NTB publishes no price for a check engine diagnostic in 2026

What NTB publishes, and what it leaves out

Fifteen prices published, and not this one

It is worth seeing the gap clearly. Mavis will tell you online what it charges to fit a battery, replace brake pads and rotors, repair a flat, do a front end alignment, change your oil, fit struts, run a state inspection, rotate and balance your tires and replace a TPMS sensor. For a check engine light it has a page explaining what the light means, and where the price should be it tells you to call. That pattern tells you something useful: the jobs with fixed parts and fixed labor get a number, and the job where the clock runs does not. Treat any diagnostic quote as an hourly charge in disguise and ask how long they expect it to take.

NTB and Mavis are now one company

This matters when you are comparing prices. Searching NTB and Mavis separately looks like shopping two chains, but you are looking at one pricing operation with two signs. Mavis has said plainly that NTB staff were integrated into the Mavis organization and that stores close to Mavis branded branches have been rebranded. Mavis also bought Midas from TBC in June 2025. So NTB, Mavis and Midas are the same parent. If one branch quotes you a diagnostic fee you do not like, driving to the other sign down the road is not really a second opinion.

A free inspection is not a free scan

Chains advertise a lot of free things, and the word free does a lot of work in tire shop marketing. Every free item on NTB's coupon pages is a person looking at a part with their eyes: brakes, alignment, battery, suspension, exhaust. A code scan is different. It means plugging a tool into the port under your dash and reading what the car's computer stored. Nobody at NTB advertises that for free. If you want it free, the parts stores do it: AutoZone, O'Reilly and Advance Auto Parts all read check engine codes at no charge.

Call with the code already in your hand

Because the price is set at branch level, your call is the only way to find it, and you will get a better answer if you already know the code. Get it scanned free first, then ring your NTB and ask two things: what do you charge to test this specific code, and does that come off the bill if I have the work done here. NTB publishes nothing about whether the fee is credited, so the answer you get on the phone is the only one you have. Write down the name of whoever tells you.