Professionally or DIY?
Do it Yourself.
The going rate for an oil leak diagnosis is 1 hour of shop time, +/- $200.
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It takes more than 5 minutes to remove the engine covers and splash guards. Stop talking nonsense.
And just like the dentist charges $300 for an exam that may only take 20 minutes, no professional shop with quality employees is going to open the hood of a car for less than $100 or so.
I was never dumb enough to ask my employees to work for free, nor will I do it.
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So you have no idea how line mechanics are paid. Notice how many pros on this forum disagree with you. You might wish to revise your thinking.
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Dude you act like people never held a job before lol. Jeesus.
When I said âfor freeâ, I said it was them to âcheck it outâ. That could mean anything. Notice I did that on purpose to give alot of leeway. Doesnât matter how many âprosâ disagree with me if they are incorrect.
Companies give free quotes out all the time after take a look at the âsituationâ before doing any ârealâ work. When a customer comes in, they tell you the issue they have, and hopefully, with your âexpertiseâ, you can give them a ball park of what might be the issue. The service advisor, which is who youâll most likely be talking too, is the one who will point you in the right direction. They are paid by the hour.
What is the issue here that you guys arnât understanding? You canât begin doing a job without hearing the customer complaint first. Its hilarious that some of you think that customers should be paying to âmake a complaintâ before any diagnostic or work can be done.
Do you think mechanics get paid hourly or salary? Most donât. Most mechanics get paid âbook rate.â for jobs. Whatever the job hours are listed in the book for that task is what they get paid for the job. If they do a 2 hours job in 1 hour, they still get paid 2 hours. If it takes 3, they still get paid 2 hours. Experienced mechanics get paid more than the hours they work. Newbies get paid less.
This comment below says it allâŠ
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Thatâs not a good business practice if they wonât open the hood for simply scanning into the vicinity of the problem based on the customers complaint. The client is depending on the mechanicsâ expertise to make a quick diagnostic estimation. If youâre having to charge for this, youre a $hit mechanic.
Donât get me wrong, certain diagnostics takes time and will cost money. Im not denying that.
Please be sure to get back to us when you secure the position of Service Manager at the local Lincoln dealership.
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That attitude is that of a of customer that shops refuse to do business with.
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Yes, you are wrong. The business model of a car dealershipâincluding their large overheadâmakes it very unlikely that they could stay in business for very long if they âgave awayâ free diagnostics for vehicles that are no longer under warranty.
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Which ones?
Certainly not ones that require some diagnostics to determine where something like an oil leak may be coming from and the costs to repair it vary widely depending on where the problem lies. Maybe replacement flooring, windows? 
and even then, their âquoteâ has all kinds of caveats for undisclosed or other problems that may be discovered in the process of doing the work. The quote isnât worth much if they find rotted wood in the process, is it? What if the initial assessment is- I work on these all the time and frequently see valve cover leaks so we estimate the repair cost to be $600. Then, when starting the actual diagnosis, it is found to be a leaking head gasket. Now the customer has a 3x repair quote. What good was the quick assessment? Do you think that customer is going to have good or bad things to say about the shop?
Your âfreeâ assessment is known as opportunity cost. That means, while the employee is doing the assessment, work that is guaranteed and already lined up is being delayed with no guarantee the new customer will agree to the work being proposed. And the quality of the assessment will be questionable unless some basic diagnostics are done. No one can glance at a car in the parking lot and tell you where the oil leak is coming from and how much it will cost. That takes time to bring the car in, put it on a lift and remove certain covers etc. and start looking. Do you have any idea how many window shoppers come into a professional shop looking for free diagnosis so they can go elsewhere or attempt it themselves once the diagnosis is done?
How to make a small fortune in the auto repair business- start with a large one and provide free estimates or worse yet, quotes.
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Come on guys, donât yâall know that a 25yo DIYer with NO professional training, other than TikTok and doesnât even know what a throttle body is, will always know more than a 30,40,50+ year automotive technician that has been doing this longer then he has been alive⊠I mean come on, we can all learn something from this guy right???.. 
I mean, I remember when I was in my 20âs and new more than I do now⊠
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I was wrenching on cars while Mr305 was still crapping his diapers, by the way he talks.
Tester
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Roofing. And their overheads are much larger than a body shops.
Some will come and climb into the attic, get on the roof, etc etc and give a FREE quote before getting started on the real work.
Btw, and climbing on the roof is much more dangerous than opening up the hood of a potential clients car for a mere 5-10 minutes.
But what would you know, youre not a roofer.
If youre doing what you are doing thereâs probably a good reason for it. It just seems sus to me.
At any shop I managed, a car was not driven into the shop without a Repair Order, signed by the customer that included language stating the hourly rate for diagnosis, and a minimum diagnostic fee ( $85.00 when i retired in 2015). If you didnt agree to pay that, we didnt look at your car. If you pitched a fit, you were told to get out and never return. And if I were the one checking you in, and you told my my mechanics were $hit, i would have knocked your teeth down your throat.
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Next stop, Disneyland. Too late, weâre already there.
I have owned 5 homes now and put a roof on 4 of them. Not one roofing company ever went up on the roof to give me an estimate. They walked around and took some measurements (from the ground) to estimate the areas involved. Itâs a straightforward business and unless itâs your first year in it, itâs quite predictable (aside from the clauses I mentioned earlier regarding unforeseen issues).
You donât know that. Iâve never told you what I do for a living.
But I now suspect you are as it appears I hit a nerveâŠ
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