Diagnostic Check - £85.00 Plus Vat?

[robznet]

Hello all

At my dealer recently - picking up the car after having a front foglight replaced, I noticed a large - VERY large sign on the service reception desk stating "all diagnostic checks - £85.00 + vat".

I know all manufacturers have pretty high charges in this area (a friend has a Ford Galaxy Tdi - Ford charge around £74.00 for the same checks).

I was just wondering how Renault can justify these prices, if you have a problem - first you have to pay the diagnostic fee, then you need to brace yourself for the repair fee!!

Sorry to be moaning late at night again! (as I usually do!) but daylight robbery springs to mind!

regards

Rob

[silencer51]

Indeed the price is ridiculous.

Most dealers here in Greece will hook up the car to the computer for free or, worst case scenario, charge you 10 euros for the test (that's around 7 UK pounds).

[sideswipe]

It's renaults way of gently reminding you that you have a renault and they will still fo0k you no matter what .Also if you need to have anything checked , look in autotrader under the section mileage correction , they have all the fancy stuff that can do all theses things that renualt do ,Reason I know this my friend has a scooby doo, had a new engine fitted and kept getting warning lights come up he went to one of theses places they charged his £35 gave him a print out , so always best to shop around and in doing so hold your right arm all the way out and stick up your two fingers when passing Renault

[meganeboy]

Here in Mlata it's the quivalent of £13 + VAT..... and I thought my dealer was expensive!!

[adrimo]

citroen wanted £25.00 +vat make renault seem expensive i dont think bmw charge that much

[Dimitris]

At least outrageous. I think that servicing is lousy. The other day they charged me 30 euros for changing the aircondition filter. Guess what the value of the filter was 4 euros and labour 26! For what for 2 minutes of work that I could have done myself with pleasure and much better as I would not have broken one of the teeth supporting the cover (at least they had one new available and they changed it). If you go in there and ask them to sell you just the filter they wont as they will ask you to bring the car in!

One last thing if you make a cable that connects to a laptop through USB is there any software to give you the info from the car?

[WebCode]

It went up to 95 quid + Vat at the dealer I used to work at for diagnostics and 85 + vat for service work....

Here in spain it is €35

[rizzlerDCI]

I had a SEAT before my DCI and SEAT charge £47. £85 is daylight robbery!!

[jkspoff]

According to Renault UK when you phone them, the maximum amount for a diagnostic only check from a franchised dealer is £45, anyone charging a higher amount is pulling a fast one, and needs the franchise dealer reporting to Renault for not following the franchise regulations, apparently.

[WebCode]

I would take an educated guess that that is for 30 mins diagnostics.. As most dealers charge by the half hour..

[robznet]

Hi jkspoff,

If that is correct then I would agree that they (Renault Wolverhampton) are indeed pulling a fast one. However, I was lead to believe that they are not a franchise, ie: owned by Renault directly. I may be wrong here, maybe someone else knows more than me.

I still feel that wether my dealer is owned by Renault or not, £85 plus vat is steep by any standards! My car has about a years warranty remaining, so hopefully the price will not worry me for a while. After my warranty expires I don't think the car will be visiting a main dealer very often!

Regards to all

Rob

[WebCode]

But then you must phone around and get hourly rates from different vehicle dealers and in different locations to see how they compare..

For example I worked for a Subaru dealer in the south west. At the time they were charging £57 +vat for Diagnostics/Service.. In London the dealers were charging £115 + vat, this meant that on Saturday mornings most our customers were from the London area as even with the fuel costs the servicing was more cost effective for them to drive 90 miles to us for the work to be carried out..

Yes I agree that UK dealer prices are Shocking and If was working on the service desk I would be embarased to tell a customer the final figure on the bill..
It is even more shocking when you consider that here in Spain the main dealer prices are no more than 35 euros + IVA (16%) per hour!!!

[cyclonebri1]

On the subject of diagnostics then, I asume the kit needed to read the fault codes is the OBD11 thingy ? or what ever, cant recall right now. If I remember corectly all euro cars have had to use the same interegation port since 2004, indeed my last Vauxhall had the current type in 1998.
My question is has anyone bought one of these fault reading jobbies, there are many different types on such as ebay from £25 - 100 ish. Anyone recomend anything in particular?
It simply has to stand you better even if you cant fix the problem for your self, if you arrive at the dealer armed with a preliminary diagnosis.

[Woody Woo]

What is more disgraceful is how little of that charge the poor tech actually gets. These are the guys who do the real work. (general comment, not aimed at Renault specifically)






Renault Build A Better Car

[WebCode]

Dealer £85 + Vat per Hr..

Technician £10 if he's lucky..