Auto Electrician Slugged Me

gazza2013au · 16-03-2014, 04:51 PM

took my little hyundai excel to a sydney auto electrician on friday after the engine light coming on doing over 80kph the auto electrician charged me $90 just to read the codes

it came back as a faulty oxygen sensor and he didnt replace it

is this about right for a code reading or was i ripped a new hole?

BHDOGS · 16-03-2014, 05:12 PM

It's about right id say but it really shouldn't cost so much as it's a quick scan and look up the code but that's buisness for u

xrystl · 16-03-2014, 05:13 PM

VW charge me an hours labour to attach their scanalyser to read off the fault codes on my Crafter , they absorb the cost if I have the repairs done in their Workshop (about $130 per hour) as they only charge the book time for any work done (not actual time) and some jobs take almost twice the book time (me waiting with the work being done visible to me) - The equipment to read the codes on the VW commercials costs heaps ($25k mentioned) so I guess they are justified in their pricing and repairs aren't included in the diagnostic cost.

zilo · 16-03-2014, 05:58 PM

Just buy a generic OBD reader from an electronics store next time?

O2 codes are generic so proprietory readers not usually needed.

never pay again....

http://www.ebay.com.au/bhp/obd-ii-code-reader

gazza2013au · 16-03-2014, 06:18 PM

thanks guys guess i need to swallow the $90 fee

its a shame the local mechanic couldnt do my car for some reason i was passed onto the auto electrician

also the auto electrician had the car for no longer than 1h 30m i think they are being paid up there with lawyers and dr's

UberKnee · 16-03-2014, 07:00 PM

Have to remember that $90 doesn't go straight into the auto sparkies wallet. He'd get half that if he's lucky the rest goes into the cost of running a business and then the business actually turning a profit.

sneaky · 16-03-2014, 07:48 PM

i was quoted $100 for a renault dealer to check fault codes and price would be absorbed into repairs.. and a local renault specialist was $50 to check for fault codes.

gazza2013au · 16-03-2014, 07:57 PM

a little to late, just found a web site that shows what pins to jump and use the engine light bugger!!!

would have saved my self $90

uniacidz · 16-03-2014, 08:25 PM

Sounds like normal prices

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Franco Cozzo · 16-03-2014, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazza2013au

thanks guys guess i need to swallow the $90 fee

its a shame the local mechanic couldnt do my car for some reason i was passed onto the auto electrician

also the auto electrician had the car for no longer than 1h 30m i think they are being paid up there with lawyers and dr's

Didn't realise doctors and lawyers get paid $19/hour?

Because I was an auto electrician and thats what I was getting.

The reason why it costs so much to scan and clear codes on your car is because any half decent scan tool costs at least $7K ranging to $15-$20K for the best when it comes to diagnostic scan tools which are reliable.

ratter · 16-03-2014, 08:37 PM

don't forget the yearly fee to keep them up to date.

gtfpv · 16-03-2014, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gazza2013au

thanks guys guess i need to swallow the $90 fee

its a shame the local mechanic couldnt do my car for some reason i was passed onto the auto electrician

also the auto electrician had the car for no longer than 1h 30m i think they are being paid up there with lawyers and dr's

relax? your probly not married !!! whilst you were there spending the 90 bucks , your misses wouldve been at home making use of her alone time dropping 200 on ebay for haircare products .

**redxm** · 16-03-2014, 08:47 PM

superjunk will do a scan for $15

BPXR6T · 16-03-2014, 09:10 PM

Auto elec charged my mate $850 for a new alternator in his clapped out EB. Now that was a rip off!

Morexbs · 16-03-2014, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BPXR6T

Auto elec charged my mate $850 for a new alternator in his clapped out EB. Now that was a rip off!

That's 4 times more than the car is worth!

homegrown · 06-04-2014, 01:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtfpv

relax? your probly not married !!! whilst you were there spending the 90 bucks , your misses wouldve been at home making use of her alone time dropping 200 on ebay for haircare products .

That reminds me of the time someone stole my credit card. I didn't worry about reporting it because the crook was spending less than the missus

**GasoLane** · 06-04-2014, 11:43 AM

A bit like the (fictitious) story of someone taking their car to a mechanic, who fixed the problem by hitting it with a hammer.

When the owner complained about being charged $50 for hitting it with a hammer the mechanic said

"I'm not charging you $50 for hitting it with a hammer. I'm charging you for knowing where to hit it"

GASWAGON · 06-04-2014, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasOLane

A bit like the (fictitious) story of someone taking their car to a mechanic, who fixed the problem by hitting it with a hammer.

When the owner complained about being charged $50 for hitting it with a hammer the mechanic said

"I'm not charging you $50 for hitting it with a hammer. I'm charging you for knowing where to hit it"

Well thats fair enough......Obviously the starter motor needed a small hit to get it working again. Not sure about $50 charge tho?

chevypower · 07-04-2014, 06:39 AM

I had a local parts store plug in theirs, just read me the codes, and didn't charge me anything for it. Apparently that's standard practice around here.

Lockitupoz · 07-04-2014, 08:49 AM

I am with some of the OP.

We own 5 scan tools, costs varied from $500 to $22,000. Then there's the costs per year to have the software up to date - varies from $530 to thousands.

We only use the tools to program keys. To recoup costs we have to charge $88 every time we plug into a car. Apart from our labour costs, there's workshop overheads and the costs associated with these tools.

A generic scanner from Fleabay may only cost a couple of hundred bucks - it will read the numbers and that's it. Most people will need codes read only once or twice in the cars lifetime, so you are actually paying $100 to read the code and that comes without any professional opinion as to why that code has been thrown up!

Pay the fee and listen to the advice as to how to fixit.

Cheers
JD

kyro_02 · 11-04-2014, 07:44 PM

My brother owns werribee auto elec, I don't think he charges, but if he does I'm pretty sure it's only $20..

The way I see it, is the equipment costs thousands of dollars , but you recoup the cost back through jobs done on the cars, obviously not by charging so much to scan...?

gazza2013au · 11-04-2014, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyro_02

My brother owns werribee auto elec, I don't think he charges, but if he does I'm pretty sure it's only $20..

The way I see it, is the equipment costs thousands of dollars , but you recoup the cost back through jobs done on the cars, obviously not by charging so much to scan...?

they would even make a bucket load back when they upgrade there machines and sell it on, what i was charged is rediculous the part wasnt even changed in that price either

Madaya · 11-04-2014, 10:30 PM

I think I read an article In Silicon Chip, where you can build a module that interfaces between the car and your PC/Laptop. Using free software and some uploaded programs, the little guy could apparently read codes, do diagnostics, the whole enchilada. I must look that article up again, or at least source the kit.
I ignored the device at the time as I figured it would only be handy if I made major mods to the FG. I'm a small mod guy