Sorry man but I don't understand how you can say they are BS. I have a college education and own a shop. You are saying that I am not entitled to get paid for my time? Just so you know what I do at my shop is charge $65.00 to Diagnose the vehicle professionally. My customers have no issues paying for a professional opinion. I do however not charge them full price if I do the repair.
The problem with Auto Zone is that anyone can plug in the scanner and then look at a printout. That tells you absolutley nothing. A true Diagnostic person will use the data Stream and diagnose based on that.
Just on a side note.....I know there are shops out there that should not do diagnostic work because all they do is throw parts at the car!
For some people they live on a strict budget because of this damn economy, so $65 could go for like a week of groceries, if ya budget right. Your right though, there's no problem in charging for a diagnostic.
What I was trying to explain is get that "stupid printout" first. On the print out is a code or codes. With a little bit of self research you should be able to find out the problem yourself. Then if you can't figure out the problem or it's too big of a problem go to your mechanic and pay the fees.
I know, if I owned my own shop I would HATE this system, because your losing customers, but people are having the self satisfaction of fixing problems on their own with little or no knowledge of auto mechanics.
With people struggling to survive these days, yes I feel a diagnostic charge is BS.