Game ova

Using that logic, a machinist could charge you $4,000 to grind your crankshaft. And it would be ok, because you "can't do it any cheaper". Don't need a business degree to understand that a business has to show profit. But as the consumer, I decide if the charge is reasonable/fair or not. Can't tell the business owner what to charge, but I surely can shop around.

stevieturbo

No that's just dumb. The market will dictate the price. And it seems the market near you is $60.

I'm sure you could travel further, spend more in time and fuel to have it done for a little less though ? Albeit perhaps overall more costly ?

1bdbrd

iTrader: (12)

I know I would charge someone that isn't a friend no less than $150 for the same thing. 100 for the HPT credits and 50 for my time. A friend gets charged the credits and that's it.

AnotherWs6

iTrader: (17)

^^^^^^ Well he doesn't need to pay for credits if he goes back to this guy because he's already been tuned there. I had a body shop with a friend years ago. People always want stuff done for cheap and don't understand what it takes just to break even. Drove me nuts and I eventually bailed. People also assumed that since we had our own business we had lots of money. Meanwhile I'm using a credit card for gas and putting food on a tab for weeks. Would go weeks sometimes before we could pay ourselves and even then it was jack ****.

I understand where you're coming from OP, not trying to knock you. I have no knowledge of this guy or his business, just throwing my 2 cent story in.

Game ova

Let's put it like this, he charges $1,100 for a FI tune. And no, I didn't pay it....I just know someone that did. And yes, I understand about the overhead. Utilities, supplies, tools, building rent, employees....tax on the employees, tax for yourself (if you are honest), incidentals, personal salary.....so on and so forth. Profit is one thing, but then you have what's called exorbitant. Keep in mind that this is just how I feel, personal opinion...which is why I've made no mention of the businesses name. Any business has the right to charge whatever they want, but as the consumer...it's your call as to what's fair or what's not.

93camaro_zzz

iTrader: (13)

Ok, I think I read this wrong the first time, I thought you had done a full tune by this guy before, and he wants $60 to change your gears now. I didn't know it was someone who has never seen your car. In that case, I actually think he is justified in charging you $60. Even if he has unlimited credits, or he bought your Y/M/M, he would still be smart to try and charge you, because he is trying to pay back his original investment. Maybe he would be cool, and give you like a $50 discount off a full tune in the future? I think that would be pretty fair.

Game ova

He did tune the car before, but it was before I bought it. I would never pay $1100 for a tune. But then again, I may be a cheapskate thinking that is too high as well lol.

AnotherWs6

iTrader: (17)

You know what's funny? A lot of mail order guys at least offer free re-tunes for life. I sent my Silverado PCM out on Monday. Just have to pay the shipping. Around 25 bucks in total.

Wait, you didn't have it tuned there? Somebody else did? Then there is really no incentive for him to do it cheap or free.

stevieturbo

That depends whether that's a standard charge for all, does it include other things, or was it one specific car etc ?

I know many cars I've tuned would need that or more simply fixing **** the owners have fucked up before you'd even start tuning.

Game ova

Again, I would never request a business owner do something for free, as he is there to make money. General concensus here, Is that $60 for flashing a ratio change is a fair price.....I disagree. If it was me (which I fully understand that it isnt) I would be ok with making $30 maybe 40.....in the 10 minutes it would take to do a simple ratio reflash. Especially since there is next to no effort involved. You figure the average shop shop rate is 70-80 per hour usually with hard labor involved. It would stand to reason that making $30 in 10 minutes would be cake.....I guess not.

93camaro_zzz

iTrader: (13)

Yeah, it really depends on what they want done. So many turbo cars come in with multiple boost leaks, and other problems. And a lot of times you have to spend time setting up boost controllers, in addition to tuning.

ddnspider

iTrader: (26)

Your logic is flawed trying to compare standard labor shop rates. Tuning is a specialized area and people can basically charge whatever they want when they have a specialized skillset. If you don't want to buy efi live or hpt, my suggestion would be to have him change other stuff you may want tweaked at the same time. Your bang for the buck is better. 50 bucks is reasonable to me for making a basic change like gears since the license is already covered. Your time isn't free so all of the posting and replying to this thread could have been put towards paying the 60 bucks and being done with it too....

Game ova

If anything else were to be modified, timing....basically anything engine related, I would not be surprised if he wanted the full price of a tune. And saying that the time it took posting could have been put twards paying the fee is stupid.

ddnspider

iTrader: (26)

Yep....About as stupid as making a thread crying about paying $60 bucks for a reflash on your 800hp Camaro because its "STUPID high".

drecpt83

It's $100-150 out where I'm located, so $60 doesn't seem too bad imho. I hate paying anyone for things I can do myself, but if I don't have the equipment, or ablility, then I have no choice if I NEED the service. Whether it takes 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or whatever is irrelevant as long as you're getting what was agreed upon. Sucks but It's just one of those things man. Also keep an eye open for people selling hp tuners. I just picked it up for $200 with credits because the seller was going with that fitech unit. You have a badass ride btw

Game ova

Thanks about the car man. I've been thinking about it, and if he will toggle the CEL light off (evap code)...I will consider that to be fair. If he doubles the charge, I will just wait and buy the software that I need.

drecpt83

It certainly doesn't hurt to ask, you never know!

truckdoug

iTrader: (26)

I can't comment as to the price of the work, but most shops I've worked at have a minimum charge so they don't get killed doing all the little **** people bring in.

It's non of my business but also might be that somehow you rubbed him the wrong way. When I was a service manager I'd throw out a stupid number on a job if I just didn't want the hassle of dealing with someone particularly rude or self-entitled. But that can always be changed with the universal sign of gratitude, some decent micro brews.

Anyways, doing your own tuning is where it's at. It went from being a voodoo mystery to the funnest part of messing with cars for me. But if I could go back I'd dump the stock PCM and HPT and go MS3.

Game ova

This was via text (some history here). This vehicle build isn't exotic, fairly basic really, what would be the advantage of ditching the factory pcm? (No sarcasm)

truckdoug

iTrader: (26)

more EIOs, boost controller, traction control, easy alky sensor hookup, if you wanted to go to an electronic auto thats simple as hell now with the 4l80e controller nestled inside the gold box. anti-lag, trans brake...auto tune.

all thing you could do with the stock pcm sure, but it seems way easier with Ms3 now.
tunerstudio also has a great GUI...very intuitive. HPt took me awhile to find all the parameters I wanna mess with.

Don't get me wrong tho, I dig HPT.

my .02