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Van and Commercial Vehicle Remapping in Lutterworth
For a van based in Lutterworth the choice is unusually simple. Drop it in at Rugby Road on the way out to a job, or have us come to it before you load up in the morning. Either way, the aim is a vehicle that pulls properly with weight in it and costs less to run.
Most Lutterworth vans belong to the person driving them
This is a town of sole traders and small outfits rather than depots. The van goes home at night, sits on the drive, and goes back out loaded first thing. When that is the shape of the business, every hour the vehicle spends off the road is an hour you are personally not earning, which changes the calculation about how the work gets done far more than any technical detail does.
It also means the vehicle is doing a very particular job. Out to a site, back for materials, out again, and then the occasional longer run down junction 20 to somewhere that pays better. That mix of short loaded local work and sustained motorway legs is harder on an engine than either one on its own, and it is the mix the map has to suit.
So the first questions are always about the work, not the vehicle. What does it carry, how far does it go in a week, does it tow, and how much of that is town and how much is motorway. The answers change what is worth doing far more than the badge on the front does.
The part of the rev range a loaded van actually uses
Nobody who runs a van rings up asking for a headline power figure. They want two things. They want it to pull cleanly from low down when the back is full, and they want the same week's work to cost less in fuel. On most commercial diesels those turn out to be the same map rather than two competing ones.
Filling in the low and middle of the rev range means the engine is doing its work in the band it is comfortable in, rather than being revved hard to get a loaded vehicle moving from a standstill or to hold speed up a gradient. Fewer downshifts, less right foot, less noise. An engine that is not being worked to its limit all day generally drinks less, which is where the running cost part comes from.
If you tow, say so, because it shifts the emphasis. The pull you need with a trailer behind you sits lower down and arrives earlier than the pull that makes an empty van feel brisk, and those are competing priorities within the same file. The same goes for a van that is permanently racked out and carrying most of a workshop, because that weight never comes off and the map may as well be written assuming it is there.
Running a van out of Lutterworth?Tell us what it is, what it carries and what it does in a week. You will get an honest view of what a map would and would not change.
Call 07773 694570Working round a working day
Being in the same town takes most of the friction out of this. Drop the van in at 3 Rugby Road on your way to a job and collect it later, or leave it on the drive overnight and have us come to it before you load in the morning. Either arrangement costs you a good deal less than a day at a workshop somewhere else, which for an owner driver is usually the whole argument.
Most vans take about an hour to ninety minutes on site, with some commercial ECUs taking a good deal longer to read and write than the car equivalent. You will be told which yours is likely to be when you ring, so the day can be planned around it rather than you waiting to find out. Nobody running a one van business wants an open ended answer to how long the vehicle will be off the road.
If you would rather it was mapped at a customer's yard while you are working there, the mobile service does that too, provided there is somewhere safe to work at the vehicle and the site owner is content with it. That last part is worth checking beforehand rather than assuming, because sites vary enormously in how relaxed they are about anyone working on a vehicle parked on their ground.
Being straight about whether your van is a candidate
A remap is not a repair, and a van is the vehicle where that gets forgotten most often. If it is down on power because a turbo is tired, an injector is leaking, the EGR is stuck or the filter is part blocked, mapping it will mask the symptom briefly and then expose the weakness properly, generally on the day you can least afford it. Where diagnostics point that way, that gets dealt with first and DPF and EGR work is the honest starting point.
Low mileage is the other honest no. If the van does a handful of local drops a week, the fuel side will not repay the work in any sensible timeframe, and being told that on the phone is better for both of us than a booking you regret. Tell us the vehicle, the weekly mileage and what it carries and you will get a real answer.
On price, car remaps are from £129, and vans and commercial vehicles are quoted per vehicle, because the work genuinely differs from one to the next. Reading and writing a small car derived van and a big commercial are not the same job, and pretending they were would mean overcharging one of you to keep the sum tidy. Tell us what the vehicle is and you will have the figure before anything gets booked.
Van and Commercial Remapping in Lutterworth: your questions answered
Can I leave the van with you rather than booking a visit?
Yes, and for a lot of Lutterworth traders that is the easier option. The workshop is at 3 Rugby Road, so you can drop it off on the way out to a job and pick it up later without the van ever leaving the town. Ring first to arrange a time so the equipment is ready for your vehicle rather than someone else's.
Will it actually pull better when loaded?
That is the change most drivers notice first. The useful gain is low down and through the middle, which is exactly where a van with weight in it spends its life. In practice that means holding a gear up a hill you used to drop out of, and getting away from a junction without needing to rev it hard while it is full.
Does it save fuel?
It can, if the mileage is consistent and you drive it the same way afterwards. The saving comes from the engine doing the same work with less effort. If you use the extra pull to press on harder, the saving disappears, which is worth being honest with yourself about. Low or very irregular mileage means a slow payback and you will be told that plainly.
Which vans do you work on?
The usual working vehicles: Transit and Transit Custom, Sprinter and Vito, Transporter and Crafter, Vivaro and Movano, Trafic and Master, Dispatch, Expert, Relay, Boxer and Ducato, plus pickups and car derived vans. Tippers, lutons and crew cabs are generally the same engines underneath. If you are unsure about yours, ring with the base vehicle and the engine.
Is it safe on a van with big mileage?
A high mileage engine that is mechanically healthy is usually fine, and plenty of them are. A tired one is a different matter, because a map will find an existing weakness rather than hide it. If there are fault codes, a service that is overdue, or it has been running oddly, that gets looked at first rather than mapped over.
How much does a van cost to map?
Car remaps from £129. Vans and commercial vehicles are quoted per vehicle, because the work genuinely varies from one to another and quoting a single figure for all of them would be dishonest. Tell us the vehicle and the engine and you will get the number before you commit to anything.
Can you come to a customer's site while I am working?
Usually, as long as there is somewhere safe to work at the van and whoever runs the site is content with it. That second part is worth checking beforehand, particularly on business parks. If it turns out to be awkward, being based in the same town means dropping it at the workshop instead is barely an inconvenience.
Do I need to tell my insurer about a van remap?
Yes. A remap is a modification on a commercial vehicle in exactly the same way as on a car, and it should be declared. If the van is signwritten and used for a business, your policy is probably a commercial one, and undeclared modifications cause the same problems there that they do anywhere else.
What if the van is leased or on finance?
Say so when you ring. It can matter, and the sensible answer sometimes is to leave it alone until the agreement ends. You will get a straight view rather than a booking. If it does go ahead, the original file is saved so the vehicle can be handed back exactly as it was.
Can it be put back to standard for a sale?
Yes. The original calibration is read and saved before anything is written, so the van can go back to factory software whenever you want. That comes up most often at sale time or when a dealer wants the vehicle standard before a warranty conversation, and it is a quick job rather than a rebuild.
I tow a plant trailer. Does that change the map?
It changes the emphasis rather than the method. Towing wants usable pull arriving early and staying there, rather than a file written to feel lively when the van is empty. Tell us what you tow and how often at the enquiry stage and the map gets written around that rather than around a generic idea of how a van is used.
Does a map make the DPF worse on a van?
A properly written map should not, and a van doing regular motorway legs down junction 20 often runs cleaner because the exhaust gets properly hot and stays there. If the filter is already part blocked, that is a separate job, and it is handled as diagnostics, cleaning and forced regeneration rather than anything being removed.
Map it without losing a working day
Drop it at Rugby Road or leave it on the drive for us. Ring 07773 694570 and we will fit it round the job.
Call 07773 694570