Toyota Dealer Diagnostic Fee

[kasket214]

I have a 2006 avalon xls that i purchased last month. The check engine light came on as my wife was driving home from work. I took it to my local toyota dealer in augusta, ga, and was charged $90.00 diagnostic fee. Fortunately the only problem was with the gas cap not sealing properly which i replaced. My question is has anyone else had a dealer that charged that much for diagnostics. In my experiences the cost is more in the $30-$50 range.

[Yuko]

Around the DFW area, pretty much all dealership charge $85 -$115 to diagnostic a problem then say it will go "toward the repair cost." But a few times a in the year, I get a coupon from Toyota for a free diagnostic.

[grandpapa]

I guess for check engine light, dealer probably plug the scanner to get error code to see what's wrong. $90 probably sounds right assumed you didn't have it fix there. Most of the time if dealer fix the problem, shouldn't have any diagnostic fee unless is a complex electrical issue.
I heard many people say you can take your car to autozone or most auto part store to have the error code pull so you know what the error is.

again, not think $90 is too high in today's economy

[Riick]

You can buy a code scanner on sale for anywhere from $30 - $60.
They usually will also reset the car computer & get rid of the check engine light.
Won't pull ALL the codes, since some are proprietary to Toyota, but
they would have diagnosed the gas cap.

Dealer's fancy & expensive computer will tell them time of day, temperature, wind velocity, color of wife's lipstick, and speed she was going just before the problem occurred.
Welll.. maybe not the lipstick color.

[Zembonez]

Diagnostic equipment + dealership overhead are big money. It's understandable how much they have to charge.

[Tech1984]

We scale it back to 1/2hr if it just turns out to be a gas cap and send you on your merry way. possibly with a new cap if the vehicle is old and/or tsb applies or never had the code before.
Then apply it to the next visit if it returns. A full evap system check is performed second time.

[Mike Murrell]

A dealer is going to charge you a minimum of 1 hours labor regardless of what he does.

As stated above - you'll pay more in other areas.