You have to remember if their MIL comes on it's their problem not yours so why diagnose for FREE? They have driven onto your property for your advise, experience, and use of your expensive equipment to fix THEIR problem, who in their right mind would do that for FREE
Had a young lady in back in June with a 2009 Astra, MIL on and a code for electronic thermostat fault, told her what the problem may be and how much to verify and fix, she just asked if I would put the light out. Today she is back in with MIL on again, she asked if I would be charging her again for scan? Yes we will be charging again, it had the original code back, plus cam sensor and misfire on cylinder 2 (came in running on 3 cylinders). The vehicle also had no Coolant or Oil so I told her I could only do limited testing as do not want to run it for to long
Gave her a quote for testing and components it may require, she said she will think about it and could I just put the light out, I did explain that it will come back on instantly (she did not want me to top up oil or coolant )
So you need to charge as some customers will just take the pi** by getting you to put the light out for free every few months rather than have it fixed
Slightly off topic but did get caught by a customer the other day (kicked myself later) he had his Volvo serviced at a dealer at a cost of £550+ big list of stuff requiring attention. He asked if I could get it on the ramp (so he could see as well) and verify the faults and give him a price to fix, did that, spent a while doing estimates, but he never returned. I should have billed him for half hours labour for wasting my time (no intention of getting me to do the work) Won't get caught like that again, after 40 years I should have know better
Peter
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