The short answer is “no”, but the longer answer is important
As we were exploring the world of Quora recently, we saw a simple question: “Do mechanics do free diagnostics?” We answered by explaining the difference between diagnostics and inspections, why an inspection alone often isn’t enough to diagnose vehicle problems, and why you should DEMAND to pay for diagnostic time. We thought our answers might be useful for Quorans around the world, and hope they might be interesting to you as well…
Do mechanics do free diagnostics?
(Original answer from Quora.com, March 2021)
“Yes and no, but mostly no. Just about every auto shop has a “free inspection” of some type, but these vary by quality and none are ‘diagnostics’. A ‘diagnostic’ is much deeper, much more focused, and much more demanding than an ‘inspection’ of any kind. An inspection may expose a problem, but it takes diagnostic time and knowledge to know WHY it’s happening.
Some problems are straightforward… if a fan belt is broken it’s a pretty simple diagnosis and an inspection will reveal it, but most problems are more complex. Even if you take your vehicle to a mechanic or parts store to “pull the codes”, it probably won’t give an answer because most error codes can have several causes. If, for example, your vehicle is intermittently losing power then inspecting it or pulling codes usually won’t tell you why; it will take the time and attention of a qualified mechanic to track down the cause. Without a specific diagnosis, a shop will ‘throw parts’ at the most likely causes in hopes they’ll hit on a solution. That’s great if they hit it on the first try, but second, third, or even fourth tries can get inconvenient and expensive. Don’t let a shop make repairs without a clear diagnosis! The shop will charge you for this time, as well they should, but it will be worth it to you.
In short, if you aren’t paying money for a mechanic to diagnose your vehicle, it probably isn’t happening. People get confused by this and the shops probably share some blame… if they can get a customer in on a freebie, they can up the bill with the dreaded “second call” later. We don’t like confused clients; we want our clients to know exactly what’s going on so they aren’t ambushed or disappointed later.”
From there we directed Quorans to two of our newsletter articles that went even deeper into the diagnostic weeds. We hope these are helpful to you as well, but as always, if you have any other questions our Service Advisors are here to help!
