Warranty question...

[Sincs]

A quick question about warranty:

My car is under three years old so I've still got a bit of manufacturers warranty on it. I'll be taking it in for three problems in the next couple of weeks. My question is...

If any of these faults turn out to not be covered by the warranty will I be hit for a "diagnostic fee"??

I asked this question to the lady on service but her answer made no sense whatsoever. She said something along the lines of.... "we will call you before any charges are made, but for us to find out what the fault is we need to inspect your car, and if we find the fault to be not cover by warranty then there will be a diagnostic charge of £90."

Ok... so they will call me before charging anything, but to find out if they need to charge me they have to inspect my car first.... which is chargeable!!.
So what are they going to do... take my car in and then phone me straight away without looking at it?!?!?!?

Makes my head hurt.

Has anybody on here had any experience of a fault not being covered by warranty, and did you have to pay this diagnostic fee??
I know some dealers will waive this fee if you get them to carry out the repair work, but I'm interested to know what will happen if you don't get them to do the repair work.

Thanks

[dimexi]

To me, what she said makes sense, in my mind this is what it means:

- You drop your car off
- They plug your car into the diagnostics machine
- They get out the necessary fault codes (if any)
- They decide if it will be covered by warranty... If yes, they tell you it will be covered by warranty and start the necessary process (no charge to you).
- If not, they tell you what work needs doing giving whatever fault they find. I suspect if you decide they shouldn't do the work, they charge you for diagnostics.

I am sure you will have an inkling if your fault is a warranty issue.

[Sincs]

To me, what she said makes sense, in my mind this is what it means:

- You drop your car off
- They plug your car into the diagnostics machine
- They get out the necessary fault codes (if any)
- They decide if it will be covered by warranty... If yes, they tell you it will be covered by warranty and start the necessary process (no charge to you).
- If not, they tell you what work needs doing giving whatever fault they find. I suspect if you decide they shouldn't do the work, they charge you for diagnostics.

I am sure you will have an inkling if your fault is a warranty issue.

To me she still didn't make sense and it is very misleading. She basically says they will contact me BEFORE I incur any charges (I like this, this is good), but then goes on to say that for them to know whether I will be charged (read: if the fault is covered by warranty or not) they have to carry out an investigation that carries a charge (I don't like this, this is not good).

But I do suspect it will follow what you have written.... my point is that them "contacting me before I incur any charges" is not true and, as said, misleading. The only way this is possible is if they find the fault is covered by warranty, in which case there wouldn't be a charge anyway.

As for whether or not I have an inkling if my fault is covered by warranty... I don't. For two of the faults I'm sure they are covered, but for the third one I am totally in the dark.

[AaronMc]

Typically at my dealer it would come in to be diagnosed with the fault, but at the time of the booking the customer would be informed if it was caused by an outside influence then it would be chargeable, which they wont really know until they see the fault.

However if they find 2 faults when plugging in that are warranty, and a third fault is stored which turns out not warranty, then they wont charge you for the diagnostics as they only have to run it once, unless you wish them to go further and run the test plan.

However most faults are covered by warranty, except things like clutch failure due to poor driving, fault due to external influence etc..

The company will charge the warranty dept even to investigate a fault.

[Sincs]

Typically at my dealer it would come in to be diagnosed with the fault, but at the time of the booking the customer would be informed if it was caused by an outside influence then it would be chargeable, which they wont really know until they see the fault.

However if they find 2 faults when plugging in that are warranty, and a third fault is stored which turns out not warranty, then they wont charge you for the diagnostics as they only have to run it once, unless you wish them to go further and run the test plan.

However most faults are covered by warranty, except things like clutch failure due to poor driving, fault due to external influence etc..

The company will charge the warranty dept even to investigate a fault.

Thanks. The thing is, these faults are probably not going to throw up fault codes. Especially the one that I'm not sure whether it will be covered by warranty.

The two that I'm sure will be covered are a faulty petrol flap lock and a sticking ignition barrel.
The one I'm not so sure about is a suspension noise o/s front over bumps. Doesn't sound like it's the shock though.

[robb]

would probably help if you stated the problems your experiencing so people can give you a real take on wether there is any charges to be incurred

[Cuprabob]

would probably help if you stated the problems your experiencing so people can give you a real take on wether there is any charges to be incurred

He says in tne very last paragraph of the post directly above yours.

1. Sticky ignition barrel - common problem
2. Petrol flap lock - common problem
3. Knocking from o/s front suspension - probably top mounts

[robb]

That hadn't loaded when I posted my comment haha I do apologise !

[dimexi]

Typically at my dealer it would come in to be diagnosed with the fault, but at the time of the booking the customer would be informed if it was caused by an outside influence then it would be chargeable, which they wont really know until they see the fault.

However if they find 2 faults when plugging in that are warranty, and a third fault is stored which turns out not warranty, then they wont charge you for the diagnostics as they only have to run it once, unless you wish them to go further and run the test plan.

However most faults are covered by warranty, except things like clutch failure due to poor driving, fault due to external influence etc..

The company will charge the warranty dept even to investigate a fault.

Thanks. The thing is, these faults are probably not going to throw up fault codes. Especially the one that I'm not sure whether it will be covered by warranty.

The two that I'm sure will be covered are a faulty petrol flap lock and a sticking ignition barrel.
The one I'm not so sure about is a suspension noise o/s front over bumps. Doesn't sound like it's the shock though.

Sound like warranty issues. Doubt they will plug it in for things like that (although the suspension issue might not be warranty)

[Sincs]

Another quick question....

If you take your car in for, say, three faults and none are warranty (i.e either not covered by warranty or you just don't have any warranty on your car) and after them telling you what is wrong with your car you don't want them to fix any of the three faults.....

Do they charge you a diagnostic/inspection fee x 3.... so £270 (£90 x 3) ???
Or do they just charge one fee... £90??

(assuming the inspection fee is £90.)

[Cuprabob]

They'll only charge you the one fee. Basically they are charging you 1hrs labour. Most dealers waive the charge if you decide to get the car fixed by them or include in warranty claim, if under warranty.

If they diagnosed for free, people would abuse it plus even for a simple VCDS plug in they need to.cover their overheads and technician time.

[Sincs]

Anybody got any opinions on whether console arm bushes would be covered by warranty?

Just had a service carried out by an independent and they advised that my console bushes are worn/cracking.

It's my understanding that the entire console arm has to be changed, as they generally don't/can't swap just the bushes.