Does your local dealer charge you to run diagnostics?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

G

Guest

Guest
Does your local *Ford* dealer charge you to run diagnostics?
 

Keydo

Full Access Members
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Posts
234
Reaction score
2
Location
SoCAL
I would think most dealerships would. The question is probably how much.

A simple diagnostic shouldn't take long (I'm guessing her), but would a dealership actually charge for the amount of time (say 20 minutes) or round up to the full hour despite the diagnostic taking only 20 minutes.
 
OP
OP
G

Guest

Guest
Im asking because up until now Iv never been charged just to look under the hood. I got a 2000 Expedtion 4x4 with the 5.4L engine in it beginning of Jan. and took it in to 'just run diagnostics' and they charged me $39.99 for something that took them 5 mins. to tell me there was nothing wrong.
 

Keydo

Full Access Members
Joined
Dec 1, 2003
Posts
234
Reaction score
2
Location
SoCAL
From the dealer's perspective, you are taking away a tech who could be working on a car in the shop - for that reason, they want to charge you time the tech spends on your car.

Is $39.99 reasonable for a 5 minute check? I don't think so. Sounds like you are lucky, some dealerships will charge the full hour labor.

For a 5 minute diagnostic run, I think $10 is reasonable. It shouldn't take no more than 10 minutes to bring the vehicle in, hook it up, run diagnostics, unhook and return to customer.

But that's just my opinion.
 

powderhounder

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2004
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Toronto
I took my truck into my local ford dealer because the check engine light was on. They hooked it up and ran a diagnosis to find out the vacuum hose had disconnected. They charged me their flat rate of $100, for something the mechanic could have easily looked under the hood to find. I haven't been back to that dealer since!:mad:
 
OP
OP
G

Guest

Guest
Our dealer charges $50 just to hook their computer up for the diagnostic. They do not apply this to any subsequent repairs as some mechanic shops do. And yes, it takes less than 5 minutes to complete.

I find this to be ridiculous, as we know we can go to Auto-Zone and get it done free. Now their diagnostic devices are not specific to Ford makes, which is why dealers have the advantage as they can generally provide better information.

My experience of our dealer is that for the first year they treated us like gold. As soon as that was up, we couldn't get the time of day without paying $$$$. Certainly frustrating.

After conversations with other mechanics however, this seems to be the norm. Computer diagnostic is a way for them to make quick cash with little effort (and mechanics do this too, it is not limited to just the dealerships).
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,391
Posts
500,600
Members
46,798
Latest member
geovanni
Top