This is why people RX8 owners hate Mazda dealerships on their customer satisfaction thing.

So my car threw a code 2 days ago, and I called Mazda today to get it fix. "We're sorry sir, your car is at 54,000 miles we can no longer look at your vehicle. However if you really want us to it will cost $120 just to see what's wrong and who knows how much it will costs to fix."

Just a few minutes ago I went to AutoZone, they plugged in their little handheld machine to the onboard computer under the driver dash saw that the code was the screw on gasoline sensor and made sure it was on there tight, rebooted the ECU and the problem is gone.

Screw Mazda

 

You need to screw your gas cap tighter. Your car is out of warranty, why would the dealership service it for free?

 

nothing is free in this world my friend

 

Bummer. Should have gotten the 100k warranty....

 

You guys are joking, right? I have NEVER heard of a dealership charging you just to see what's wrong.

 

i thought the warranty was extended to 60,000 miles... maybe i could be mistaken, or the Mazda dealership has no clue what's going on because 9/10 Mazda dealership service departments are run by dumbasses with probably a high school GED.

 

95% of all dealers and independent repair shops will charge you a diagnostic fee of some kind or another just to pull a code. That's how they make their money.

 

Which is fine. But **$120** just to do that little check? That's highway robbery and I don't blame the OP for being annoyed.

 

I do. It's like people him that cause mechanics to rush through jobs, and get frustrated enough with the customer that they end up sending them home without the job completed correctly.

$120 -- $95 an hour labor fee, tax, shop equipment (lighting, use of the diagnostic machine). Sounds about right to me.

 

that's what my local stealership charges even under warranty. it's their diagnostic fee that they charge if they don't find any warranty work to do.

 

powertrain is 60K miles, not bumper to bumper. and what does someone's education level have to do with customer service? actually, they are the smart ones if they can get people to pay that amount for a quick check.

 

i wouldn't pay it. in fact, i have never had to pay for a CEL. John Finger Mazda where i take my car has always been more than helpful for me whenever i needed help with something. I guess some service centers care more about a buck than customer service. but oh well, i guess they make enough money off people willing to pay that kind of money just for diagnosing a problem. my gas cap had to be replaced and i had roughly about 56 or 57,000 miles, not a single problem, no charge whatsoever. some dealerships care more about their customers than others.

 

I'm sorry, the guy at AutoZone took less than 1 minute to find out what was wrong. You're saying that it's worth $120 - $95 for this?

And to the other guy. Apparently there are such things are free lunches. AutoZone did this all for free.

 

Utter nonsense, charging the guy for an hours worth of labor for something that takes a minute. That was about $1.58 worth of labor. Tax doesn't count, because I'm certain that if he had let them do it for the quoted $120, they would've added tax on top of that. Adding in costs for one minute's worth of lighting, electricity for the machine, some tiny bit of of the cost of equipment and all, I could *generously* see them charging $10 for this service. $20 max.

 

Right on, Krankor! The auto repair business is full of a bunch of crooks- from the mechanics to the "advisors" to the managers to the owners.

Around here most dealerships have a 1/2 hour minimum charge for anything. Most independents have a set fee for "diagnostics"-typically something like $75 for the initial find. Turok would've been massively hosed had he not found out about the free code-pulling at Autozone; should've bought the guy a six pack to thank him.

 

Autozone did all this because other people already paid for it(by shopping there).

There is NO free lunch, my friend.

Not to mention Autozone did this just because they want to attract more customers. Most people will not just pull the code and walk away, most will pull the code and listen to whatever Autozone told them to do, say replace this and that. $$$$ buddy.

and this whole case has nothing to do with Mazda, I think your dealership did the *Right* thing.

 

Anyone else old enough to remember the song "Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" ?

 

bwhahahahahahahha

have you ever been to a car dealership? It costs money to have them glance in the general vicinity of your car

 

That's why i'm keeping the mileage down on mine. They will honor every second of the full 5 year warranty.

 

^^

So you're going to limit the amount of time you spend driving your 8 just so you can "stick it to the man"?

The first person you should try to make friend's with is your mechanic. Find a good size repair shop, talk to the owner, bring in sodas for the guys when they're working on your car (beer if it's an owner operated shop) and you'll have a friend for life.

 

$120 for a diagnostic is a total rip off. It's a Mazda dealership. Not BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus.

I agree that people should be paid for their time and labor, but that's ridiculous. I can certainly agree with the owner about being ripped off, but I don't think they should look at your car for free. It would be nice, but shouldn't be expected.

Can you just fork out a little dough and get the computer to pull the codes yourself? I think they go for about $150 right? You can make your money back on the first CEL.

 

No, i'm going to limit the amount of time I spend driving the car b/c i'd do it anyway. The warranty thing certainly is in the back of my mind though at the same time. I've got a DD that gets great gas mileage.

 

A DD? Dodge Dart?

 

It all sounds so crazy sometimes i do all my own service and have not yet at 49,000 miles bought the tool yet but the other day(monday)i started the car as normal and a check engine light came on.so off to the dealer i went hoping i would not be late for work.the service guy said there were six people waiting ahead of me so i kindly asked could they please just scan it and i would do the rest at my place of work(ford)he checked it for and guess what! for over a hundred miles my gas cap was loose!! nobody to blame just myself..long story short he did not charge me but took the code out tightend my gas cap and off to work on time i went.i have heard a lot about the bad guys but this one is for Browns Mazda on richmond hwy.they always do the right thing even tho i do my own work thats why i buy my parts there and tell other people about them!

 

100% retarded, since when does the customer directly pay for the use of lighting? It's called overhead. Why not charge them for the air they breathe while in the shop, it's being filtered by their AC unit. Or make them pay rent for the carpet they walk on. "hey you wrote 3 sentences with my pen, that will be $.35 for the ink you used" etc etc.

aside from that, i think the reaction comes from two polar opposite customer service policies. I've been to autozone before for a windshield wiper that wasn't working, i had no idea what kind or what number it was. the guy looked outside at my car, grabbed one from the store, put it on for me and told me i was all set. he didn't even charge me for it. That's customer service that will not be matched by most companies.