Mechanic charging for diagnostics?

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Feb 8, 2007
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126
Location
Chicagoland
Wanted to get some opinions here to see if I'm crazy or not.

I have a 2006 Honda CRV and deal with an independent mechanic and have a backup for when the primary is booked up. Both of them are backed up for weeks.

It is a throwing a P0325 knock sensor code and I need it fixed before my kid takes it back to college with him. So I start calling around and every place I talk to wants $150-$200 in diagnostic fees to even look at it without any of that cost going towards the repair. While I appreciate that they spend time for diagnostics and many times the customer will choose not to get the repair done, an hour or more of labor seems excessive. I've been getting cars repaired for more than 30 years and have never paid for someone to just look at a car.

Is this the new normal or have I just been lucky for 30 years?
 
To diagnose your car the mechanic has to use a $3,000 diagnostic tool, subscribe to the Honda online diagnostic software for hundreds of dollars, and pay for his shop overhead. And time spent diagnosing your car takes away from other paying jobs. Plus you are paying for his expertise and training. So it is not unreasonable to pay for his diagnostic time.
 
Wanted to get some opinions here to see if I'm crazy or not.

I have a 2006 Honda CRV and deal with an independent mechanic and have a backup for when the primary is booked up. Both of them are backed up for weeks.

It is a throwing a P0325 knock sensor code and I need it fixed before my kid takes it back to college with him. So I start calling around and every place I talk to wants $150-$200 in diagnostic fees to even look at it without any of that cost going towards the repair. While I appreciate that they spend time for diagnostics and many times the customer will choose not to get the repair done, an hour or more of labor seems excessive. I've been getting cars repaired for more than 30 years and have never paid for someone to just look at a car.

Is this the new normal or have I just been lucky for 30 years?
You've likely been paying it just not as a separate charge. One option with common charges that people complain about is to just fold them into other charges people don't complain about. At the end of the day, that job with diagnosis has a certain value to the mechanic - he was just nice enough to itemize it. It also allows some money to be collected up front if customers do not return for the actual repair.
 
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When plug-in OBD readers were not widely available, many auto shops would charge $60 or more to diagnose your check-engine light. Two of those charges paid for the mechanic's reader, then it was all profit after that. Now auto parts stores will read for free and you can buy a reader cheap in many places.

That's how this started.
 
Does it matter?

You're paying for the result, not the methodology.

It does. Because the diag fee from an Eric O type is going to pretty much guarantee that what is replaced is actually bad and not a wiring issue / grounds issue / etc.

If it's a regular shop just plugging in a scanner and firing up the parts cannon, then it's possible you're not getting the problem fixed.
 
Totally normal up here as well. The service writer describes it as diagnostics, then will upgrade it to a repair after you agree to move ahead usually for more $$$. Only once in a while will the mechanic find a “loose hose” and give the car back all fixed for just the diagnostics price.
 
My local guy charges a diag fee if I don’t have him do the actual repair. If he does the repair as well, he considers that part of what he was going to have to do anyways and does not “add” that to the total. Just a plain diag fee is 1 hour labor, or $65 in my case. If I’ve made the diagnosis and simply want him to change parts, I get charged book time for the R&R and any parts I supply are my responsibility if there’s any warranty issues. I’m good with all that.
 
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