People always want mods done cheap!!!!!

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

in fairness - thats nothing like it at all....

You're not upping performance when fitting xenons,heated seats, a RNS510, replacing a CM.... technically a main dealer can do it and when these technologies were first brought in they were the only option......so the main dealer "bricks" the car or does wiring damage and immobilises it.

1. Does he

A) tell you to come and get it with a shrug of the shoulders
B) repairs it at his own cost
C) if its really bad claim on his garage insurance

If you want to charge handy money then protect yourself with Public Liability.....if you don't then by definition its an amateur job everybody is wide open and you should charge accordingly.

Everybody in business would be really wealthy if it wasn't for expenses such as rates/lighting/insurance for business use.

If there was a nasty incident when somebody was charging for a (lord knows I hope it never happens) then it would certainly be like chucking a brick in the mill pond thats for sure

[Andy]

A bit like when someone goes to get a remap done on there car and a couple of days later the engine or the turbo goes bang!!!!!

do the tuners replace the engine or turbo-no they say it was entirely at your own risk!!!!

the same when someone gets a mod done to there car


scott

if i lived nearer you Scott or Ed my car would always be round gettin stuffed fitted

Don't know if i could give you a price though Andy i would maybe have to ask if its ok to charge you a certain price first or even better just come down to you to do it free

so to put xenon lights in and the self levels is all free fittting after you have spend 6hrs doing it and supplied the tea and sandwichs,when can you do it

Thing I'm finding funny about this is most Retro fitters are not asking for the earth just a normal amount for there time and skill, far to many people want everything for free or for peanuts,  welcome to the real world, if you want a mod and can't do it yourself be prepared to pay or not get it done, very simple.

x2

[golfman]

Thing I'm finding funny about this is most Retro fitters are not asking for the earth just a normal amount for there time and skill, far to many people want everything for free or for peanuts,  welcome to the real world, if you want a mod and can't do it yourself be prepared to pay or not get it done, very simple.

Good shout Si totally agree

its like if you had a plumber at your house to do a job(homer) and you said i know your name from a forum I'm on and he said yes thats me does that mean he will do the job for free or that you will do him a favour sometime and you drive a lorry for a living(what can you do for him)

scott

[Joshy]

I'm not going to lie, i came from modding a corsa and pretty much everything was relatively cheap. It was very naive of me to think that it would be the same when i got my golf but i do now know that parts and everything else is way more expensive. I can understand why though, and i appreciate why it is. I'd very happily pay the asking price for people services ect.  

[doylebros]

Everything is down to what people are happy to pay  - not unusual for Cuban cigars to sell for $1.1m but Asda sell cigars at their price.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/01/havana-cigar-festival-cuba-tom-jones

So if your happy to pay "get the work done and enjoy the mod" and remember to thank the installer!

[DaveB@Vagbremtechnic]

Thing I'm finding funny about this is most Retro fitters are not asking for the earth just a normal amount for there time and skill, far to many people want everything for free or for peanuts,  welcome to the real world, if you want a mod and can't do it yourself be prepared to pay or not get it done, very simple.

Good shout Si totally agree

its like if you had a plumber at your house to do a job(homer) and you said i know your name from a forum I'm on and he said yes thats me does that mean he will do the job for free or that you will do him a favour sometime and you drive a lorry for a living(what can you do for him)

scott

If the plumber is at your house - he's probably time served with a van outside he's paying business use insurance on, he needs to pay to be corgi registered, he needs to buy tools and materials and consumables, he needs to do a tax return and probably pay an accountant, he may have premises that need rates/lighting/heating, he needs to pay for public liability insurance....

Not exactly the same than somebody fitting/selling you a convenience module they bought used and cheap on ebay is it........

Now theres some very reputable guys on here.... Im citing Eddie as case in point, theres a knowledge and skill thats been demonstrated many times and he's all over the recommended vendor bit. But for every Eddie theres lots of people who are looking to practise on people who think they know what they're doing but to what degree???????, these people used to be part of a scene who used to offer to do things for free or beer vouchers and pi$$ about with peoples cars at meets and pub car parks, nowadays its have vagcom cable/will travel/will charge whatever that can be got away with because the people who have proper infrastructure and culpability have overheads....

Just my 0.02p apologies if it doesnt tie in with the accepted view......

[luckyGti]

Golfman are you a registered business like Eddie-NL?

[Karl_mac_]

I have to admit, as an outsider it is quite strange to see. My last car was a ford, at various stages I've had 2 intercoolers, 3 induction kits, painted engine parts, eibach springs, coilovers, bushes, downpipes, stereos etc fitted for no more than the cost of a round of bacon butties.

To see people charging garage rates of labour is very strange, and for most people its a 'cost vs. value' decision, as much as i'd like highline clocks and VALEO rear lights theres better things to spend £750+ on.

[xjay1337]

No bother, I couldn't be bothered going through your post either, or highlighting my point so that even the visually impaired can read them! Wasn't getting paid to do it.  [

My point in brief: people should not come on here moaning, "So many people ask me to do stuff for/help them. But as soon as I mention I take £100 to fit a radio they run away."

Eh, hello. Of course they run away. Scared that that's what everybody charges! Where the friendly spirit, helping others out in your spare time?

Personally speaking I have had no spare time at all. Since the 6th of January I've had 2 days (over the collective weekends) to do what I need to do.
I have had today off work... my first day of the year.. guess what, I was doing a detail on a friends car, and arrived at his house (an hours drive away) before I'd even be up for work normally. That's just me personally however.


DaveB is partly right. However as per Rich most people charge about £10 to plug on. Vagcom is NOT hard to use. Anything I do I take coding backups of, you're only ever doing run of the mill stuff, cruise control, etc so you're not going to brick an ECU. I've never found someone who charges more than that on this board at least.

If you want to pay main dealer £100 to enable anti hijack then that's the persons choice. If I didn't vcds i'd rather pay Richard £10 or £20 or even £99 because it's still cheaper...

The problem is when people EXPECT things for free. When in reality people's expectations need to change. Everyones time is money.

[dodds-gttdi]

I must say Im a little uncomfy with IT specialists with VAGCOM cables charging decent money and justifying it by saying its less than the dealers and go there if you don't like it...to be honest if I had a mod friendly dealer thats probably what Id do if there was little in it.

My point exactly. Before knowing much about VCDS (and purchasing a cable) members on here, including me, have only dealers and experienced members to turn to.

Now that I have a VCDS Cable and a little experieince/practice my thinking hasn't changed to, "I must recoup the cost of my investment in this equipment, therefore I will charge circa £50/hour or more. That way I won't be out of pocket."

I don't expect to earn a living by doing VCDS/retro-fitting jobs on the side. Sometimes I will do things for free (little things, or something that is very easy or takes little time). Other larger work, I will ask for some money. Probably £10-20 for fitting a radio, £50 for a CAN Gateway, etc.

My point throughout this whole thread is not that people expect thing for free. But some people who can do the work, charge (or quote) really high prices, just to be greedy!  

I usually call it a tenner for a scan/code clear or changing code, which i think is fair enough. Ive helped a couple of other people on here retro fitting stuff. I did galaxie500s xenons and didnt charge him, but he bought me the first season of breaking bad 

This here, is what I'd call reasonable service between members. Not the Xenon's for free (that's a HUGE favour) but to plug your laptop into someone's car, read/clear codes, make back-ups and tweaks. Well done that man, someone charging an honest rate.   

Don't know if i could give you a price though Andy i would maybe have to ask if its ok to charge you a certain price first or even better just come down to you to do it free

Don't be an idiot Scott, No one is advocating you slave away on somebody's car for free. Just a reasonable amount that doesn't rival dealer prices! 

I'm not going to lie, i came from modding a corsa and pretty much everything was relatively cheap. It was very naive of me to think that it would be the same when i got my golf but i do now know that parts and everything else is way more expensive. I can understand why though, and i appreciate why it is. I'd very happily pay the asking price for people services ect. 

Naive to think that VW parts cost the same as Vauxhall parts, yes. I was the same going to BMW from Peugeot. But should the price of a local member helping you out also increase relative to the price of the car parts? I don't think so. I'd hate to see circumstances where a member on here (well, only some members) was forced into less fortunate finances and moved down to a 'lesser' marque. They would be laughed out of the forum for quoting ridiculously high prices!!   

Thing I'm finding funny about this is most Retro fitters are not asking for the earth just a normal amount for there time and skill, far to many people want everything for free or for peanuts,  welcome to the real world, if you want a mod and can't do it yourself be prepared to pay or not get it done, very simple.

That's good to hear Si. I don't think retro-fitters, who charge a reasonable amount, are being bashed in this thread. Only those who expect/quote obscenely high charges. Nor is anyone demanding that someone else do the work for free for them.    I agree, things that cost someone time, effort, parts/materials do have to be paid for.

Golfman are you a registered business like Eddie-NL?

Well, are you? Should the taxman know about your lucrative side-business? Will you get a knock on the door from MR HMRC?
 
I don't think so as no-one on here is horrible enough to do such a thing

[Hedge]

Just to throw my 2p's worth into all of this. I have VCDS and have never charged anyone to scan or code bits on their car.

In some cases I have asked them to donate to the Vulcan to the Sky charity but that is still down to them.

Before anyone starts shouting about me not charging I look at it this way. Back in '06 people did stuff for me for free and when I bought my cable and became able to help folk I decided I would "pay it forward" as people had done for me. Simples really and stops  everyone getting upset. 

[rich83]

Spread the love hedge! 

[Hedge]

Absolutely Rich. 

[Mk5Dom]

Always happy to pay Ed what he asks for. You can't really put a price on his knowledge.

6/7 hour round trip but I still wouldn't take the car anywhere else.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[luckyGti]

Well, are you? Should the taxman know about your lucrative side-business? Will you get a knock on the door from MR HMRC?
 
I don't think so as no-one on here is horrible enough to do such a thing

Nope, I don't even own a vcds cable, I wouldn't even know where to plug it in 


My point was that for the guys who do own vcds and are not a registered business an just do it as a hobby to help fellow members out then a £10 or £20 donation or a few beers etc for there time seems fair if they feel they have to charge, if they help out fellow members gratis then it's nice to see the spirit of helping each other out staying alive and this is what makes a great a great community.

It's a shame some vcds cowboys feel the need to charge huge rates, when as you say they have a little IT knowledge and a vcds cable therefore they feels their prices high prices are justified as a slight mark down from dealer prices makes them a great second option in their opinion.

I agree with your points in this thread and hopefully the positive ito come from it is that more people will go to the reputable and knowledgeable diagnostic guys like Eddie Nl whom have years of experience.