VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying?

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:16
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - mikert

Hi all,

As per title really.

I'm travelling a few mile this week to but a 69 reg e-golf, and my car will be taken in part/ex.

All the dealing has been done, maybe just a short test drive, then off home.

But, is it good etiquette to plug in a diagnostic scanner to the obd port?

Buying from a dealer, not private, but not sure if I should or not.

That's apart from the fact I'm not sure if my scanner, iCarsoft CR Pro, will work with it.

All the best.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 15:55
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - brum

Manners and etiquette don't matter a jot if buying from a dealer. Ask them before you set out on your trip to the dealer. They probably will say no. If they have a service dept they may suggest they scan with their equipment, but that might just be a statement that "our service staff found no faults". They will possibly request you pay for this.

So ask yourself these questions.

What if they refuse?

What if they they don't give you written evidence of a no fault scan?

What if you are allowed and your kit picks up a fault, what would you do?

What if the dealer accuses you of messing the car up with your kit?

Of course its possible that errors are cleared, only to return once you have paid.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 16:02
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - mikert

Thanks @brum

All good points, I'm still no closer to deciding if I should or not though.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 16:09
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - elekie&a/c doctor
Unless you have dedicated Vag software, I’m not sure what you would achieve. Your happy shopper scanner is unlikely to give any accurate information. As above , the dealer is unlikely to allow you to “plug in “ .
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Sun 13 Jun 2021 16:17
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - sammy1

You are buying a fully warranted car so what will you achieve with your scanner? If I were the dealer I would not let you mess with their property until the deal was finalised and it is then your to do as you please

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 17:25
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - Andrew-T

All good points, I'm still no closer to deciding if I should or not though.

[ deleted - I got wrong end of stick] You could ask the dealer to use his scanner, perhaps ?

Edited by Andrew-T on 13/06/2021 at 17:27

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 18:36
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - mcb100
If it was my car, I’ll be honest you wouldn’t be plugging an unknown (to me) bit of hardware into it.
If you’re buying from a dealer you’re lots of consumer protection looking after you if a fault did come to light, of was identified, once you’ve bought it.
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Sun 13 Jun 2021 19:40
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - catsdad

This came up a few months ago in the context of letting a buyer run a scan on a car you might for sale. The majority view was not to let the potential buyer plug it in. As I recall there was concern at potential corruption of the car’s software from dodgy readers but I can’t find the thread now.

This one maybe? www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/135714/is-it

Edited by Xileno on 13/06/2021 at 20:07

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 21:20
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - catsdad
Thanks for the link Xileno. I didn't realise it was nearly a year ago.
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Sun 13 Jun 2021 19:40
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - daveyjp

I would hope prior to handover the car has a service which includes code check and software update.

Nothing to stop you doing a scan once it is handed over and rejecting immediately!

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 20:46
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - pd

You also really need to know what you are doing with code readers. Some cars with some code readers always list faults for example which you only find out is normal when to read the documentation.

And some cars show fault codes until you've driven off and things like abs has self checked.

You could also do a "lot* of damage with VCDS/VAG-COM if so minded.

If you are a trained mechanic who has had specialist training on the diag you are using then maybe. But if not any dealer would be mad to let you near.

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Sun 13 Jun 2021 20:51
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - Brit_in_Germany

Since on some cars the OBD2 port can be used to clone keys, I would never let someone connect their 'reader'.

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Mon 14 Jun 2021 08:17
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - edlithgow

Don't all these "You could fry its fragile bits, so I wouldn't let you" objections also apply post-purchase (which seems to be regarded as OK)?

If so, then don't you endanger your apparently also fragile warranty by doing it post-purchase?

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Mon 14 Jun 2021 10:46
VW e-Golf - Good manners to diagnostic scan before buying? - Ian_SW

What are you hoping to find by doing the scan?

Any significant faults would result in an warning light / message on the dashboard so would be obvious anyway.

A quick scan would be unlikely to reveal whether the car's mileage had been "corrected", though you'd have reasonable comeback against the dealer if you did find that out later.

A dealer is unlikely to let you plug your equipment into the car before buying it, but there would be nothing to stop you asking then for written evidence of a fault code scan before you buy the car.

Also, once you've handed over the money to buy, there's nothing to stop you scanning what is now your car before driving off. If you have the equipment and know how to use it, that may make sense if the dealer is some distance away. If it did reveal any problem, you'd save an additional trip returning the car to the dealer to get it fixed.

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