09/28/2021
FREE costs more than $150. Don't believe me?
Let me tell you a story I hear at least once a week, then we'll do the math.
So your check engine light comes on and you don't want to spend a lot of money, and you don't trust any mechanics because they are all a "bunch of crooks," right? So you swing by the local parts store (or "a guy" you know) because they do "free diagnostics," and they tell you their machine says your car needs Oxygen sensors. You buy 2 of them for $90 each, and you go home and replace them in your driveway. It takes you 2 days of your free time, you had to go back to the parts store to rent or buy the special sockets needed to replace them, you ruin a shirt and a couple of your spouses towels, you make a 3rd trip to the parts store in your spouses car to get a tool to rethread the exhaust because the old sensor pulled the threads out, but you get it done. You go back to the parts store again and they clear the codes for you.
The next day the check engine light comes back on. You just spent your whole weekend working on the car, now you have to drive it through the week until you have another day off. Your day off finally comes, you go back to the parts store, they pull the codes and tell you you need oxygen sensors. You tell them you just bought oxygen sensors from them last week and they didn't fix it. They say "well this little computer here says that your mass air flow and map sensor can also cause oxygen sensor codes, that's probably what it is" so you spend another $240 on those parts. Fortunately they are much easier to install, so it only takes you an hour, you get back to the parts store and clear the codes again, and you go home satisfied by a job well done.
The next day your check engine light comes back on again... Parts store says it's the same oxygen sensor codes and *if you are lucky* they don't try to sell you anymore parts, they tell you you should probably take it to a mechanic because they are out of ideas. You drop your car off at the mechanic, reluctantly agree to the $150 diagnostic fee and the mechanic calls you later that day to tell you they found a corroded wire that's preventing your oxygen sensors signal from reaching the engines computer. They fix the wire, your total bill is $200 and the check engine light is cleared when you pick it up. The shop gives you a guarantee on the repairs, let's you know you have a loose tie rod that you should be getting replaced ASAP (that explains your uneven tire wear you haven't had looked at yet), you drive it for weeks with no issue and are finally satisfied that the problem is fixed.
So what costs more, a $150 diagnostic fee or a "free diagnosis"? The free diagnosis cost you over $400 and a bunch of your precious free time, and you still had a broken vehicle that had to go to the shop anyway and cost you even more. The diagnostic fee cost you $150 plus the repair and granted you a properly repaired vehicle with a warranty and a guarantee, plus a complete vehicle inspection that let you know you had a safety concern you might not have known about until it was too late.
Don't spend hundreds of dollars on parts because the guy at the auto parts store (who isn't a mechanic) used their code reader for free and told you what parts to buy. Their job is to sell you parts, they don't care if it fixes your problem or not.
Our job here is to *fix* your car. I'm the picture, this person already spent money at the parts store and time replacing hard to reach parts, he still had to bring it to the shop and spend more money. For less time and money than he already spent replacing what the parts store said he needed, we had it diagnosed, guaranteed fixed and down the road.
Today's vehicles are complicated. We charge a diagnostic fee because it's impossible to just plug in a computer and have it tell you what's wrong with the car. In fact, they're has never been a machine that would just tell you what is wrong with the car: the scanners and computers just give out information, the mechanic still needs to test things to find and verify the cause of a problem. Those codes you get with the check engine light are just a symptom, nothing more than an indicator to tell the mechanic what part of the vehicle is having issues, they don't tell us what is actually causing the problem. Every issue needs to be thoroughly inspected and tested so we are sure what the problem is and what it will cost to fix before we make any repairs. It takes time, it takes an immense amount of knowledge and experience, and it takes a lot of very expensive equipment to do efficiently and effectively. Don't take a good mechanic for granted folks, if you want your vehicle fixed properly you have to pay for their time and efforts.
*If you find yourself reading this and thinking "that's BS, mechanics all just guess the same way the parts stores do!" like some folks in the comments have mentioned, I ask that you do 2 things: first, watch some videos from the channels below and learn how real technicians and mechanics actually fix vehicles, and second, go out and find yourself a real mechanic, because you obviously don't know any. You are right, there are plenty of terrible "mechanics" and shops out there, but there are good ones out there also.
https://youtube.com/c/ScannerDanner
https://youtube.com/c/SouthMainAutoRepairAvoca
https://youtube.com/c/NewLevelAuto
https://youtube.com/c/PineHollowAutoDiagnostics
https://youtube.com/c/SuperMarioDiagnostics
https://youtube.com/channel/UC7AtpaCPv1QXYa-yE2sPQbQ
https://youtube.com/c/VoltageDropDiagnostics
And many many more.
