A friend recently took her Golf to a VW dealer for a bodywork estimate (minor damage to front grille). They took a few photos and then gave her a piece of paper which turns out to be a bill for £100+ just for doing the estimate. I think they are having a larf. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Yes, indeed I have; however there's usually some more work involved, like dismantling stuff...
And this is in Sweden. For a few photos to make an estimate for, say, insurance reasons, there has never been any charges to me.... It's never too late to learn something new...

Unbe lievable

Have they said they would refund the money if she gets the work done there?

Usually they would lay out the charges prior to doing the work in getting an estimate

I have never had to myself, but would have thought since they know you need to obtain a couple of quotes its to pay for their time, inspecting, finding parts and working out labour rates and then printing it out, if they don't get the job they have lost that time, but if they do I would up have thought the cost of this would be offset

Usually when you drop off a car at a main dealers you sign an authorisation for them to carry out the work detailed on the authorisation. I think that this may be what gives them the grounds to charge for that work? Wonder if your friend signed one of these? 09 FL2 Santorini Black GS - Privacy glass, enormous fixed towbar!
57 FL2 Stornoway Grey HSE - Privacy glass - gone

i would not pay it and walk away i would also phone vw up and ask if this is the norm as it would put me off using that main dealer again, like in any part of the motor trade if you are not competitive you need to know why so it can be rectified dont let potential customers carry that cost  rainy-city
xs

Can you get a quote of how much the quote will cost you before they do it?

That's sort of the point. I wouldn't have dreamt of asking, but I will in future. Interestingly, they didn't ask for money at the time, just gave her the bill, so maybe they're just expecting to soak the insurance company for it.

I was given a bill for an estimate once, it was for a horse trailer. I told dealer I would not pay it before getting advice from insurance company - he wasnt pleased but he could not do anything. Insurance company told me that I was not to pay it and because the repairer had not told me that there was a charge for an estimate then they could not do anything about it.

My Dad just bought a Disco 3 a couple of weeks ago from a national car dealership that also owns a Landrover dealership as part of their group.

When he test drove the car there was a "handbrake assist" warning light on and he was told that this would be fixed when he bought the car. He bought it and took out an extended warranty. When he picked the car up the light was off but a day later it came back on.

He took it back to the garage and they said it would probabily be covered under the warranty, however they would have to use a diagnostics machine to ensure that the correct problem was identified and the use of the machine isnt covered under warranty so they need £80 to look at it!!!

Lee Howe wrote:

My Dad just bought a Disco 3 a couple of weeks ago from a national car dealership that also owns a Landrover dealership as part of their group.

When he test drove the car there was a "handbrake assist" warning light on and he was told that this would be fixed when he bought the car. He bought it and took out an extended warranty. When he picked the car up the light was off but a day later it came back on.

He took it back to the garage and they said it would probabily be covered under the warranty, however they would have to use a diagnostics machine to ensure that the correct problem was identified and the use of the machine isnt covered under warranty so they need £80 to look at it!!!

Would that be Stratstone? (just so that I can make sure to avoid them ) Brian

MY11 FL2 SD4 GS
Extras to same spec as XS apart from the Satnav, plus Xenons.
Ipenema Sand, Ebony.

Surely nothing to do with the warranty. The car is not "fit for purpose". They fix it or give you your money back. He should contact local Trading Standards at once.

BrianAbbott wrote:

Lee Howe wrote:

My Dad just bought a Disco 3 a couple of weeks ago from a national car dealership that also owns a Landrover dealership as part of their group.

When he test drove the car there was a "handbrake assist" warning light on and he was told that this would be fixed when he bought the car. He bought it and took out an extended warranty. When he picked the car up the light was off but a day later it came back on.

He took it back to the garage and they said it would probabily be covered under the warranty, however they would have to use a diagnostics machine to ensure that the correct problem was identified and the use of the machine isnt covered under warranty so they need £80 to look at it!!!

Would that be Stratstone? (just so that I can make sure to avoid them )