Car remapping! Honest answers required!!

[Mully]

I am thinking of becoming a franchise for ECU-RS Remapping Service, I would have the rights to the (TS) post code in the north east but i would not be restricted to that area alone, with the business been mobile i could come to peoples houses, places of work etc. I have had numerous talks with ECU-RS over the past couple weeks and everything seems to be spot on. One thing that worries me after doing a few figures is that i would need to do 2 remaps per week to make it a viable option in which i would make a profit, but a small one at that in the first year. The remaps would be priced between £275 - £300.

Now this is where you lot come in, would you rather give your car to a company that has already built its reputation up for a premium, ie £400 etc or would you try someone else like ECU-RS?? Do you think it is possible in this market to get 2 remaps per week?? This is important to me as im only 18 and its going to cost me in the region of 8-10k so get fully established and ready to go, so i dont want to put that money into something thats going to go tits up!

Any Replies and helpful advice would be much appreciated !

 

[jamiebennett81]

my advice is initially no

8-10k over head is like a bullitt to the head, as you dont own your own garage, you are not well established and in this current climate, people are not exaclty flush with their cash

if I was you, at 18 years old, I would save your money

however, if you are serious about the tuning side of things, then I would suggest setting up your own online shop, selling bits here and there and build a reputation slowly, through forums and word of mouth, and then when you have enough regular customers then perhaps start to offer remaps, as you then already have a steady and well established customer base

but this would at least take 12-24 months to get a rep IMO

 

[Damoegan]

You also have to take into account that P-Torque do there stage 1 maps for £265 and Custome Code do there's for ~£312. So thats 2 of the big companys your trying to mach price wise.....

 

[Mully]

yeah i agree about the intial 10k overhead but its a one off and then it costs nothing apart from diesel etc, and i would get that back in the first year if, and again its that question, if i get 2 remaps per week which im unsure about, especially when its such a populated market with so many big names, but this is the kind of information i want to know, cheers .

 

[CupraR210.DJM]

I have just had mine done, and personally i went for AMD purely because of the things i heard on this forum. I wouldn't go anywhere that didn't have a good reputation and a good customer base i could talk to about their experiences and thoughts on them.
I'd agree with building the business up gradually and letting you rep build first, but good luck with whatever you decide. Hope it works out for you.

 

[m0rk]

The market is already saturated - it's a waste of time & effort.

 

[Mully]

its a strange one cos i am getting very mixed responce i would say 50/50 saying do and dont do it. no point off jumping in, may aswell take my time and not make a mistake that i could regret!

 

[ibizacupra]

you are 18
you have no experience
you have no reputation
you are selling someone elses code which you have no influence over

why would someone want to risk their expensive car with you?

not saying this to be harsh or anything, but think what customers are looking for when parting with ££ and trusting you with their beloved motor.

the only people making the mopney are the source resellers of the code. you will work hard, have all the direct stress of dealing with the cars when they dont flash as you would expect, and then you will find yourself asking why am i doing this?


if i was a punter, would i go to an 18 year old who has no experience, and is doing this for a business opportunity alone.. not a chance-sorry

 

[drue1]

if you wanted to save money go to the cheaper opions.i went with AMD as ive heard good things about them.and would rather go to a big company and pay the extra quid as there playing with my engine
1. they test drive the car first
2.they put it on there rollers when standard
3. they check for faults then remap the car
4.back in the rollers for the final remap bhp
5.they test drive your car afterwoods

its going to be very hard for you to start up.maybe you should stick with your full time job and do this
as a spare time thing till it kicks off and build up a good rep

 

[Mully]

Very fair points and i understand where your coming from, i think age is irrelavant personally, but you as a customer might see this differently which is what i will need to take on board, on the point of reputation, everyone has to start from somewhere??
ECU-RS are a reputable company that have been established in germany for many years before coming to the uk in 2004. i will be relying on this reputation before i can get enough experience myself to build the name in the north east, but im know this could take years and actually may never happen and ill become one of many of these companies that are in the background but in a way this is a risk im willing to take as im not planning on doing just Remapping as i will be looking into diagnostics etc. These are the posts im wanting to get so i know what peoples thoughts and feeling are towards such a scenario!

Edit: i dont have a full time job and that doesnt even look safe at the moment so this is why i am thinking of doing what im doing !

 

[Mylo]

as above mate, I think it's a big risk to take at your age.

Are you a qualified mechanic or autoelectrician ?

Tuners like Bill (ibizacupra) have vast reserves of car fixing knowledge to back up the laptops

 

[downrodeo]

I would rather pay £100 more and go to a company with a good rep and established in the UK, and have a bit of peace of mind aswell as the insurance of knowing that they'd be more willing to help fix problems to preserve their good name etc.

 

[matt110tdi]

i'm sure the company who remapped my car only paid £5000 for the custom code franchise.

 

[Mully]

sorry again, one thing im stumbling across here is that some posts are about me ie, my age etc but the majority are about ECU-RS, so lets say its the same scenario but the company is Custom Code, would this change anything that you have put?? or is the message a few of you are trying to get across is that im too young and inexperienced to enter the market in its current state?

 

[Mylo]

nail on head mate

nobody is knocking the possible source of your files. We are all just maybe thinking that seeing a fellow SCN member crash and burn would be a waste.

Cut your teeth in the tuning market a safer way mate and build from there.

 

[matt110tdi]

I think i'd rather pay a garage with the franchise the same money than a mobile agent because when i got mine done it was the standard price which custom code sets (less the 30% promotion at the time). I got a rolling road before and after and also a golf gti turbo as a courtesy car while it was being remapped.

It's got nothing to do with your age, it's about perception and you'd get a better service from a garage based agent for exactly the same price. I think good on you for wanting to do it but i think you'll get very little return on your investment. People you know would want it done cheap and if you're advertising, you'd be competing with professionals with all the rolling roads etc. for the same price.

 

[warren_cox]

I am incredibly careful about who I use to work on my car. I'll always collect a handful of references, and would want to know that the business has some history so that I can see their work, see their track record of customer service, and know that should they encounter issues they have the facilities an skills to fault diagnose.

I tend to see code as a single entity of the upgrade path. When choosing a tuner I want a company with some reputation, some vision, and a good history of VAG experience. I work my @r$e off to pay for my car, and there is no way I would use code from outside the well established tuners (Revo / GIAC / CC etc.....).

I can see the attraction to you wanting to do it, but I would honestly recommend getting some industry experience under your belt, then if you feel inclined starting up on your own later on when you have track record, but can offer more than just code. I don't care about your age, background or anything else about you personally, the above is based on my personal selection criteria, and I'm sure I won't be alone when it comes to protecting my hard earned investment. Now if you were selling bargain basement coilovers that would be a different matter as some people will prop their cars up with any old $h1t, but that's another story!

 

[Mully]

the rolling road is seems to be a big factor when it comes to remapping, i take it that ppl would rather go to a remappers at a garage where they get there car put rolling road before and after as a piece of mind and evidence that the car has indeed been remapped and so you can see the before and after figures to make sure the map has been utilised in its best way, that is one major thing that a mobile cannot compete with and will lose custom because of it. its something i never thought about before !

 

[Mully]

certainly is and im not going to lie, like a said earlier, i would only let companies like the ones stated by warren cox, that have such a reputation and such a following, but i do know of people that dont give a hell about there car and would use anybody so this thread has just been a way for me to research and find out about the market, the majority of consumers within the market and what there feelings are towards a smaller not as reputable company!

 

[Bigbhp18t]

you are 18
you have no experience
you have no reputation
you are selling someone elses code which you have no influence over

why would someone want to risk their expensive car with you?

not saying this to be harsh or anything, but think what customers are looking for when parting with ££ and trusting you with their beloved motor.

the only people making the mopney are the source resellers of the code. you will work hard, have all the direct stress of dealing with the cars when they dont flash as you would expect, and then you will find yourself asking why am i doing this?


if i was a punter, would i go to an 18 year old who has no experience, and is doing this for a business opportunity alone.. not a chance-sorry

+1

Would you feel confident remapping a £20k car? knowing there is a risk of flash or engine problems?

You remap a customers turbo car, it has underlaying fuel issues with the fuel pressure not rasing with the boost and straight away after the remap the car melts a piston.. Or there is a major boost which causes the turbo to over spools and fail. ££££££££££££


There is room in the market for really good tuners who know about engines, tuning and diagnostics.

You need to get a job with a good tuner, and learn about the engines first and what is involved to get more power from an engine. Once you fully understand what is going on under the bonnet of a car you then should move on tuning. You need to educate your customers, not the customers educating you.


IMO... Wait! use this remapping idea as your long term goal over the next 12 years. Then go for it.

If you go for it now you will only last 6 months max before the stress of it all gets to you because your confused-dot-com..

Ben