# VW Charges a fee for diagnostic even if still covered by CPO warranty?



## rmani (Mar 9, 2001)

I just had a very disturbing experience at my local VW dealer. I brought my CPO car in to have something checked and they charged me a diagnostic fee of $125! They also told me that this fee was not covered by the VW CPO warranty which is why this was a valid charge (their labor rate is $120/hr). I am not one to buy into warranties in general but since my car had one I figured all the better. Is this dealer just lying or does VW really do this? What is the point of a warranty if there is anything that is not covered besides wear and tear items like tires and wipers. Had I known there was any type of fee like this I never would have brought my car there (my local mechanic will always do a diagnostic check for me at no charge).

Suffice it to say I will never buy a CPO VW again. It's reasons like this that I always prefer to buy private party and save money. Dealers are all just thieves.


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## TOMPASS (Apr 6, 2010)

I had a similar experience with my 07 Passat CPO, only it was $95.00. Also, if I had the repair performed the fee would have been absorbed by the total repair, and thus covered by the warranty. Once I had my indie mechanic diagnose a problem that turned out to be a warranty-covered issue so at least I knew that going in. Yes, the dealer "charged" me the fee, but again, since it was a warranty repair I paid nothing out of pocket.


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## rmani (Mar 9, 2001)

what a load of absolute nonsense.


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## DasCC (Feb 24, 2009)

what the issue with the car? CEL?


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## GTINC (Jan 28, 2005)

rmani said:


> I just had a very disturbing experience at my local VW dealer. I brought my CPO car in to have something checked and they charged me a diagnostic fee of $125! ....


You never mention what the issue was and if they repaired it. If you had them check something but there was nothing wrong, why would you expect them to do the check for free? Buying a CPO does not mean the dealership is your slave for the duration of the warranty.

Did you actually read the provisions of the warranty? Is there any indication they should cover this?


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## PiSSAT4motion (Sep 28, 2006)

Whenever I've gone in for what I pretty much knew going in was a covered repair, I've always been told that they charge the diagnostic fee. The fee only remains in affect if the problem turns out not to be covered. Once it's diagnosed as a warranty repair, everything is covered including the diagnostic...
Problem covered or not, they have to run the diagnostic first to find out, so they want to make sure you know its gotta be paid.. either by you or by the CPO coverage. Maybe they just didn't adequately explain the "charge"..


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## ocramida (Nov 26, 2012)

Charging the fee up front is reasonable IMO since many issues could be related to abuse or non warranty. How much labor would the dealer be out if their techs didn't get paid for a bunch of diagnostic hours? Time is money. 

Unfortunately you can blame those individuals who try to get their mistakes covered by warranty. Mods for instance, i.e. Some weekend garage warrior blows up their engine because they didn't know what they were doing, remove the mod to cover up any culpability on their end. In this case say the dealer puts time into diagnosing and then replacing the engine under warranty. What happens is once the manufacturer finds out it wasn't a manufacturing defect the dealer gets charged back the cost of parts and labor. This is also why dealers need to consult with and gain approval from the manufacturing tech line before any work is done.

People seem to think dealers are all crooks but experience shows that there is blame on both sides of the fence. I'm not saying your trying to screw the dealer. But others have which drives dealers to charge fees up front so they don't get screwed.

Like insurance fraud, ultimately it's those who play by the rules who get screwed by higher premiums. IMO.

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## ocramida (Nov 26, 2012)

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## deagle (Feb 22, 2011)

ocramida said:


> Charging the fee up front is reasonable IMO since many issues could be related to abuse or non warranty. How much labor would the dealer be out if their techs didn't get paid for a bunch of diagnostic hours? Time is money.
> 
> Unfortunately you can blame those individuals who try to get their mistakes covered by warranty. Mods for instance, i.e. Some weekend garage warrior blows up their engine because they didn't know what they were doing, remove the mod to cover up any culpability on their end. In this case say the dealer puts time into diagnosing and then replacing the engine under warranty. What happens is once the manufacturer finds out it wasn't a manufacturing defect the dealer gets charged back the cost of parts and labor. This is also why dealers need to consult with and gain approval from the manufacturing tech line before any work is done.
> 
> ...


there's getting a diagnostic and "getting" a diagnostic

if a tech comes just says, there's " xyz code for blahblahblah" .... he/she just read off the scanner for $100 

but if a tech comes up with say, a broken/defective/worn part in their hands and offers a suggestion and estimate, yeah, that's worth the diagnostic fee


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## feels_road (Jan 27, 2005)

ocramida said:


> Charging the fee up front is reasonable IMO since many issues could be related to abuse or non warranty. How much labor would the dealer be out if their techs didn't get paid for a bunch of diagnostic hours? Time is money.


Exactly - except that in my experience, VW service departments (somewhat unrelated to VWoA, by the way) have never "charged" me anything upfront, except telling me that I might be out that amount of money if not covered by warranty. Which is absolutely fair and correct, as far as I can see.


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## ocramida (Nov 26, 2012)

*I suppose, like everything, it "depends"...*



feels_road said:


> Exactly - except that in my experience, VW service departments (somewhat unrelated to VWoA, by the way) have never "charged" me anything upfront, except telling me that I might be out that amount of money if not covered by warranty. Which is absolutely fair and correct, as far as I can see.


...on what sort of relationship you have with your service department. Personally, I found success being reasonable does a lot to build a fair and equitable arrangement. Too often I walk into my service department (whether it be for my Mazda or VW) and experience customers demanding this and threatening that if their issues are solved immediately. What's funny is that many of these customers were warned service after service to tend to some issue but instead did not take the advice of the writer. Several months later catastrophe strikes and all of a sudden they expect the same writer to bend over backwards- yeah right.

IMO that's the best way of driving a stake into any reasonable negotiation with the service writer or manager. Of course if you don't find that reasonable works, then you can tweak the screw a little- and by little I mean offer a a calm and fair perspective- without yelling, then that can often shake the stalemate loose.

IMO


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