Hi - Just wondering if someone can explain why garages charge huge amounts in order to find out whats wrong with a clients moter vehicle - Our local garage has recently charged $700 - $800 respectively on finding out the cause of the problem with two different customers - They then let clients know that their vehicles are ready to be picked up - Client goes in and pays bill, then are told that they will have to tow car home as they could not find the problem - They are not told this prior to payment -
Now my question is, why do garages charge this huge amounts looking for a problem when the likes of appliance repairers, computer techs etc usually have an upfront fee for locating the problem and then leave it to the customer to decide whether or not to fix the problem - It seems to me garages can exploit this practise.
We have two garages locally and they both do this - Is this the norm?
Sorry if it has been asked before but I thought I would try to find out more about this
tamarillo,
Dec 16, 8:48pm
Are there fully informed facts behind this? Sounds like gossip and not very credible.
mopsy3,
Dec 16, 8:52pm
This.
ETA: In my experience not many people pay a $700 - $800 bill and don't read the invoice prior to paying so would know that the vehicle wasn't actually fixed and needed towing home.
bigfatmat1,
Dec 16, 9:04pm
You are comparing computers and appliances to cars. That is your first problem for your lack of understanding
lusty9,
Dec 16, 9:06pm
How many garages does Otautau have? I'm guessing 1 or 2. For a place like that out in the middle of nowhere $700 or $800 may be the garage's only source of income for the year hahaha, I recently did a faulty fuel pump job, bled the lines first to see if they were blocked, took 4hrs as Jap cars are hard to get into the engine bay, lines were okay so replaced the fuel pump cost $92. Waived my labor charge as an Xmas good will gift to owner. Anywhere else would have been over $300
intrade,
Dec 16, 9:14pm
its time these thugs get taken to court , i dont charge anything if i cant fix it. if i know that i cant fix it i wont even start the job. Diagnosing a problem is different i can find a problem and charge for that but definetly now 7 to 800$ to figure what exactly is wrong 250$ should be plenty to figure and stop the process if you know its beyond repair or one cant fix its cause.
intrade,
Dec 16, 9:17pm
lusty9 get a loadpro test lead then you save loads of time doing voltage drop testing.
bigfatmat1,
Dec 16, 9:21pm
so you saying you could diagnose any problem in 3 hours. I would say that is a huge call to make. Diagnosing is time consuming and often tedious work. I have spent 11 hours on one one particular vehicle stripping it out to access a wiring loom where I had narrowed the problem to. We don't know what the problems were. What they related to. Or the full story to me sounds like Chinese whispers.
intrade,
Dec 16, 9:26pm
bigfatmat1 in 3h you have a idea of what is wrong and if its going to take indefinet time to fully find the fault. Then you call the client and tell him of the finding, you dont work 30h on it not knowing what you are doing and then wite a bill for a customer to collect his car with we dont know whats wrong but here is a huge bill thanks.
bigfatmat1,
Dec 16, 9:27pm
I have also seen case studies from aes that labour hours have clocked up so high they are at the point where the car must be deemed unrepairable due to the economic factor. They are some of the best of the best
bigfatmat1,
Dec 16, 9:29pm
I agree fully customer should be kept in the loop.
m16d,
Dec 16, 10:10pm
Was it a citroen.
purple666,
Dec 16, 10:43pm
Sounds like a conspiracy to me.
tweake,
Dec 16, 10:49pm
appliances and computers are a much more consumable product. ie if repair cost is close to new cost we chuck the old out and buy a new one. cars is a different ballgame in that most have 2nd hand cars rather than buying a new product. so repair cost can be high compared to purchase price. also that vehicle may suit there needs, they like the vehicle and buying a replacement may simply end up buying the same problem or a bigger problem.
so people spend more repairing cars rather than throwing them out and buying another.
also most consumer goods are cheaper than most 2nd hand vehicles. eg not many $10,000 tv's around.
then the tech side, most consumer goods you can track down the fault to at least to a certain system and have a fairly good idea on price to repair before spending a large amount of time on it. with the way a lot of them are designed, once you eliminate the cheap things you can replace its guaranteed to be to expensive to fix.
cammey,
Dec 16, 10:52pm
I would have thought, that if a contract was let to determine a problem, and the garage did not determine the problem, that the bill would be zero, as the contract had not been fulfilled.
ie "find whats wrong and let me know how much to fix" could result in a bill if the garage found what was wrong.
but not if the garage said "beats me"
mack77,
Dec 16, 11:26pm
When a customer "gives" a car to a business for it to be repaired then both parties are entering into a contract. This contract should be written by the customer specifying what the would like done and conditions like: don't spend more than 20 hours on labour since this car is only worth $1000 or : phone me once you determine what the cost it repair will be.
jgiblin,
Dec 17, 12:40am
yes but how many times have you seen that contract. It's all very good and well but it does not seam to be something that the real world does. I'm all about keeping customers informed. Having the big chat finding out what the expectation is before you start. Then you know how you can help the most and when you need to get back in touch I guess all it really needs to be is great adult communication not contracts.
intrade,
Dec 17, 12:58am
here is how it works with applainaces its a 40$ fee to look at it for repair right. they take your item charge you 40$ put it on a shelf and then a few days later call you to pick it up its broken and cant be repaired. i recon if you had a hidden camera inside the item you would see it never moved from the shelf. not all do this but i bet my ass more the 50% of cases that is exactly whats going on with appliance repairs .
tweake,
Dec 17, 1:28am
i was on the receiving end of similar. installing gear and we where getting boxes of gear that didn't work. eventually found out that, because its low profit work, the repair company was simply putting ok stickers on and sending them out the door.
earthscan.co.nz,
Dec 17, 3:27am
I would not post if it were gossip - I am simply asking as this is how they have been operating
earthscan.co.nz,
Dec 17, 3:33am
Take it anyway you like - I am simply asking what the guts is - A friend of mine got hit with a $700 odd bill and had to tow his vehicle home - Recently I spoke to a local woman who had the same happen to her and their bill was approx $800 -
This is not an attack on the business as I am simply asking from those in the know what the guts is - If you are after Chinese whispers or gossip try the tupperware section -
earthscan.co.nz,
Dec 17, 3:34am
thanks intrade - obviously you show common sense -
earthscan.co.nz,
Dec 17, 3:36am
thank you for your post - appreciate it
earthscan.co.nz,
Dec 17, 3:46am
Thank you for those who replied with advice etc - My mates one that he ended up getting towed back home from the garage was later found to have a clogged/blocked catalytic converter -
I dunno how many hours if would have taken to have worked that out as I am not a qualified mechanic, yet you would think someone with qualifications would be able to solve an issue like that -
Perhaps he just put it on a shelf and simply didnt do anything except for take the money and pass on the invoice -
Thanks again for your posts guys -
bigfatmat1,
Dec 17, 12:28pm
that would depend on type of car. If it's a 90'S Honda not very long. If it's a c63 merc then a lot longer. Details of cars and faults would get better answers. Personally. A blocked cat causing a no start seems unlikely.
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