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Diagnostics as part of service ?

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Stumanflu

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Joined
1 May 2017
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6
Hi guys,

I have my 986 Boxster S in for service at the minute at a local porsche specialist in SE London and they have found some work to do.
I asked the garage owner to check for an alarm fault because the alarm had gone off randomly a few times. He turned around and said that I would have to pay £45 on top of the £300 + vat he is charging for the service for him to run a diagnostics saying "the machines are expensive and need paying for". I was under the impression that they would be running a diagnostics as part of the service, can you please advise ?

Thanks in advance for your help
 
During a service the car should be connected to diagnosis tool to check for preexisting error codes. All error codes should be noted and an attempt to clear should be made.

However if error code does not clear then any further investigation would be chargeable - sometimes it can be 1 hour to diagnose and 5 minutes to fix in which case charging an hour is fair.

We do for example charge for just clearing codes if it is not in for a service. I have two PIWIS testers and another diagnostic tool which cost £40k plus £300 per month for updates.

What is more interesting now is main dealers. I put my wife's audi in for an issue and was told there is now a minimum £78 plus vat charge before anything is done!

Ken
 
Hi Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I get that there is a minimum charge for diagnostics but I always assumed that when paying £300 +vat for a service that a diagnostics would be done? Then any problems that are identified can be discussed / rectified. Am I wrong to expect a diagnostics to be done as part of the service?
 
Stumanflu said:
Hi Ken,

Thanks for the reply. I get that there is a minimum charge for diagnostics but I always assumed that when paying £300 +vat for a service that a diagnostics would be done? Then any problems that are identified can be discussed / rectified. Am I wrong to expect a diagnostics to be done as part of the service?
Click to expand...
no you are not but just to be clear re what you mean re diagnosis I would call identification of issues. In most cases you would already have the answer ( through experience as that is what you are paying for ) and call the customer and report with what is required.

Or you identified the issue, but it requires further analysis, which would then be chargeable. The concept of charging based on cost of diagnostics equipment is irrelevant - it is an overhead and should be reflected in hourly rates etc

re servicing, there is laid out by porsche for each type of service additional checks which are performed. That is part of the schedule which actually a lot of owners do not realise happens. So time is set aside in the book hours as well. It changes depending on what type of service.

Ken
 
I think they mean that they have checked for fault codes and there are none .. to investigate further then they would need to charge for it as its more time invovled.

Alarm going off wouldn,t normally generate a fault code but there are areas that could be checked with a tester to give an indication of what is causeing the alarm triggers .. events .

I would lean towards something moving in the car .. air freshener for example or possibly the roof catch microswitches .
 
Hi both,

Thanks for the reply I appreciate your experience.
No I asked about the alarm when he got back to me with a quote for a few extra bits on top of the service price (£1200 total bill). He said if you want me to check the alarm it will be an extra £45 + VAT to plug it into the diagnostics machine quote "these machines are exspensive and need paying for" I feel like he is trying to rip me off charging to check for faults given I'm spending a lot including a service.
The last service I had they said there where some alarm faults but as I didn't know it had been going off I didn't think much of it.
Also I asked them to have a look to see if they could find a leak (probably the rear drain trays and he told me he would charge £180 + vat to investigate then if it was the drip trays it could be around another £300 to replace the foam trays. Just all seems a bit steep to me. What do you think?
 
Stumanflu said:
Hi both,

Thanks for the reply I appreciate your experience.
No I asked about the alarm when he got back to me with a quote for a few extra bits on top of the service price (£1200 total bill). He said if you want me to check the alarm it will be an extra £45 + VAT to plug it into the diagnostics machine quote "these machines are exspensive and need paying for" I feel like he is trying to rip me off charging to check for faults given I'm spending a lot including a service.
The last service I had they said there where some alarm faults but as I didn't know it had been going off I didn't think much of it.
Also I asked them to have a look to see if they could find a leak (probably the rear drain trays and he told me he would charge £180 + vat to investigate then if it was the drip trays it could be around another £300 to replace the foam trays. Just all seems a bit steep to me. What do you think?
Click to expand...
the expression re the £45 is wrong - if it is going to take £45 worth of labour to investigate then yes that is fair but not for plugging in the machine which is done during service and whilst other parts of the service are done.

Alarm faults are regularly stored and cleared as part of a service - you leave your door ajar and alarm it beeps - this is recorded and should be cleared as mentioned. If it is not the normal issues like you alarm the car but either the driver or passenger door lock is not showing as closed, then you know what the solution is - there is no extra labour to be charged. If it is not one of the obvious faults then seek customer permission to further diagnosis.
 
A water leak into the car on a Boxster is normally leaves blocking the rear drain tubes and often its the passenger side that suffers .

Not sure what the labour rate is but im guessing £90 per hour so 2 hours to water test the car seems a little excessive but 30 mins to investigate an alarm fault would seem acceptable to me .

I agree with everything Ken has said though .

Oh and reguards Audis .. i herd the same from a neigbour .. and it was a micky take what they charged him .. not good for retaining customers i feel .
 
Thanks for the advice guys, I will speak to him tomorrow and hope he has a change of heart or better explanation
 
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