You could buy your own scan tool for around that price.

 

ya, its definitely greedy, but nothing you can do, good job getting the better deal though.

 

On the contrary, you yourself just proved that the dealership did the *Wrong* thing. The dealership is no different from Autozone, they also want to attract more customers, and most people will listen to whatever the dealer says needs to be done, replace this and that. The dealer by trying to gouge on the diagnostic, is simply encouraging people to leave their $$$$ at Autozone instead of with the dealer. And that's just dumb. And when you factor in the bad will generated, it's super dumb. I'm sorry, you simply can't get away with charging $120 for a service when your competition is offering the identical service for free.

But I'm sure they feel like they're making more money on the idiots who pay the $120 than they're losing on the more informed who will tell them to pound sand. I suppose I can't fault anybody for betting on idiocy...

 

Maybe in your fantasy world...

 

I have a question for all of you: Do you work for free? Do you go to your doctor and complain that you have to pay him to diagnose your illness? Do you also realize that all autozone does is read your fault code and diagnoses nothing?

There is no gas cap screw on sensor, you probably had a fault p0456. This can occur for any evaporative leak in the system.

People need to understand that there is alot of technology and training involved in servicing these cars and it doesnt come cheap.

so when your CEL comes on again, go to autozone and ask them why the fault code read exists. I'm sure you will se some heavy head scratching.

 

For once I agree with you...

 

calling BULLSHIT on this. Apparently you read nothing of what I wrote.

The guy hooked up his little machine to my OBD and found out that the gas cap sensor was what was setting it off. So we opened the gas door and saw that the white part of the gas cap screw was not on all the way and so we screwed it back on, and the sensor went off. The sensor was on for 4 days before we did this and now it's off for good.

You sir have no idea what you are talking about. There has been numerous threads where replierers(sp?) have said to check the gas cap sensor.

 

So you let the AutoZone guy touch the car to find the problem without getting an estimate of what it would cost to fix the problem? But expected the dealer to fix the problem over the phone?

And ignored the free input from the internet telling you to screw the gascap on?

Acually the reply is correct. There is no code for loose gas cap. Code is for fuel system leak with the most common cause being a loose gas cap. A hole in the fuel tank or one of several hoses will give the same code. The AutoZone guy would have fun fixing those for you in the parking lot for free.

 

call it what you want and i don't necessarily agree with the dealership about it when i have to pay it but otherside is right on this. all they do is pull a code. sometimes you may get lucky and the guy at autozone knows what it will mean and how to fix it but that's not part of their job.

 

yes but what they autozone guy for free did was the equivalent of what the Mazda dealership was going to do but for $120 bucks. How is that in any shape or form not insane?

All I asked at AutoZone was that my car was throwing a code. He went out and read and showed the code to me. It said it was alluding to a fuel system leak. I remembered from reading numerous posts on this site that a cause of this was the gas cap not being on all the way.

I never asked him to help me fix the problem, we did it simply after I told him about remembering from this website about the gas cap.

If there was something wrong with my car I would have taken it in to be serviced, I would have paid for it. But $120 to just to SEE what was wrong with it, is absoultey assanine. I would have taken it to the dealership if something was wrong, and been like, my car was throwing a code, the code said this, fix this, and that would have been that.

You don't treat your customers and say it takes an hour to find out what the problem is, when the check engine light comes on and it clearly knows what the problem is, otherwise if there was a serious problem and the check engine light didnt come on then sure it would have taken some time to find the problem, but the fact it, the sole purpose of the check engine light is that it knows something is wrong and what is wrong with it.

 

i never said it wasn't insane but the reference to a doctor is a good one. sure you could know that your throat is sore and that the back of your neck hurts and even buy a thermometer to show you that your temp is high. what do you do with it then? you may have gone online and known what all of those symptoms mean. your local pharmacist may even be able to tell you and recommend some OTC medicine.

or you can go to your doctor, fork over some coin and have him actually diagnose the problem. he knows through his experience and training what those symptoms can be and you're paying for his time to do so. he may have had you wait in the waiting room and only seen you for 5 minutes but he'll charge you the amount either way. i don't like paying that amount any more than the next guy and will try to fight it each time i go to the stealership but that's what they're getting paid for.

 

I agree with the OP to some degree.

Don't charge someone to diagnose the problem, charge them for the repair.

That’s how body shops do it, you don't charge someone to give an estimate. You're trying to gain their business, not screw them to find out they only needed something very minor done to the car. It’s a customer service issue when you charge someone that kind of money for such a small return (a gas cap). If they tell you it’s a huge problem and must be fixed, then you should pay them for the repair, not for giving you 2 minutes of their time. And personally, I would never go back to that dealership again if I knew another dealership would do it for free (and many do).

 

I have run into similar issues as the OP. Most dealerships are trying to get as much $$$ out of each transaction as they can. A company like Autozone has realized that if you give the customer a break now and then, you may not make as much per visit...but the customer will be back. Based on my experiences with several dealers, my car will most likely NEVER see the dealership again (out of warranty now). I will soon be purchasing a scan tool and plan to do the majority of my own repairs.

On a side note, the labor rate for dealerships is absurd these days. A mechanic who barely graduates HS and spends 2 years in a community college is not worth $100/hr. There ARE some mechanics who are worth this, but you will most likely find them in the paddock at major sporting events, not your local dealership.

 

Well, all I can say is you and autozone deserve each other. Maybe they can replace your jarvis valve next. After all ,I am only the service manager of a Mazda dealership and have been a technician for 18 years, what do I know...Dumbass....

 

Mechanics at dealerships probably pull in between $14-20 per book hour. What's that mean? Well, say you need your plugs replaced and the service dude looks it up and it says .9 hours. So you'd take that time and multiply by their labor rate. Most mechanics who know their *** from a hole in the ground can do whatever job in much less time than the allotted. If the service department is busy I've heard of techs getting paid for easily 60+ hours a week, even though they're only on the clock for 40ish.

Really the only one who makes out like a bandit is the owner of the dealership. The mechanic is the one who, afterall, does all the work. But, you've got your service advisors and managers who get their (more than) fair share of the pie.

 

ok i have to laugh at some of this complaining ...

1. this is just regular business. it's not something special with dealerships, it's every business. we all charge as much as our customers will pay. it's business.

2. to whoever was talking about overhead obviously has never had to pay "overhead" bills. overhead is the cost to run a business. this cost in a properly run business is absorbed by THE CUSTOMER. it is usually found in the form of MARKUP

3. RX26b is spot on with who is really making the money. is it wrong? hell no, that's the dude who forked over the money to get the damn business started in the first place.

4. if you don't like what they charge, your best way of showing them is to take your business elsewhere (which you did). it's the way companies stay in business or go bankrupt. if you lose your customers, you're out of business.

5. consider this: you may not have liked what the dealership did, but that's how most of them work. instead of feeling slighted over them running a normal business, consider yourself lucky that you found a generous soul in the autozone employee. by all means he did not have to do anything for you at no charge, yet he did. he went above and beyond while the dealership just treated you like an everyday customer.

hopefully that autozone will get more business based on their customer attention.

 

After reading All your posts on this thread I see why everyone complains about there local service departments. If you lead your techs by example then help us all. I hope I never vist your dealership...

 

Not sure how I offended you but I am only speaking the truth. Someone accused me of not knowing what I am talking about and I do. Maybe the "dumbass" was a little harsh, but just barely.

Fact is, we all get paid for what we do for a living, including dealerships. I take it personally when someone bad mouths the way we do business because I run an honest shop, period.

As for visiting my dealership, you are always welcome and will be pleasantly suprised.

 

well, i think the dealer is going to first give a broad quote, because they don't know what's wrong yet. what will separate a good dealer from a bad dealer is whether they try to rip you off once they figure out what's wrong. and, in this case, a good dealer would just waive the fee or at the most charge something nominal- like $25 for what takes them less than 15 minutes to diagnose.

my bmw has been out of warranty since 2002, and i have my own place i get it serviced at. but, time-to-time when i have go back to the dealer for questions or help with little things, they are always courteous, helpful, and NEVER brush me off or give me any BS. even if they don't know what's wrong, they'll tell me ahead of time and let me know that there "might" be a charge if such and such scenario happens. but, the point is that they make me feel like i can trust them and they treat me AND my car with respect- ie i never get my car back with scratches, dings or anything of the kind. and, even if it's there for a small thing, they'll still offer to wash it and make sure i get it back nice & in order. and, this is something that i think a lot of mazda dealerships simply fail to do or realize is important.

no one is looking to get free service- just to be treated as customers should be. but, beyond that, there is something to be said about a dealership building "good will" by not penny pinching every little item and sometimes just "being there" for their customers- old and new.

 

I'm on the fence with this one.. you said that you called Mazda, and went to Autozone... maybe it would have been different if you WENT to Mazda, talked to them and who knows? They might have done the same thing. I've had dealers do things for free before, and I've also paid through the nose at the same place. Pretty much evened itself out. I would say they were correct in following protocol over the phone. Thats what businesses do. But in person, it may have been a whole new ballgame. Do they know you well as a customer? Are you easy to deal with?

Not sure. But either way, good thing it was just your gas cap, and its fixed now.

 

All dealerships does that, so does most places. Why are you even blaming Mazda for it ?

Try to do the same thing for Pepboys, or Stauss Auto, etc.

Like I said, this *free code pulling* service is just nothing but a gimmick, you're just lucky that the tech didnt charge you, they have the right to do that, keep it in mind.

Your dealership Did the right thing, you're just nothing but a whinning little *****

 

You are all whining little asterixs. Move on.

 

Why are people pounding on dealers, rather than manufacturers?

In the early days of codes, when there were not so many, there was a way of reading them without a special reader. Usually an LED that would blink in various patterns. With cars these days having alphanumeric displays, you'd think they could have the car display the code instead of just lighting a CEL.

At least the interface for an external reader is standardized these days. (Remember when every car was different?) That means a knowledgable person - like most of us here - can buy a scanner and read codes themself on all their cars. You can get a basic one for less than the cost of a diagnostic hour at a dealership.

Ken

 

Dead spot right on!

 

Nice attitude. Now I can see that customer satisfaction is your primary goal.