Diagnostic fee?

So check this out, I brought my 23 Trd pro in for its first service. I have the creaking center console and the squeaky drivers seat. I asked for these two items to be looked at. I was told there is a $225.00
Diagnostic fee and if it comes back as a warranty issue I won’t be charged. WTF? I complained and got the shop foreman to come down and say it wasn’t normal. Kinda bullshit to hit someone with a charge for a warranty issue. Every other car/truck I’ve had has been fixed or atleast looked over at no charge.

 

While I agree with your point, the approved initial fee is to ensure that the technician will be paid for his time in the event that it is not warranty. As a shop foreman myself, I've been burned more times than not after discovering that a concern the owner thought was warranty ended up being caused by an outside influence.

 

35 years and never heard that in a dealership. Would be my first and last trip to that dealer for sure

 

Can you give me an example of an outside influence

 

I called the dealership where I bought the truck, and they did say that is a Toyota policy, but…. There is a protocol. It’s not the first thing they say to a customer

 

My dealership has never done this.

 

Only seen this tactic used by tesla. Ive taken my truck in multiple times and never once was told there was a diag fee

 

I never had that done to me while vehicle was under warranty(3 toyotas).

 

Dealer charged me 185+ for a 15 minute test drive on an obvious warranty claim and then had the nerve to tell me it was “normal.” You can read more about it in the dealership reviews.

I’m not a brand loyalist, but the Ford dealership never did that to me.

 

Dealerships are separately owned and operated. Their practices are theirs and theirs alone. I've been charged diagnostics for every manufacturer because that's what they all do in this area. Nothing to do with any particular brand.

 

??

This has been standard for me for at least a decade - and easy to see why.

IF WARRANTY ISSUE - NO CHARGE - so your not paying for covered issues. You only pay if it’s misuse or not result of a manufacturer issue (wear/tear).

Say the tech looks at your issue (it’s non warranty) - and it’s simple - comes back and says “I can fix it in 5 minutes and it will cost you $225” - what’s the likely response from most people? Something along the lines of “I paid a lot of money for this vehicle” - I am here all the time” “it’s just 5 minutes of your time” or “I’ll just take it to someone else - put it back together”. No one wants to pay for service - but service isn’t free.

Now if you pay the fee upfront (or agree to) - tech fixes it while diagnosing the issue at no cost and when it inevitably happens again - you can return and say “it’s doing it again” and they are obligated to address the issue at no cost - even if it fails again for no fault of the tech.

I used to see it CONSTANTLY in the body shop - complaints that techs killed their battery - stuff worked fine before coming in for repair and blatant lies. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve explained to people that a 8 year old battery failing in a techs fault or that O2 sensors throwing a code have nothing to do with that tap your bumper got in a parking lot. Just have to nicely explain - we will diagnose and if it’s loss related - turn it into insurance - but if not - your in the hook for a diag fee before we hand you keys back. Wanna guess what the percentage of owners who backed down immediately was when presented with these options?

I may have even (incorrectly) told a few that I can see when that check engine light/ABS light first started coming on and since we know the date of accident - if it made an appearance before that - I’d charge the fee to diagnose/reset - but if occurred on the day of accident or after it’s free. Again - never had one person take me up on that offer. There’s a saying in sales “buyers are liars” - in service it goes for 99.9% of customers and their “warranty related” issues. When you get a stream of customers coming in daily doing stupid off-road stuff with their trucks or treating them like shit in general - it’s easy to understand why service has these policies.

 

Ok - and your point is ?!?

My health insurance paid 3 grand for a C/T scan - took less than 5 minutes. You seem to forget the tools and training these people have is not free - in fact it cost ALOT. So you expect to get free service - but expect them to pay for it ?

As far as Ford doing it for free - again - don’t know the full story here - but I can assure you it’s not industry wide practice for Ford dealers. I’ve paid hundreds of thousands in diag fees on Fords in my career. If they feel it’s “likely” warranty - or if you have been a long term/profitable customer - many shops may give the courtesy (regardless of brand) - but again those are exceptions to the rule - not something any maker supports across the brand.

 

True, just my luck that I haven’t had the issue with Ford dealerships.

Well, the Toyota issues was a manufacturer warranty issue. I have the dash cam footage showing the issue during the test drive, plus the camera was on the entire time on the floor and they literally only did the test drive.

I guess I’m more venting about typical dealership practices of ripping people off with exorbitant fees. $185 for a quarter hours work and denying an obvious issue is what sets me off.

Alas, I don’t put much stock in warranties anymore, unless it is really major.

 

This sounds like something that would happen in Russia. "You pay comrade, I look. No money, no look".

 

the free diagnostic is the true rip off, when you know they gonna throw that diagnostic fee in the bill somewhere you can't see it.

 

Hasn’t happened with any of my past 6 Toyotas from 6 diff dealers. (My issues were obvious warranty issues and reproducible for the service writer) I’d tell ‘em to get lost and move on to the next dealer. (and spread the word about them for sure)

 

So when I picked up the truck he kept stating that it was Toyotas policy. I told him I would call the factory to get their take. He said they would say the same, he even gave me the number. So I called, and was told not Toyotas policy! As Godzilla said independently owned and they make their own policies and procedures. They were non too happy to hear about my experience. Was told I would be getting contacted by corporate customer service person.
Well they must of contacted the dealership cause I got a call from their customer service director. All apologetic , guess this has been an issue with this new service manager. Not sure if I’ll go back

 

Not to go down a rabbit hole here... but an example would be road debris caught under the vehicle causing a noise. Even under the warranty period, diagnostic for that would not be a warrantable item due to the fact that it is not a defect in the manufacturing of the vehicle. Or how about a check engine light caused by rodent damage such as chewing on a wire where an entire harness would need replacing. These are a few things I have seen many times.

 

We are talking about vehicle that's still under warranty. I agree it's a whole different ballgame when you just randomly bring something else.

 

Hence this is why I always call it the Stealership.

 

My local dealership, Community Toyota in Baytown, TX., told me the same thing yesterday but it would be $85 if the problems weren't warranty related. I was surprised by that but since 2 of my 3 problems (cracked driver seat panel and window weatherstripping) have been heavily discussed on this forum and been repaired under warranty I wasn't concerned. The other issue was my screen hasn't been sitting flush since I bought it. When I went in the screen was repaired and parts ordered for the other things with no charge. This was my first time taking it in for other than regular service visits. I can only remember one other time that happened to me at the Chevy dealership but I'm cool with it. It's a business not a charity. 1 yr old 15k miles

 

I went through a diagnostic fee issue a few weeks back. My transmission clunked on a cold start-up and there was a TSB out for it. I told my service advisor about it and he made me an appointment to have it updated but said there would be a $225 diagnostic fee. I didn’t say anything at the time.
The day I took my truck in I reminded my service advisor why I was in and showed him two videos with the clunk at start-up. He acknowledged hearing the clunk. Once he did I told him, look, you’ve heard it, I’ve heard it, there’s no way I’m paying a diagnostic fee for a clear issue with an active TSB. He transferred me to his supervisor who didn’t even mention a service charge as he finalized all my paper work and told me they fixed the issue for the charge of zero dollars.
My problem was apples to oranges to your issue but my advice to you is push back and tell them you won’t pay for a diagnostic when clearly there’s an issue that should not exist on a new truck.

 

@03to23 , thank you for your bravery, gang. We all need to stand up to the non sense.

 

This diversity of the fee across dealership seems to imply Toyo is either stubborn or slow to pay warranty claims, or paying pennies on the dollar. That is not a good thing for the consumer

 

Hm, perhaps dealers want more money for repair than otherwise allocated?

Doctors seem to be having a similar issue with strong desire for $1,000 x-rays..

 

The diag fee has to do with a particular dealer and their location. Our warranty rate is $169.99 while the same dealer make 12 miles south has a warranty rate of $198.99. It’s all about location.

 

I’ve only been charged diagnostic from a Nissan dealership. Even my local mechanic has never charged anything to diagnose.
I think dealerships already make enough money on new sales, used sales, and service, and parts. No need to gouge for diagnostics (unless it’s a problem customer).