Rip off

TODD FLOWERS

MEMBER
1994 OLDSMOBILE 98
80,000 MILES

Is it now a common practice to charge you to look at a car if you go ahead and have them do the work?
I was charged $65.00 for a" courtesy "look at my car in which I had them do the work to the tune of $1,400.00.

I feel that is a bogus charge, as I was a motorcycle mechanic for twenty five years and we never charged if they had us do the job.

2 Replies

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,904 POSTS

Ouch,

That is not standard practice, if you have them do the work they will usually wave the the diagnostic charge.

Try to talk to the owner or manager about the charge.

Please let us know what happens.

Cheers, Ken

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2017 AT 1:51 PM

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
12,976 POSTS

That really depends on the shop.

My policy has always been that the initial diagnostic charge (usually billed hourly) was waived if I did the rest of the repair. Unless there was something weird like an intermittent that required some odd driving or special circumstances to cause the problem and took longer than the first hour. I still waived the first hour but they were charged for the additional time.

But I do know of a couple shops who add it to the bill, usually at a "reduced rate" than normal hourly.

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Thursday, August 3rd, 2017 AT 1:52 PM