Remapping - grossly overpriced?

[simon woodgate]

I've read many posts about the hideous cost of going to a main dealer when you get the engine error light on. They connect up to a PC, read the codes, replace a sensor or whatever, clear the code then charge you £200 or worse. Then along come the Chinese selling OBD port readers on ebay for £20 and suddenly everyone can do a lot of this at home.

My question then is, in light of this, how do 'remapping' companies justify £400 for three minutes of connecting to your ECU and flashing the firmware? I mean I could understand it if it was £30. Maybe even £50. But £400??? AM I mising something here? Sure, they will tell you they have a specific map for your exact vehicle etc, but that just means grabbing the data from a CD or whatever and chucking it on. They're hardly going to go around measuring the tyre tread on each wheel, weighing your ICE and extra car mats and modifying the ECU firmware to suit are they?

[Veracocha]

I had a Stilo 1.9JTD for the last three years and had that re-mapped after about a month. If the map cost £1000 I would have paid it. The peformance was transformed. What you are buying is much much more than the tuners time/kit. I wish I could get the same with my 1.6VVTI.

[Gav]

AM I mising something here?

The time to research, develop and test the map (one of many they would use), and the tools to do all of that. It's quick to apply it to your vehicle, but that's just the last step in a much longer process.