Cars booked in for  few probs that the Warranty doesn't cover so for the first time since 2002 I'm going to have to cough up !

 

There is a £135 diagnostic fee which is a new one to me is the fee payable no matter what so in fact it's a £135 booking in charge ?

The fee is to plug in the diagnostic system and analyse the output.  If you booked the car in for a specific job then they shouldn't need to do it.  for example if you scanned the car and found you needed a new sensor, in theory you should be able to book it in for that new sensor.  The issue with that is they will just hand the car back whether is fixes the original issue or not.  Some independent garages knock the fee off the final bill if they find something that is needed.

Then there are other things like a suspension rattle.  If a dealer insists on plugging in for that and charging £135 I'd be looking to take the car else where.

Yeah i'm 90% sure the problem is a worn bearing and a blown drivers speaker .... Diagnose that by plugging it in ! They have already warned me there will be a £135 diagnostic fee ... Mmmm....

Assuming it's the car in your bio, I would be taking an 8 year old car to a trusted place rather than a dealer.  Sounds like you are sceptical (rightly) so maybe look around for a more suitable garage then cancel the appointment?

It is not a diagnostic fee.

 

The correct term is "we dont want anything to do with any vehicles once we have sold them aside from lucrative servicing and obligatory warranty work so hopefully you will be outraged enough at the £135 for doing nothing fee and go elsewhere"

1 hour ago, MarkyG82 said:

The fee is to plug in the diagnostic system and analyse the output.  If you booked the car in for a specific job then they shouldn't need to do it.  for example if you scanned the car and found you needed a new sensor, in theory you should be able to book it in for that new sensor.  The issue with that is they will just hand the car back whether is fixes the original issue or not.  Some independent garages knock the fee off the final bill if they find something that is needed.

Then there are other things like a suspension rattle.  If a dealer insists on plugging in for that and charging £135 I'd be looking to take the car else where.

Diagnostic is a lot more than plugging it in…

and I’ve never had a diagnostic computer tell me what part/sensor to change either.

 

if you go in for a noise from the suspension of course they aren’t plugging it in, but they still need to diagnose the fault. Whatever means they take, it’s still a diagnosis session with a cost.

 

are their prices acceptable? Far from it in my opinion! But somethings gotta pay for the nice sofas and the free tea and coffee in the waiting room

1 hour ago, MarkyG82 said:

Assuming it's the car in your bio, I would be taking an 8 year old car to a trusted place rather than a dealer.  Sounds like you are sceptical (rightly) so maybe look around for a more suitable garage then cancel the appointment?

 

It's still under warranty which is why I'm mainly sticking with the MD. I do have a local specialist but they are not that much cheaper than the dealer. The car doesn't owe me anything in fact I'm about £2k up if you take into account the warranty claims and what I've spent on the warranty over the past 8 years.

 

I'll suck this one up and see how it goes. MD Has always been first class.

@Nick_H

Is it a Skoda Warranty from it as an Approved used car? 

 

£135 plus the actual work if they are not knocking anything off if they are doing the bearing must be a lot more than an Independent will charge is it not?

 

Has the car had the Haldex Serviced twice already or is that due doing? 

39 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Diagnostic is a lot more than plugging it in…

and I’ve never had a diagnostic computer tell me what part/sensor to change either.

 

if you go in for a noise from the suspension of course they aren’t plugging it in, but they still need to diagnose the fault. Whatever means they take, it’s still a diagnosis session with a cost.

 

are their prices acceptable? Far from it in my opinion! But somethings gotta pay for the nice sofas and the free tea and coffee in the waiting room

 

Hence my "and analyse the output" bit. My comment as a whole is more in line with your last bit.  Obviously there is more to diagnosis than plugging in but that does seem to be the default first action in my experience.

13 minutes ago, Nick_H said:

 

It's still under warranty which is why I'm mainly sticking with the MD. I do have a local specialist but they are not that much cheaper than the dealer. The car doesn't owe me anything in fact I'm about £2k up if you take into account the warranty claims and what I've spent on the warranty over the past 8 years.

 

I'll suck this one up and see how it goes. MD Has always been first class.

 

That's fair enough. Wasn't clear from your first post if the warranty was still valid.

Having a warranty just means there are T&C's about having the car serviced to the guidelines, recommendations even schedule or specification if it says that and what parts / fluids should be used and keep the record.

 

Paying £100 or more plus VAT an hour to have maintenance work done elsewhere like a bearing does not invalidate the warranty. 

 

If there is a possibility of it being the Engine, Gearbox, Haldex if the warranty covers them then it is well worth getting the car into the Main Dealers or Approved Repairers as the Warranty terms likely say.

When I had a fault with front assist not working, the dealer said they'd need to run a diagnostic test to find the problem, but they reduced the charge by 50% when I collected the car as they said they found the fault without running the full test.

56 minutes ago, toot said:

@Nick_H

Is it a Skoda Warranty from it as an Approved used car? 

 

£135 plus the actual work if they are not knocking anything off if they are doing the bearing must be a lot more than an Independent will charge is it not?

 

Has the car had the Haldex Serviced twice already or is that due doing? 

 

Yup Skoda Warranty and no not approved used I've owned the car from new.

 

Haldex done twice with the last change also having the strainer and housing cleaned.

Is the worn bearing in the differential?

 

If so that will be the smaller one on the opposite side to the removable cover, cant recall if its left or right as I was on my back, it was only yesterday that I was planning how to do the job and hopefully keep the car running in 2WD while I work on the unit.

 

Be aware that whilst the bearing replacement is cheap and easy Skoda nor pretty much any independant garage will do it and the cost of a new diff is many thousands of pounds, expect a lot of wriggling from them in respect of whether it will be covered by the warranty.

 

The blown speaker might actually show up as a fault code, the radio is a Canbus controller and most monitor their outputs.

 

The worn bearing will probably have a "they all do that sir!' fault code 🤣

I had just booked mine in for Diagnosis for later this month 2024 and it's now £180

€135 proved to be not dissuasive enough 😀

Jeez prices like that makes it a no brainer to get something like vcds for 10 vin

One of my poorer decisions in life was to buy the 3 Vin version of VCDS.