Alarm bells rang when I felt I was being overcharged by an Audi dealership

theguardian.com:

I am in dispute with an Audi dealership in Exeter over repair costs for my 11-year-old Audi Q3. When I booked in my car, to deal with the issue of the alarm going off sporadically, I was told there would be a £160 charge to diagnose the problem.

I was then contacted by the garage to say it still didn’t know what the problem was. It could be the control panel, but it would cost me another two hours (£340) of diagnostic testing to find out. I felt I had no option but to agree.

A day later, I was advised that the fault was, indeed, the control panel, which needed replacing, and a price was quoted. Following that, the garage rang again to say that the horn sounded a bit squeaky, and that needed replacing.

In total, to have the car alarm fixed and a new horn, the cost was £1,480. I was also charged £50 to replace a single windscreen wiper blade, although this was later refunded.

The response to my complaint that I was overcharged has been confusing: we billed you for this and not for that, you didn’t pay labour on the horn, we have 11 technicians on the team, etc.

Going to a dealership garage means I expect to pay a premium, given operational costs and shiny showrooms, but charging so much for estimates feels very wrong.

DT, Devon

I don’t think I would have taken an 11-year-old car anywhere near an Audi dealership because you are just opening yourself up to this kind of experience.

I’m not sure when it became the norm for this type of diagnostic charging to take place, but it is now ubiquitous.

Whether you were taken for a ride or not, only the dealer staff will know. The fact that the dealer was happy to charge you £50 to replace a single wiper blade – on top of a £1,480 bill – and only took it off after you complained,