Hi Dave

Glad to see you have finally joined the debate

"Don't you feel slightly hypocritical when you consider how many times you have modified & molested cars in the past?"

Yes I will hold my hands up I have molested and modified many cars in the past.....many of them probably before you were born

Had a weekend and holiday job in a garage when I was 14 and watched the "Mechanics" take heads of Mini Coopers and skim 20 thou of the head and refit bigger bore SU carbs, the equivalent of remapping today for more power

Leap forward 40 years and it's a whole new ball game, we are all now "Technicians" striving to give the Motor Trade the "Professional" image it deserves. Hence many techs taking and retaking ATA accreditation and regular training courses to improve their image. Many of these techs will still modify and tweak software to make a vehicle go faster or more fuel efficient, every vehicle has the ability for this to be done.......no problem with that, good earner and keeps the customer happy

BUT!
Tweaking software to make an emission problem go away? just to save the customer the expense of having it fixed properly

Never heard of a Gas Fitter bypassing something on a boiler to make it work, or a surgeon bypassing someones kidneys because they stopped working.......a bit extream but if we want to be regarded as Professionals we should diagnos, quote and repair

Unfortunately Garage owners like yourself and me are caught up in a catch 22 situation

1) Customer comes in with a DPF fault, you quote him to do the job properly at a cost of £1200.00 .....you are then branded as a rip off merchant

2) You have removed the DPF after the customer begs you to do so to save himself £500.00......his car now fails the MOT because the DPF is missing, you refuse to put it right because it was the customers request....you are now branded a rip off merchant

3) Customer googles that the DPF innards can be removed and remapped, but will still pass the MOT as it's still in place. You inform the customer that it's not really legal and should be fixed properly, because you will not help him out and want to do the job correctly....you are branded a rip off merchant

Us technicians do not design cars, we just fix them. If the manufacturers have designed a "Not Fit For Purpose" system that keeps going wrong, let the customers whinge about the cost of repair to them. If a DPF cost £500.00 thats not us ripping them off its the manufacturer inflating the price, but we have to take the fall out

This debate will ramble on, much debate in Trade mags and online forums. But when it hits the tabloids (if) when the new rules kick in, bet your bottom dollar the Independent Garage is going to be branded as the bad guy.......only the Main Dealers can fix cars properly

Peter