didn't we only charge .5 of an hour for something small like this. It helps create return customers and more possible upsales. But you can't expect to just go to a garage and have them tell you what's wrong for free and then go fix it yourself.