Complaint Review: Ellis Brooks Chevrolet Cadillac Pontiac Buick GMC Saab - San Francisco California

Dealerships and technicians have to be paid for their expertise and time. They have overhead! I am sure you like to be paid for work you do, so do technicians. A minimum diagnosis fee is common in the auto industry, not only at dealerships, but even at most independant facilities too. Everybody has bills to pay. A diagnosis fee pays the shop for the average time they have to spend on a vehicle. I find it ironic that all professions have minimum service charges or office visit fees: electricians, plumbers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, but the auto facility is always the one everyone complains the most about.

Dealerships and technicians have to be paid for their expertise and time. They have overhead! I am sure you like to be paid for work you do, so do technicians. A minimum diagnosis fee is common in the auto industry, not only at dealerships, but even at most independant facilities too. Everybody has bills to pay. A diagnosis fee pays the shop for the average time they have to spend on a vehicle. I find it ironic that all professions have minimum service charges or office visit fees: electricians, plumbers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, but the auto facility is always the one everyone complains the most about.

Dealerships and technicians have to be paid for their expertise and time. They have overhead! I am sure you like to be paid for work you do, so do technicians. A minimum diagnosis fee is common in the auto industry, not only at dealerships, but even at most independant facilities too. Everybody has bills to pay. A diagnosis fee pays the shop for the average time they have to spend on a vehicle. I find it ironic that all professions have minimum service charges or office visit fees: electricians, plumbers, doctors, dentists, lawyers, but the auto facility is always the one everyone complains the most about.

I am not naming any names. My sister worked there as a Mercedes Benz tech, she also learned to repair Volvos, Toyotas and taught herself to repair others. She worked at a LOT of shops and dealerships in the entire state before she retired. She said in EVERY shop she ever worked for THERE WAS A MINIMUM CHARGED to even LOOK at your car --A BASE FEE. You took your Mercedes in and there was a fee in the shop where she worked and it was $200 and THAT was back in the 1970s! You were charged that before she even opened the hood up. She did not fool around, She knew what she was doing and she worked fast and she worked accurately and she did not believe in cheating anybody. BUT THAT $200 FEE WAS TRUE FOR EVERYBODY ACROSS THE BOARD NO MATTER WHO YOU WERE, WHAT YOUR PROBLEM WAS FOUND TO BE OR EVEN IF YOU HAD A PROBLEM.AND IF YOU GOT MAD AND HAD YOUR CAR TOWED OFF, YOU STILL OWED $200 TO THEM. THE PRICE MIGHT VARY FROM SHOP TO SHOP BUT EVERYBODUY WAS ASSESSED THAT BASE PRICE.

The $250 is for the examination and labor. You car made a scratching noise when you turn the wheel left? While driving? What did the written estimate and receipt breakdown for the $250?

With the steady decay in car sales you will find dealerships scrambling to make up the income shortfall in other areas, especially service. They will charge you for virtually anything now and the diagnostic charge is a favorite. Some dealers will actually use a lot boy to drive the car and check for problems. Charge the customer about $90/hr and the lot boy gets about $8/hr. The gravy train has arrived. This is why I recommend establishing a good relationship with an independent garage, one that you can really trust. They tend to take care of their steady customers.