UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

RUM4MO wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:38 pm I think that the way that VCDS is being sold has changed a bit, it has been priced in different ways to allow a single or single household user to be able to do everything that VCDS can do to something like say 3 cars, but it will always also as a normal scan tool for diagnostics work for more cars.

I bought VAG-COM maybe 15 years ago and as things moved on I upgraded to VCDS HEX-CAN (I think) by handing my VAG-COM cable back to my original supplier and buying the newer version from them. Now I see that that version will eventually become redundant, ie will lose support/updates in the next few years, so once again I will need to stuff more money into having this tool, but now with some VIN limitations as you pointed out - that will just mean that any friends that want my help will need to cover these extra charges if they want any adaption carried out, if/when I buy our next cars, I will also need to buy some extra VIN coverage, but that is the way things go.

As pointed out in an earlier posting, buying a modern car and not having a good compatible diagnostic tool really does leave you in the hands of the money grabbers.

If you intend to "stay" in the VW Group "family", your best plan will be to buy the latest VCDS HEX-V2 USB with either the basic " 3 car/VIN" or "10 car/VIN" which costs £74 extra, remember the upgrade at a later date once you have run out of VINs is currently £169 - so quite a jump, pity it is presently not possible to delete VINs once you sell the car on as you would still be only able to use it fully on 3 cars/VINs.

RUM4MO wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:38 pm
As pointed out in an earlier posting, buying a modern car and not having a good compatible diagnostic tool really does leave you in the hands of the money grabbers.

If you intend to "stay" in the VW Group "family", your best plan will be to buy the latest VCDS HEX-V2 USB with either the basic " 3 car/VIN" or "10 car/VIN" which costs £74 extra, remember the upgrade at a later date once you have run out of VINs is currently £169 - so quite a jump, pity it is presently not possible to delete VINs once you sell the car on as you would still be only able to use it fully on 3 cars/VINs.

wolfie wrote: Fri Jun 23, 2017 9:47 am

RUM4MO wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2017 3:38 pm
As pointed out in an earlier posting, buying a modern car and not having a good compatible diagnostic tool really does leave you in the hands of the money grabbers.

If you intend to "stay" in the VW Group "family", your best plan will be to buy the latest VCDS HEX-V2 USB with either the basic " 3 car/VIN" or "10 car/VIN" which costs £74 extra, remember the upgrade at a later date once you have run out of VINs is currently £169 - so quite a jump, pity it is presently not possible to delete VINs once you sell the car on as you would still be only able to use it fully on 3 cars/VINs.

With 3 car/vin - 10car/vin constraint the cynic in me thinks that Ross-Tech have jumped onto the "grabbers" bandwagon. It is undeniably one of the best products out there, but limiting it to 3 vehicle/vin ruins it for the enthusiast DIY car mechanic to some extent. I'm sure that some weekend mechanics would be happy to pass the cost on so they could buy additional licenses. But it spoils it for the folk out there, who just want something that they can use on the their own vehicle, or help out a mate or two with the odd coding change or diagnostic, because that's what they enjoy doing. If it's going to cost you £169 every time you've you get passed 3 vehicles you may as well call into the garage. My local independent only charges £45 for a diagnostic. I don't mind the idea of paying a "one-off" of £200+ for a decent bit of kit, but it just feels like you're ripped off if you're told you need to pay more if you use it more than X times.