I know there are many posts on here about the Vag Com Cables off Ebay, but do they work, and are they legal / will they do any damage to my car??

I am not sure how they work, but am really interested at the price they are going for on Ebay.

Have a look at this one, and tell me what you think please!!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/USB-Vag-Com-Compatible-Cable-Interface-VW-Audi-VagCom_W0QQitemZ330055216389QQihZ014QQcategoryZ30921QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers,

Chris

Think of it that way...

...will something imported from China sold for £6 in the UK, give you the same capabilities as a £3000-£10000 dealers tool?

...will the seller who is located in the US include tech support into that price?

Regarding if they work or not, this depends on your specific case, read those posts you talked about, they'll explain the situation best.

Ebay cables are a waste of time. The only one that is guarunteed to work are the ross-tech ones direct from the states or via a select few UK resellers.

Be there, done that and have many t-shirts regarding the crappy cheap knock off cables

Buy the genuine article, support the people that have done the hard work, and be confident that it will work/you will have support if it doesn't.

I know there are many posts on here about the Vag Com Cables off Ebay, but do they work, and are they legal / will they do any damage to my car??

I am not sure how they work, but am really interested at the price they are going for on Ebay.

Have a look at this one, and tell me what you think please!!!

eBay.co.uk: USB Vag-Com Compatible Cable/Interface VW Audi VagCom ^ (item 330055216389 end time 07-Dec-06 20:46:04 GMT)

Cheers,

Chris

I bought mine from them and have had no problems. Except my own stupidity of course.

Inspired by other topics, but related to this one...ebay is to the inovators what the walmart is to small towns in the US.

If we don't support those who inovate and lead the market, then they will cease, at which point the cheap copy cats also cease, leaving just a few who can claim whatever price they like, or not as they may go too. Then it's off to the dealers at 70 quid an hour.

So buy it, but think iof the social impacts...

As I said, related to other events, but just as valid here. I'd prefer to pay a little more and to coin a phrase, get more.

If you're too tight to pay for VAG-COM (and the free version doesn't do what you want) there are several open-source type efforts available if you google for OBD-II software

Chris

But the OBD-II software actually does less than the old shareware versions of VAGCOM that these cheap knock off cables use

Read FAQ 1.10 and the first link then read the second link for more info on OBD v VAG-COM.

Ross-Tech: VAG-COM: FAQ Page 1

Ross-Tech: VAG-COM: DTC Comparison

Will Ross Tech ship direct to the UK? Just thinking with the dollar as it is at the moment....

Will Ross Tech ship direct to the UK? Just thinking with the dollar as it is at the moment....

Yes but by the time you add UK import charges (c.30quid?) I don't think there's any difference in cost to ordering form official UK source: e.g. Volkswagen (VW), Audi, Seat and Skoda Car Diagnostics :: Gendan Automotive Products

I paid £25.96 VAT and a FedEx admin fee of £4.50 when I ordered direct from Ross-Tech in 2005. I ordered from Ross-Tech around Friday lunchtime and the interface was delivered just 3 days later (on Monday).

I paid

We ship to the UK nearly everyday. Our UK distributors do a nice job for us. The options are yours.

-Bruce-

Ross-Tech, LLC

If you have friends in USA get VagCom shipped to them get friends to repack and send as " gift cable $10value " I did this and it worked forme no vat or customs duites to pay.

If you go the friend route, make sure you tell us what the deal is. Credit Card fraud review requires us to stop any order where the ship to and the bill to are in different locations - countries especially. Use the notes sections of our order form to explain things to us or your order will be held for clarification.

-Bruce-

Ross-Tech, LLC

I paid

The £25.96 was the duty payable on the imported cable. The £4.50 was an admin fee payable to FEDEX for paying the duty on behalf of the importer and claiming it from the importer.

Should've realised that .

So as per the site then it's not possible to purchase an official cable for less than about

I guess £25.66 is the 17.5% VAT then?

So the cable was $249.00 or about £130.00?

So your total was in the region of about £160.00 total for the cable.

Or am I missing something?